We will not appeal – FAZ

By SPORTS REPORTER THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) says it will not appeal the alleged age cheating by the Burundi under-20 national soccer team. Burundi stopped the African champions from defending their tittle in next year’s Niger youth championship following a 3-1 aggregate defeat in the away final qualifying round. Zambia beat Burundi 1-0 at Lusaka’s Nkoloma Stadium before suffering a 3-0 humiliation in Ngozi, Burundi, where the Chipolopolo’s hopes of defending their title were crushed. Before and after playing Burundi in both home and away fixtures, junior chipolopolo team coach Charles Bwale called on CAF to investigate Burundi for age cheating. Bwale said the Burundi under-20 national team made it impossible for Zambia to qualify for the 2019 Niger under-20 AfCON edition as they used players above 20 years. “We had to work on age cheating and we scrutinised and did our level best but the competition itself is not even,” Bwale said. Despite coach Bwale’s complaints, FAZ has indicated that it will not appeal to CAF to investigate Burundi for age cheating. FAZ communications manager Desmond Katongo said the process to appeal would be difficult because players are scrutinised at under-17 level. “The process is quite cumbersome because players go through the magnetic resonance testing (MRI) at under-17 level and when they beat the MRI test at under-17 level, it becomes difficult for CAF to investigate,” Katongo said. Meanwhile, FAZ president Andrew Kamanga who was quick to accept defeat, noted that the local soccer governing body has a long term plan aimed at curing Zambia’s under performance at all levels of national soccer teams. In a post on his official Facebook page, Kamanga said he has a lot of faith in the football development agenda being implemented by FAZ. “A solid foundation is continually being laid to ensure Zambia's future remains bright for a sustainably longer period by constantly developing our game from the grassroots. While the result today is regrettable, I have a lot of faith in our football development agenda,” Kamanga said.