Andrew Kamanga has insisted that there is a huge possibility that the video assistant referee technology will be introduced next season following the training of officials in analysis.

In his weekly campaign posts, the FAZ president pointed out that Zambia is at an advantage as the country has one of the first individuals in Janny Sikazwe to use the technology.

He said FAZ is setting trends by training staff in video analysis.

“As FAZ we are also looking to setting trends by having some of our people trained in video analysis. The program has already taken off with the technical experts having conducted two courses while another one is currently going on in Lusaka and enters day two today. When I talked about Zambia introducing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in our league, I was ridiculed by some sections of our football,” he said.

“They were quick to scream about costs and the practicability of such technology in our situation. However, they neglected to see that we already had a head start by having one of our referees Janny Sikazwe among the first whistle-men in the world to use VAR at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup. Sikazwe was at the centre of the match between Real Madrid and Kashima Antlers in Japan. Sikazwe has gone on to referee at FIFA World Cup matches as we saw in Russia in 2018.”

Kamanga also took a swipe at critics saying things that are not understood should not be criticised.

“Zambia already has the advantage of having its league matches broadcast across the African continent through our partnership with SuperSport. We can draw huge benefits from this partnership that could ensure that we experiment with this technology. So it can never be by accident that we are training several individuals in Video Analysis. We will also make use of this expertise in ensuring that our game improves through the use of technological tools,” Kamanga said.

“On our part we are committed to using every tool to ensure that we develop our game. All these programs fit into our 10-year strategic plan that is a guiding principle for everything that we do. We also hope that going forward, we do away with the practice of criticising anything that we do not understand. It is my prayer that we go into this brand new week with a positive mind. As always I wish everyone a productive week and observe all the guidelines as we continue to fight the covid-19.”