MUKWIMA CHILALA writes
FAZ should regulate the number of foreign players local clubs can register, says soccer agent Rhodes Mbamunya.
Mbamunya a Zambian FIFA certified intermediary told the Sun in interview that there was need for FAZ to regulate the number of foreign players in the local league.
He said that regulating foreign players would help limit the number of players that a local club could register in an effort to grow local talent.
“There is need to regulate the number of foreign players a club can register as it is done elsewhere as you know anything that is not regulated becomes difficult to control,’’ he said.
“For instance some of these players just fly into Zambia without any prior appointment with clubs and end up getting stranded like it has happened before,” he said
Mbamunya who has been a FIFA agent since 2013 noted that limiting the number of foreign players would also give chance to local players to thrive in the league.
Meanwhile Mbamunya said that lack of regulation of foreign players could be the major cause of the increase in salary rows between clubs and expatriate players, adding that most of them come to Zambia with the sole purpose of making money.
He said that the majority of expatriate players that had been coming to Zambia were rejected players in their countries of origin who only came to Zambia to try and resuscitate their careers.
“Most of these foreign players that come to Zambia have been inactive for 5-10 years and only come here to restart their careers , but they may not even have played football for a long time,
“We have to make sure that before these players are signed on, they have to be better than our local players and also the numbers that a club signs foreign players needs to be reduced,’ ’he said
Recently there had been reports of salary disputes between foreign players and some Zambian soccer clubs which had attracted the intervention of the world soccer governing body FIFA.
