ZESCO United Football Club Team Ya Ziko
Zambia’s flag carriers in the 2022/23 CAF Champions League, Red Arrows became the first national club side to be ejected from Africa’s coveted competition this season after failing to go past Angolan side, Primeiro De Agosto.
A 0-1 home defeat at the hands of the Angolan giants saw Red Arrows exit 2-1 on aggregate following a 1-all away draw in their final leg, preliminary round fixture played in Luanda.
That result marked another low in Zambia’s recent unsuccessful adventures in African football.
Red Arrows literally simulated their counterpart ZESCO United’s setback in the 2021/22 football season which saw the latter exit the same competition in the first round at the hands of Eswatini’s Royal Leopards.
The recent spate of bad results exhibited by Zambian clubs in CAF interclub competitions tied with the country’s litany of hat-trick failures to qualify for the African Cup of Nations has seen this once respected continental giant of the game relegated to the second tier of African football.
This run of bad results hasn’t just corroded an ailing football powerhouses’ stature but has had a spillover effect elsewhere in the continental scheme of things.
The free-fall has so far witnessed the loss of two continental slots as announced by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) Secretary General, Adrian Kashala.
Kashala announcement came after months of social media speculation that forecasted Zambian club football’s downgrade status for the coming 2022/2023 CAF Inter-club season.
“We wish to inform our football family of the communiqué from CAF that the inter-club competitions representation has been revised after a four-year cycle. Zambia will have two clubs in CAF competitions for the 2023 season,” Kashala said.
“The development is regrettable but also a wake-up call to our clubs to work extra hard to reclaim their respectable status on the continent. We just have to pull our socks up and ensure that our representatives do better when they win the right to fly our national flag on the continent,” he stated.
Zambia’s two slots have been taken up by Libya whose representatives in last year’s CAF Confederation Cup put up an exceptional performance.
Libya’s joy came via Al-Ahly Tripoli and Al-Ittihad’s progression in the semi-finals and quarterfinals of the competition respectively.
It may have been an ominous sign from the football gods that a Zambian opponent in Zanaco had to be the unsuspecting witness to a change of guard by playing Al Ahly Tripoli in the group stages losing 3-2 in Lusaka and 2-0 in Benghazi
While the scene is now of a solemn yarning for the good times, let us escape that for a moment to explore how the honeymoon started.
Since 2017, Zambia has entered two representatives each in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
This followed a good run by ZESCO United between 2010 and 2017 who had made three league-round qualifications while Nkana and Zanaco had one each during that spell.
As was the script seven years ago, ZESCO United will once again carry the country’s burden of restoring some form of pride when they begin their continental journey against Royal AM of South Africa.
Unlike Red Arrows, ZESCO United was exempted from playing the preliminary round of the 2022/23 CAF Confederation Cup.
ZESCO United is aware of the heavy weight of expectations on its shoulders and the responsibility at hand from anxious local supporters and expectant sponsor, ZESCO Limited.
The nine-time Zambian Super League champions will be hoping to replicate past successful CAF outings that redefined their image into a continental force.
Although so much has changed in the clubs; corridors power, both on and off the pitch, since the 2016 CAF Champions League semi-final adventure, ZESCO United possess the attributes to give the country the right jab to cure Zambia’s recent continental malaise.
New management is in place pregnant with a lot of expectations having invested heavily in the club during the recent transfer window.
ZESCO United were the big spenders amongst their domestic peers having signed eight new players in a ‘makeover’ transfer window.
Charismatic Club Chairman, Maxwell Saya doesn’t hide his desire to oversee the rebirth of Zambia’s only remaining pride and saviour in CAF interclub football.
Furthermore, Club Chief Executive Officer, Charles Kalala is not new to the demands that come with leading a giant club like ZESCO United or the pleasures that come with success having once served in the Justin Mumba and Richard Mulenga-led executives.
Like Saya, Kalala’s speech and demeanour are that of a man who hardly dreams about failure and whose insatiable appetite for success can only be quenched with positive results.
Appointed team head coach in 2020 following the departure of veteran coach and arguably the teams’ most successful manager thus far, George Lwandamina, Mumamba Numba will be seeking an improved campaign this time around after last season’s failure.
Numba managed to shepherd the club to a ninth league title in his first year as coach, securing ZESCO United’s CAF Champions League qualification and making up for Lwandamina’s failure the season before.
The former Zanaco head coach, unfortunately, failed to guide ZESCO United’s campaign in the CAF Champions League beyond the first round and was unsuccessful in his pursuit of a second domestic title after finishing second in the 2021/2022 league campaign.
Numba’s mission now will be to rouse his side to at least secure Group stage qualification before stretching their dreams towards a push for the quarterfinals.
But the story of the comeback kid is not a feature of fantasy but a reality steeped in history and ZESCO United can be inspired by France’s very own post-Second World War renaissance.
In order to reposition itself to book a permanent seat among the Atlantic powers after the end of the Second World War, France turned to its wartime hero and subsequent President Charles De Gaulle who applied both charismatic and statesman skills which saw him charm the likes of Winston Churchill and Harry Truman.
Like De Gaulle, Numba will need to embody the same enigmatic amour as he leads ZESCO United from the abyss.
The ZESCO United gaffer will aim to ensure that his vision of reaching the Group stage permeates into the minds of his squad.
Numba will also need to apply levels of football statesmanship that will not only incite his players to get a seat in the Group stage but also raise their game above the domestic league standards.
And there is no one person better placed for such a challenge than himself.
At Zanaco, Numba is credited for leading the Lusaka club to their seventh and last domestic league title to date.
He is also regarded as the first Zanaco coach to reach the Group stage of the CAF Champions League and the second to qualify for the Confederation Cup Group stage.
It is such credentials that earned him the top job at ZESCO United two years ago.
And as ZESCO United begins its conquest to reclaim Zambian football pride, there is no shortage of able-bodied men amongst the chosen few to storm the beaches of Durban and scale the cliffs of Moses Mabhida Stadium in the pack of eight newcomers.
Numba will rely on the services of Kizito Kezironi to perform similar miracles he has been able to unleash since the league started.
Ugandan striker, Alfred Leku will be hoping to open his account for United against Royal AM following his move from the Ugandan Premier League to the Zambian League.
Songa Chipyoka, Jack Ngulube, and Austin Muwowo will form part of the names that will be competing for places in this explosive encounter.
Numba will also be counting on the experience of Ian Otieno, John Chingandu, Kelvin Kampamba, Collins Sikombe, Kelvin Kapumbu, Solomon Sakala and Clement Mwape to dig in and lift the team when the going gets tough.
Royal AM has had an initial taste of the 2022/23 CAF Confederation Cup competition following their success in the first-round qualification which saw them dump Mbabane Highlanders out of the competition.
The South Africans will be pumped up for Sunday’s clash knowing that a win at home will make the journey to Ndola much easier.
ZESCO United on the other hand will be oozing with confidence knowing that a win or draw will give them an edge over the hosts before facing the South Africans on October 16th in Ndola at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.
For ZESCO United the message is explicitly clear as the journey of restoration begins: It is about the Legacy of The Four Slots, The Reputation of Two Final Knockout Qualifications and the Pride of Six Group Stage Appearances.
Author: Desmond Katongo
