MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
There is no Zambian now capable of training the national soccer team, says football commentator Thandika Chirwa.
Speaking in a walk in interview with the Sun sport, Chirwa said that there was need to adequately train Zambian coaches as there were presently only few Zambians with proper coaching qualifications.
Chirwa observed that what majority of local coaches possessed were merely CAF licences and not qualifications.
“At the moment there is no local coach capable of coaching Zambia, because most coaches in the Zambian league are not highly trained,”
“ We only have Kalusha Bwalya , Danny Kabwe , Moses Sichone and Patrick Phiri with UEFA A and B qualifications and what the rest have are merely CAF licences,’’ he said.
Chirwa further observed that there was need for government and FAZ to partner with other foreign countries or football associations to help train Zambian coaches.
“We need to train these coaches, lets pick coaches which FAZ or government can enter into partnership with an outside FA to train them for one or even two years to get these UEFA certificates,
“ They can even be exposed in Europe to sit on the bench because we will be investing in these coaches and not having piece meal training,’’ he said
Chirwa further said that the CAF licences were not important but obtaining qualifications was.
He said that the long term solution to Zambia’s coaching woes was to have a pool of local coaches trained, adding that it was unacceptable for Zambia not to have a lot of highly trained coaches 55 years after Independence.
Meanwhile Chirwa has appealed to strategic partners of football and other corporate firms to partner with government and FAZ in paying for expatriate coaches.