By Barnabas Zulu.
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President Andrew Kamanga has reiterated that no FAZ member from the lower divisions will lose their membership as a result of the constitutional reforms the association is undergoing.
Addressing Councilors at the Emergency Council Meeting convened at the New Government Complex in Lusaka Kamanga said it was important to reorganize the leagues at all levels to make it attractive.
“It is important to reorganize the league at all levels to make it attractive, especially the Super league, Division one, Division two and Division three. This we believe is the only way we are going to make our game attractive and be able to draw from the corporate world,” said Kamanga.
He further stated that clubs must not be misinformed that FAZ is doing away with Divisions two and three but rather the focus was on reorganizing the leagues.
“There has been a lot of misinformation around what these reforms mean and FIFA has given us a confirmation that our members will not suffer as a result of the reforms,” Kamanga explained.
And during the same meeting Kamanga disclosed that FIFA has increased its financial assistance to FAZ from the previous $250, 000 to $1, 250, 000.
Meanwhile, FIFA Manager for Member Associations Luca Nicola said that Zambia is not the only member association of FIFA which is undergoing the review process.
“Zambia is not the only member association of FIFA going through this review process. This is something that is being implemented in all of our 211 member associations. Zambia is not being picked out individually. It is a general process that all member associations need to go through,” said Nicola.
The FIFA delegate added that the reforms were necessary to ensure that member associations are able to function smoothly and efficiently.
In 2013, the FIFA congress introduced a new obligation for all member associations to revise their constitutions to fall in line with the requirements of the standard FIFA statutes.