FAZ Rolls Out Goalkeeper, VAR Technical Trainings
The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) technical director has spent the past three weeks undertaking a cross-country tour in order to deliver training courses for coaches and other technical experts.
The trainings have included goalkeeping courses for the Super League and National Division One teams held in Lusaka, Kabwe and Ndola. They were led by Chipolopolo goalkeeper coach Miroslav Stojnic and overseen by Chipolopolo head coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic. It is the first time a goalkeeper course has been conducted since 1998 as FAZ continues its search for a player to fill the slot on a long-term basis.
Commenting on the exercise FAZ President Andrew Kamanga stated “We are very happy that the technical directorate has given this area attention and we are confident that with the work that is being put in place we will have a pool of goalkeepers that the country can draw from at various age groups.”
“It is not by accident that we have started with the coaches who are an integral part of football development. Miroslav has also indicated that he will be working on a long-term plan to have a goalkeeping academy that will pool together all promising goalkeepers that he will regularly train. Miroslav’s credentials give us the confidence that Zambia can surely once again take the front seat on the continent. He has left an indelible footprint in his native country Serbia where some of his protégés are top campaigners in the UEFA Champions League and other major world leagues,” he continued.
Kamanga has also revealed that FAZ has embarked on providing some of its people with training in video analysis. Two course have already been conducted by technical experts, with a third underway in Lusaka this week.
“When I talked about Zambia introducing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in our league, I was ridiculed by some sections of our football. They were quick to scream about costs and the practicability of such technology in our situation. However, they neglected to see that we already had a head start by having one of our referees Janny Sikazwe among the first whistle-men in the world to use VAR at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup,” Kamanga notes.
“Sikazwe was at the centre of the match between Real Madrid and Kashima Antlers in Japan. Sikazwe has gone on to referee at FIFA World Cup matches as we saw in Russia in 2018. Zambia already has the advantage of having its league matches broadcast across the African continent through our partnership with SuperSport. We can draw huge benefits from this partnership that could ensure that we experiment with this technology. So it can never be by accident that we are training several individuals in Video Analysis. We will also make use of this expertise in ensuring that our game improves through the use of technological tools. On our part we are committed to using every tool to ensure that we develop our game,” the FAZ President explained.
According to Kamanga these efforts fit into the Association’s 10-year strategic plan.
