Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has announced revised officiating fees for match officials officiating Super League, and National Division One games.
FAZ says the upwards revision has been done in consultation with various stakeholders, with clubs being sounded out during two Consultative meetings held before the commencement of the 2021/2022 season in Ndola and Lusaka, where FAZ MTN Super League and FAZ Eden University National Division One teams had an opportunity to express their views and debate on the revision of the match officiating fees.
FAZ General Secretary Adrian Kashala says the revision of fees is part of the continuous process of improving the operating environment for match officials.
With the revised the fees, the referees will get K2, 200 with the assistant referees getting K1, 800 from K1,000 and K900 respectively.
The match commissioners will get K2, 500 while the reserve referee will pocket K2, 200 for the Super League.
For the National Division One, the referee will get K1, 200 while the assistant will get K900 with the reserve official receiving K1, 200.
The match commissioner will be given K1, 500.
Kashala says the new match officiating fees will take effect on October 30, 2021.
The FAZ General Secretary says Football House has also taken note of concerns around match officiating and was working hard to rectify the problems.
“We have never tired from investing in the upgrade of our match officials. We continuously expose them to high level training by both CAF and FIFA instructors,” Kashala says.
“We also salute some of the referees that have excelled locally and internationally where they are assigned by CAF and FIFA matches. We are proud of their achievements and pray that their example will inspire others to aspire for exemplary standards. We had some Zambian referees handling FIFA World Cup Qualifiers during the current FIFA window and represented the badge well.”
Officiating fees for the lower division were last revised in 2013 while the Super League perks were last upped in 2017.
FAZ has also revised transport allowances with the entitlement ranging from K160 to K1, 500 depending on the distance covered.
“We expect that along with other areas of refereeing that we are improving, this will also help increase the quality of officiating in our game,” says Kashala.
Referees have recently come under attack for poor officiating with the latest being the Nkana versus ZANACO match.
This is contained in a statement issued by FAZ Communications Manager Sydney Mungala.