Healing divided Zambian football fraternity tops Kamanga's priority after FAZ re-election

Newly-elected Football Association of Zambia president Andrew Kamanga has stated he will focus on healing the divided football fraternity in the country after winning another term in office.

Kamanga earned another term after collecting 57 votes against Emmanuel Munaile's 29, and the president will now focus on bringing the stakeholders together after the exercise.

“Healing is a priority, looking at where we are coming from in the last four years. We want to ensure that we unite everybody and speak with one voice,” Kamanga said as per FAZ Facebook page.

“I think the new executive has a duty to bring everybody on board.

“Having said that we still have to remember that football is a rule-based game and we have to follow the due process but I remain committed to this healing process because we need to start focussing on the game rather than the administrators.

“I just hope that going forward, we should be able to carry everyone along so that ultimately Zambian football will be the winner.”

The FA boss also talked about the need to invest in grassroots football and said any previous achievements will act as the building blocks for the new targets.

“It is like every other building; you have the foundation, so you will see in the next four years the building getting up to roof level and hopefully we can put the roof in the next four years," he added.

"We will continue investing in youth football, we will continue building on what we have achieved so far, taking into account the short-comings we have had."

The Chipolopolo will need to win the remaining African Cup of Nations qualifiers in order to book a slot in the finals in Cameroon next year.

Apart from the need to fight for the Afcon slot, Kamanga has stressed the importance of successfully fighting for a maiden World Cup ticket.

“I think the cry from all the soccer fans has been the non-performance of the senior national team," stated Kamanga.

"I think that is an area we are going to prioritise, as you know we have got two qualifiers against Algeria and Zimbabwe.

"We are still in with a chance and the next three weeks will be crucial to ensure that we get the team to the Africa Cup of Nations.

"We really need to have everyone on board, all the players who are eligible will be given an opportunity to be part of the team so that ultimately we achieve that target of qualifying the team.

“We also have the World Cup qualifiers starting in June, we hope that this time around we will have a strong case to put up qualification to the world cup. Fifty-six years after independence we have never been to the World Cup and that has always eluded us.”

Justin Mumba was elected as Kamanga's deputy while Jordan Maliti, Mwansa Kapyanga, Chisanga Pule, David Simwinga, Crispin Kamuna, Arthur Kamulosu, Patrick Ndhlovu, Collins Mukwala, Francis Hafwiti and Mweemba Mujala were elected as the FAZ executive committee members.