Visa hitch for Chipolopolo

48 hours before the departure of the Zambian National team to London, for the friendly against Ghana, the general secretary of Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), George Kasengele has issued a distress call on the acquisition of UK visa, to London where the Ghana friendly will take place.

Kasengele is asking the Zambian government to intervene, especially on foreign-based players a day or two before the team departs.

"This is a clear manifestation of poor planning and an inept way of executing duties on the part of the FAZ secretariat." said Journalist Augustine Mukoka

"There is nothing secret in knowing that this match was confirmed two weeks ago. And we all know the nucleus of the present day Chipolopolo. Except for Andrew, I was certain that a team to play Ghana on a FIFA sanctioned day can’t be without Christopher Katongo, Jacob Mulenga, Emmanuel Mbola and Emmanuel Mayuka provided good health abound." he continued

By yesterday, the local players and some members of the technical staff were queuing up at the British Embassy for visa application.

From Augustine Mukoka

I will not be surprised if one or two players are left behind because of visa complication necessitated by a laissez faire approach. Worse still, some players may arrive hours before the game.

My hope and prayer is that this problem does not affect three quarters of the team which may lead into a cancellation of this good and high profile friendly. That’s why evitable distress calls by FAZ should not be condoned because they reflect the alarming levels of unprofessionalism in our game.

If anything, Ghana football authorities were supplied with the Chipolopolo team list some four days before it was made public. It shows that the list was ready earlier than last Thursday, in good time to make necessary visa arrangement.

I hope by this time, good progress will have been made in the visa application regardless of our poor professional attitude at Football House. All the 20 players must make the trip to London without fail!

It’s a fantastic friendly, one that we have always yearned for and we must grab the opportunity with both hands.