Foreign player quota on cards – Kamanga

AARON MUBANGA writes THE Zambia Super League will soon have a quota system on the number of foreign players a team will be allowed to have and the minimum to play in each game. Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President Andrew Kamanga confirmed that currently, there are 190 foreign players on the books of the Association and that even Provincial Division One teams have foreign players. However, this is expected to be a thing of the past as only the Zambia Super League and national Division One will be allowed to have foreign players as the lower divisions will play the role of developing local players. “One area I need to talk about is the introduction of quotas for foreign players. I think this is very key, unfortunately, we have a situation where we have on our books 190 foreign players across the different leagues. Yes, I agree we need to have a quota system,” Kamanga told the ZamFoot Crew. “Unfortunately we have a situation where even in National Division One and Provincial Division One we have foreign, I think that’s unacceptable. The outline we have given where we want to develop players we now have to move away and say development leagues will be for developing players,” he added. FAZ is currently in the consultation phase with Super League teams to tell them the number of players and the minimum allowed to play. Kamanga also went on to say that in the future a team turning up on the pitch with an all foreign starting eleven will not be acceptable. Buildcon in the past has turned up with starting line-up made up of only foreign players. “We have no quarrel with having foreign players in the Super League because they have brought a new dimension and Competition. Yes, the clubs that go and compete in the CAF Inter-clubs Competitions have to have a certain number of players. The Super League teams will now have to come and tell us what that number will be so that we don’t impose,” he said. “Of course we don’t expect a team will go out on the pitch with eleven foreign players I think that also will not work. We have to have a quota. We have to agree on a minimum number of players who can play per a game so that we balance the scale, foreign players will only be allowed in the Super League,” he added. A number of countries of implemented the quota system, In South Africa the Premier Soccer League (PSL) clubs can register a maximum of five foreign players in a season and field any number of their choosing. In China, According to the new policy, every super league club can register seven foreign players during the current season, but only six of them will be registered at one time, five could be in a squad list, and only four could play in a match. – ZAMFOOT The Sun