By Mark Baber
July 10 -The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has signed a two-year cooperation agreement with the Royal Football Federation of Morocco (FRM) which will see the two associations partner in football development.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga (pictured) and (FRM) president Fouzi Lekjaa covers areas of youth development for boys and girls, senior teams, refereeing, camping teams, coaching programmes and medical research and analysis and follows on the heels of similar deals signed between the FRM and the Malawi and Nigerian FAs.
The agreement will see Zambian football teams use facilities at the Moroccan Federation’s technical centre that include six state of the art pitches, video analysis, medical facilities and accommodation.
Kamanga commented on the deal, signed in Casablanca, saying: “This is a milestone in as far as football development is concerned. The MoU will target youth football for both boys and girls including coaching training programs. This cooperation will help both Morocco and Zambia because both parties will undertake to make available their facilities during preparation for major events.”
“This agreement,“ he continued, “will have a very big impact on all our programs. For instance, the women’s league is its infancy, we intend to introduce U-14 and 15 teams. For us to develop these structures, we will require the right infrastructure we can get. With such an agreement on the table, the future of our game looks very bright.
“This is an exchange program for all our national teams. Our aim is to make sure our teams are well equipped technically and mentally to be able to perform at the highest level possible. As FAZ we are happy this has come to fruition.”
Particularly since re-joining the African Union, Morocco has embarked on a football diplomacy offensive, building South-South links within Africa, including with countries traditionally more within South Africa’s sphere of influence and friendly with the Polisario Front.
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