FAZ general secretary Reuben Kamanga has hailed FIFA for continuously orienting members on the prudent use of project funds.
Speaking on the sidelines of the FIFA Financial Governance workshop in Accra, Kamanga said FAZ would also educate its members on the structure and use of FIFA funds.
“We have learnt a lot and we take back home a lot of lessons and will improve surely the way we operate in as far as financial matters are concerned. The workshop is excellent,” he said.
Kamanga said Zambia had benefitted immensely from FIFA funds in terms of infrastructure and national teams support. “We received a lot of funding from FIFA in different areas, national team preparations and equipment support. Support to different activities relating to national teams and our members as Football Association of Zambia.”
He added: “They want whatever money we received to be utilized in the manner we requested for, so financial governance is a very important aspect and they are making sure the monies are utilized and the processes are followed.”
Kamanga said FIFA had done well to refresh members with on the processes required to utilize the money for funds.
“We submit reports that tally with what FIFA expects us to utilize the monies for. It is a very important part of our business and quiet often we need to refresh our mind to make sure that new people who come on board also understand the best practices and how FIFA expects us to operate. So we are here to refresh our mind to update ourselves and to upskill ourselves to make sure that when we go back our operations will be in line with what FIFA expects from us,” he said.
Zambia was among nine countries namely Ghana, Cape Verde, Liberia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Sudan, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Kenya. FAZ has in the last few years benefitted from FIFA funds through the infrastructure program that has seen the rehabilitation of four stadia, accommodation centre and the soon to be launched Technical Centre.
Recently Zambia procured a state-of-the-art Irizar i6 Bus for the Zambia National Team.