…FAZ league players to undergo Covid-19 tests before league resumes

Speaking in an interview, Mulenga said the Premier League management will collaborate with government through the Ministry of Health to conduct the testing before the league was allowed to return.

Mulenga said the players will be tested with the help of the Ministry of Health to determine which players were safe to play when the league returns.

Mulenga said the Super Division management had presented a plan to the FAZ executive committee which will have to approve and deliver the plan to the Ministry of Sports Youth and Child Development for the league to resume next month.

He said the Super Division management had received guidelines from FIFA and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on how to proceed.

“Basically as the league we have submitted for consideration to the FAZ executive committee and the president a plan for the league to commence and the plan will be suitably amended and will be presented to the Ministry Sports,” Mulenga said.

“We have already received some advice from FIFA, from WHO on how to proceed. What we didn’t have was the guidance from the Zambian government. It was encouraging to hear from the Minister it was exciting news which he gave us.

“We are going to make sure that whatever we submit to the government will be high quality and get the approval of government,” Mulenga said.

Mulenga said starting the league in mid-July will give the association enough time to prepare and organise clubs.

“Mid-July is what is on the table of because there is a lot of planning to be done. We have to adhere to the health regulations and restarting the league in July will give us enough time to prepare and organize things,” Mulenga said.

He has however cautioned clubs to follow the guidelines provided before the league was allowed to resume because contact sports remain banned and teams would only be allowed to regroup when government approves the plan from the league management and FAZ for football to return.

The Super Division was suspended in March following the outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic which has claimed lives of seven people in Zambia.