No allowances for friendly games -Kasengele

FOOTBALL Association of Zambia general secretary George Kasengele has clarified media reports suggesting that the local players were underpaid in a friendly match against Zimbabwe on April 28.
In an interview Kasengele said there were no allowances prepared for the players because the match was for charity and also used to select players for the Cosafa and CHAN tournaments.
Kasengele said FAZ did not accrue any money from the match as everything was being handled by the families of the Gabon air crush victims.
“That was a charity match. There were no allowances after that match because it was a game meant to commemorate 20 years of our departed heroes, but at the same time it was used to select players for upcoming tournaments,” Kasengele said.
“So as FAZ we did not accrue any money from that match. The families were the ones manning the gates, they sold the tickets and they shared the money.”
Some sections of the media reported that some players complained of being under paid after it is reportedly that they received US$20 dollars each for beating Zimbabwe 2-0 in friendly match organised to commemorate 20 years of the Gabon air crush.
FAZ invited Zimbabwe for a friendly match at Nkoloma stadium to commemorate 20 years since the ill fated air crush that killed an entire Chipolopolo team that was on its way to Senegal to play a world cup qualifier.
Kasengele confired that the association gave the players transport money after the game but could not disclose how much each one got.
“I would tell those players who are complaining to know that most of the times when we play friendly matches players don’t get allowances, even senior players in the team know about this and they have never complained,” Kasengele said.
“The players should understand that the important thing during that match was to pick players who would be used for the upcoming matches.”
Zambia is preparing for the Cosafa tournament which the country would host and the 2014 CHAN qualifier in July.