Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has decided to bring the Super League season to an early closure, just weeks after it restarted, following the increase of coronavirus among players and teams officials.
The decision to end the league was announced on Friday where the country’s football governing body said it will be concluded on August 6 before declaring the champions.
So far 49 members of four major teams have tested Covid-19 positive, a clear indication on how the virus has spread among players and officials in the Super League.
“The decision to close the league has been necessitated by the concerns that the Association has received from various stakeholders especially Government through the Ministry of Health particularly from Zambia National Public Health Institute. The recent surge in numbers of the COVID-19 occurrences has put a strain on the health system across the board,” FAZ said in a statement.
“FAZ has been monitoring the situation and also constantly engaging the authorities on the possibilities as the numbers continue to surge.
“One of the major challenges has been the long delays in securing test appointments and results by most of the clubs in the league after being tested which meant that certain matches could not be played due to the inability of clubs to produce results when called upon to do so. Regrettably, with the surge in numbers, it has meant that the flow of results has been slower.
“Unfortunately despite signing up to observe the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health, the compliance levels by most of the clubs have also not been satisfactory. The ZNPHI noted some lapses that they brought to our attention and the clubs affected.
“Among the breaches noted by ZNPHI from our clubs were failure to manage the isolation of players and officials who tested positive, unrestricted access to camping sites, failure to observe social distancing and lack of sanitizers and disinfectants at designated places.”
The current league season will be concluded on August 6, 2020, after all the teams have played their Week 27 round of matches.
FAZ has however released plans for next season by setting a start date of Oct. 17, by which time it hopes to have more rigid processes in place.
