FOOTBALL TEAM SETUP IN ZAMBIA

FOOTBALL, or soccer as the game is called in some parts of the world has a long history. Football in its current form arose in England in the middle of the 19th century 1863 in London when the first Football association was formed. The FA Cup became the first important competition in 1871. The following year a match between two national teams was played for the first time. The match that involved England and Scotland ended 0-0 and was watched by 4, 000 people at Hamilton Crescent.  Twelve years later, in 1883, the first international tournament took place and included four national teams: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904 and a foundation act was signed by representatives from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. England and the other British countries  did not join FIFA from the start, they had invented the game and saw no reason to subordinate to an association. Still, they joined in the following year, but would not partake in the World Cup until 1950. The core of football tactics is the formation of the team. In football (soccer) the formations are classified in names consisting of numbers that represent defenders, midfielders and attackers (the goalkeeper is unnecessary to involve in this tactical aspect). Formations are simplified ways to describe a team’s positional tactic schematically.  Here is one of the most utilised formations - 4-2-4 formation. This formation was a product from Brazil. It was first tested in the Brazilian league and later in the 1958 World Cup which Brazil won. It should be mentioned that the 4-2-4 was not a Brazilian novelty, but it was the Brazilians that made most success with it – they would use it again in the 1970 World Cup with supreme result. One of the features of 4-2-4 and of the Brazil national team was the attacking full-backs Football started to get complicated as the introduction of the offside rule in 1925 started a development of other formations more adapted to the offside. FA Cup, or Football Association Challenge Cup, is a yearly competition between English football clubs first played in 1871-1872. Known as the oldest tournament in the game of football. So, chess of the green pitch football is played over the world from 32 teams in 1934 who participated in the World Cup qualifier to about 200 team now participating in the world qualifiers, wow! In Africa in February 1957 in Sudan an association called Confederation of African Football was formed to organise African football. The founding member countries were Sudan, South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt. The first Africa Cup was won by Egypt. In Zambia, the football association got affiliated to FIFA and CAF in 1964. The Copperbelt Province is the heart and origin of big football teams in Zambia. The management and running of football was by mining companies which existed at that time namely NCCM and RCM in the early 1980s. Each team was headed by the chairman appointed by the mining company and club secretary who was actually part time in football matters. He had other responsibilities in the company. The team was headed by the coach and his assistants, normally they were just two. The players were part time, they had other full time jobs, some were artisans, boiler makers and community-based employees in mine townships. We must mention here that nearly all if not all clubs in Zambia at that time were sponsored by state-owned companies and other government bureaucratic agencies. This setup produced the finest players in Zambia who played in Europe. Zambia had some African countries coming to learn football matters here. The sponsorship arrangement changed in the 1990s after privatisation was done. This was inevitable. Systems have three stages, creation, perform its function it was created for and dissolve or go away. In this case ZCCM was created, sponsored football in Zambia and went away. This created other entities like Copperbelt Enegy Corporation, Mopani Copper Mines, Konkola Copper Mines to take up the bill and fresh methods of running football. This change had a domino effect on football in Zambia. However, management of football and the technical bench setup has remained unchanged for over 50 years in Zambia. For the club management, FIFA introduced club licencing the compliance in Zambia is below average. For now we won’t discuss this, it will be analysed later. However, let’s look at how typically the technical bench is in all premier league teams is in Zambia now. The boss of the team is called the head coach and normally he has two assistants, team physio, team doctor, team manager and kit “master.” The head coach roles are day to day planning, strategy, recruitment, guiding of the team during matches (you must have seen some guy on the touch line screaming and instructing players on match day), discipline and many other functions related to the team. His/her assistants or deputies actually get instruction from him for smooth running of the team. The team doctor and physio are for medical emergencies and treatment during and after the matches. The team manager is responsible for documenting the lineup and assists on substitutions .The kit master organises jerseys and balls to be used for training and match day. This is basically the core of the typical Zambian football club technical bench, It has been like this for many years since 1964. This has to change, football has evolved, changed. It’s so advanced now such that we have certification for trainers for CAF and FIFA. Basically each continental association has developed the certification for its member states. For example, CAF has its own certification. In football now, distances and movement of each player is now calculated using GPS. Football now is a business with a number of “players” involved. Remember the comment one expatriate coach made on Zambia coaches. Yes, he was rude but sorry he was correct. (I have a lot of coaches who are my personal friends please understand me) First the title of the head coach has to change to Team manager. Why? Modern teams now have gone scientific, the use of IT tools both software and hardware is a must. You need to understand how to do GPS sports for players. We have the video analyst coach, basic knowledge of video formats is needed, understanding of weather conditions for football is a must, player transfers. Basic knowledge of law for the team manager is a requirement. Leadership analysis and motivation. . A person to organise all this is definitely a manager and not coach. The person called the team manger now can be called the Player Welfare Officer or PWO, is in charge of personal requirements of the team that is accommodation, uniforms, jersey number for the player, bank related issues and many more. Football is a contact game, injuries on the pitch and off the pitch is a normal thing. All clubs must have a qualified fitness trainer or physical trainer, call him/her anything you want but he/she must responsible for endurance and physical conditioning of team We need to quickly move on the Zambian technical bench restructuring to improve the operation of our clubs and the national team.