WHY FAZ HAS FAILED TO MARKET ZAMBIAN FOOTBALL AND ATTRACT BIG CASH SPONSORSHIP
By Godfrey Mwansa Chikumbi
… instead of marketing players, the Zambian media promote the FAZ President, pastors making it difficult for corporate investors to pump BIG CASH into the game…
Football marketing can be defined as the process in which corporations and companies use the popular sport and, and celebrity footballers to connect with consumers.
If you read and understood this definition, you can agree with me that big corporate investors in Zambia don’t want to use Zambian football for brand visibility. In short companies treat Zambia ln football as a charity where you donate money and expect nothing in return.
Yes Zambian football is cash - strapped. The only revenue streams for Andrew Kamanga’s FAZ is government and FIFA funding. The Kopa strip has failed to sell because of the poor quality of the apparel and Chipolopolo’s failure to make it to the last three editions of AFCON.
HERE IS THE REASON WHY
It’s difficult for corporate investors to sign up for deals with FAZ because the FAZ President and his executive posture themselves as the central figures of the game; they hog away the limelight from the players. Pastors and football laypersons are the biggest authorities in Zambian football. They are given unlimited space on TV even when none of them has ever kicked the ball. I have never seen a pastor analysing the EPL games on Sky Sports neither have I seen the FA Chairperson dancing to TWABASONA songs.
It’s such a shame that FAZ can’t cash in on the booming of women football (Shepolopolo). It’s simple, instead of taking Lushomo Mweemba to ZNBC TV, Mr. Kamanga is the one who went to dance to his “TWABASONA” anthem on TV.
With such a huge achievement at the 2022 WAFCON, you expect corporate entities to be flocking to Football House asking for Barbara Banda, Hazel Nali, Ireen Lungu, et al’s endorsements of their various brands. Never seen a single corporate billboard in Lusaka to disprove my assertion.
HOW DID OTHERS DO IT?
The Kalusha Bwalya administration understood corporate sponsorship. That is the reason why today we have MTN, Supersport and ABSA; including Nike, FNB, Samsung, Airtel (Airtel Rising Stars), Zambian Breweries ( I hear they are now back in small way).
It’s simple; Kalusha never went to TV or radio to do propaganda. Despite being a successful footballer himself, he never went to TV talk about himself. In that way he created room for players like Chris Katongo, Emmanuel Mayuka, Rainford Kalaba and others to thrive. Following the 2012 AFCON glory, we saw players endorsing various products and services offered by corporate investors.
In this era and age, you have a national association that solely depends on government and FIFA funding while lying that the Kopa brand is giving cash. Kopa is just a piggy bank for some individuals at FAZ.
Look at how the so called National Division One and the Provincial leagues are struggling. How can you depend on a private university to be sponsoring such an important league? The Provincial leagues don’t even have a single sponsor to talk about.
Clubs are so broke in rural areas that traveling to fulfill a fixture is now a nightmare. Many fixtures are now treated as walkovers.
SOLUTIONS
1. The FAZ President and his colleagues at Football House should stay away from TV, radio, newspapers and social media to give prominence to celebrity footballers. FAZ President has a weekly column on football? How can someone who has never played football be lecturing us on it.
2. The Zambian media should only allow football legends, players and coaches; not pastors on their punditry panels.
3. Football House should never be used for pre-match pressers; shift such to match venues
4. Bin the Kopa strip NOW. It’s a liability to football. Find a big cash sponsor
5. Create equalization fund for lower league football
6. Find another TV Partner
7. Stop fighting Kalusha Bwalya’s legacy.
8. Turn Chipolopolo into a genuine challenger.
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