Government has reiterated its commitment to successfully hosting the U-20 Africa Youth Championship slated for February 2017.

At a media briefing on Thursday evening, December 14, 2016, Minister of Sports, Youth and child development Moses Mawere said government was collectively working with stakeholders to ensure that preparations and eventual hosting of the event were successfully undertaken.

He revealed that a local organizing committee coordinated by Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) had been set up to oversee overall preparations of the tournament

Mawere stated that hosting the tournament gave the country an opportunity to showcase its richness and diversity in culture.

“I would like to urge all Zambians to be deeply involved so as to reap maximum economic and social benefits of hosting a tournament of such magnitude,” he said.

Mawere said the tournament would help boost the country’s economy with inflow of foreign currency, job creation and that the local industry would be financed by various services related to the event.

He also said the preparations by the U-20 national team were on course and that FAZ had set up robust preparation schedule to help improve the performance levels.

“The team has been in camp for two months so far and has played a number of games with super league and division 1 teams. In order to prepare the team, FAZ has also lined a camp for the team in Europe one month before the tournament,”

Zambia will for the first time host the continental football tournament which will be held from February 26, 2017 to March 12,2017.