PLAYERS HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY – MTONGA

By Fulman Mukobeko

RENOWNED Football Agent Donald Mtonga says Zambia has failed to produce many professional players in the top league because it lacks indigenous football managers.

Speaking in an interview with The Scoop, Mtonga, who was former Chipolopolo and Supersport player Francis Kombe’s agent,  wondered why connected football heroes like Kalusha Bwalya failed to facilitate the movement of  local player into strong leagues like La Liga in Spain, Premiership in England, Bundesliga in Germany, the French league and Serie A in Italy.

He added that the Zambian league was not highly advertised and that the football talent was not showcased massively to the world of soccer.

“You asked me a pertinent question: why don’t we produce many players to the European League. The reason is simple. We don’t thoroughly advertise our league in Zambia. We have talent but we don’t know how to invest in this talent. How do we invest in this talent? We cannot just pick a player, introduce him to the coach without knowing their performance and their management,” he said.

Mtonga added: “Let me give an example…We have got few players like Fashion Sakala; he is a very good player but where does his manager come from? It is a Los Angeles based Sports Marketing and Management Company, Wasserman. Why are we failing to produce managers like that in Zambia? What is the problem with Kalusha Bwalya and others? These are the people who should be managing players in Zambia but we have left everything to the people outside the country to manage our own players here.”

He said there was a standard on how players were managed , citing former Chipolopolo goal-poacher Collins Mbesuma who had a South African Manager and with his connections, helped to take the ex-Roan United Star  to England’s Portsmouth Football Club.

“We have great players like Kalusha Bwalya in Zambia. We have leaders like Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga…I know that Kamanga is connected but the way Zambian Football is being tackled, I don’t think we can reach greater heights,” he said.

He also took a swipe at local coaches for failing to promote Zambian football, adding that women football was doing better than men’s football because coaches did not know how to handle players.

He said there was a need for the coaches, players, and management to work hand-in- hand if Zambian football was to improve and that if Zambian football was to develop, there was a need to go back to the old ways of  tapping talent from schools.

He emphasised the need to identify how schools like Naboye Secondary in Kafue were performing. He wondered why the Lusaka Select versus Copperbelt Select tournament had been abandoned

“Education played a key role in the development of Zambian Football. We had players from Chongwe Boys in the name of Perry Mutapa, Isaac Mumba, Alifold Mapataki…Those were products of Chongwe Boys and Lusaka Dynamos had expanded their view into netting those talents into the league hence, we had a competitive league that time.

“Now, if you look at the way things are happening, if you have no connection in any league in Zambia, you can’t play football. It is a tit for tat way of doing things where people are meant to pay. Even if you are a good player, if you don’t have any connections, you can’t play in a league,” he said.