FAZ Reflects On Turbulent Times, Refocuses On 2020/2021 season

Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President Andrew Kamanga has reflected on the reasons behind the decision to bring the 2019/2020 season to an early close on August 6. 

“It has been a season that has provided a lot of drama on and off the pitch. By far the biggest memory of the 2019/2020 season is the impact of the Covid-19. It has pushed us to do things we never imagined possible at the beginning of the season,” Kamanga writes. 

The league was initially suspended on March 20, 2020 in response to the pandemic. In recent weeks, following the resumption of non-contact sports such as tennis and gold, calls for football to resume grew and grew.  

“FAZ was also repeatedly flooded with requests from millions of Zambians asking when football would re-open. President Lungu clearly indicated that football would only re-open on the recommendation from the Ministry of Health and other experts whom he tasked to liaise with FAZ and the Ministry of Sports in assessing the viability of resuming football. Arising from this guidance, a task force comprising Ministry of Health, Ministry of Sports and FAZ was constituted to probe the possibility of football, resuming. The tripartite negotiations hammered out guidelines that were shared with the Head of State that football could resume behind closed doors for safety reasons,” Kamanga explains. 

During this process clubs were issued with guidelines for managing areas such as camping, training, testing and personnel as the Association worked to establish a new normal that would ensure the safety of players and fans, while not burdening national health services and testing capabilities already facing great strain. 

Kamanga notes the resumption of the League got off to a relative good start, with only one of the first round of matches postponed due to Covid-19. However, the situation was still evolving and the cases in Zambia on the rise.
“The surge in numbers was putting a strain on the health authorities who had to deal with not only sportsmen but the general populace.” Kamanga notes. 

“The biggest impediment to the continuation of the league eventually boiled down to the sluggish flow of results after testing. With the number of infections in the country surging, it was becoming strenuous to get teams tested and get their results on time which affected some fixtures,” he continued. 

While he applauds the efforts made by many clubs, he also stated that some had failed to adhere fully to the guidance. 
“Among the breaches noted by Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) from our clubs were failure to manage the isolation of players and officials who tested positive, unrestricted access to camping sites, failure to observe social distancing and lack of sanitizers and disinfectants at designated places,” Kamagana revealed. 
“We are confident we will use the experiences of this period to run the 2020/2021 season smoothly,” Kamanga has assured fans. 
“Our focus now is to plan better for 2020/2021 season that commences in October, 2020. We will continue liaising with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Sports in ensuring that we close all the gaps ahead of next season. We are doing everything fully conscious that the Covid-19 will be with us for the long term hence the ‘New Normal’ mantra. In everything we do, we are guided by the principle that human life must always come first,” he concludes.