Zambia, Morocco in FIFA electoral pact

By SPORTS REPORTER FAZ president Andrew Kamanga has promised to support the FIFA candidacy of Morocco Royal Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa for the Arabic/Portuguese/Spanish block. Speaking after meeting the Kingdom of Morocco Chargé d’Affaires Mohamed Kalakhi, Kamanga confirmed that Zambia will support the FIFA candidacy of the Moroccan and in return, Morocco is expected to back Kamanga for the Anglophone seat that he is contesting for during FIFA elections. Kamanga said FAZ’s decision to back Morocco was anchored on the long-standing relationship the two associations enjoyed as evidenced by a Memorandum of Agreement that was signed in 2017. “We had a visit this morning (Tuesday) from the Charge d’ Affaires from the embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, Dr Mohamed Kalakhi who was presenting a request from the embassy of Morocco over CAF elections,” he said. “Morocco have put up a candidate in the president of the Royal Morocco Football Federation Fouzi Lekjaa who is standing for the FIFA council seat under the group of Arabic, Portuguese/Spanish speaking countries “The Charge d’Affaires from the Morocco embassy asked Zambia to support Lekjaa and we have reaffirmed our support,” Kamanga said. “In the same breath we requested Morocco to support the Andrew Kamanga candidacy for the FIFA seat in the same election.” Kamanga said the partnership between the two countries made it easy for FAZ to support Lekjaa’s bid. The FIFA seat for the Anglophone block is being contested by Walter Nyamilandu (Malawi), Lamin Bajo (Gambia), Nicholas Mwendwa (Kenya), Wallace Karia (Tanzania) and Amaju Pinnick (Nigeria). Two slots are available for the Anglophone block.