Zambia to recruit 2,000 soccer referees

The Referees Association of Zambia (RAZ) has embarked on a program to recruit 2,000 soccer referees with the support from the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), local newspaper Times of Zambia reported Thursday.

RAZ president Welly Chikuka was cited by the paper as saying of the total projected number, 700 would be female referees.

Chikuka expressed gratitude at the support from the NFF who have been conducting training for sportsmen and women, referees and administrators in their various fields.

"The development of football can not be achieved without paying attention to refereeing. We need to have trained referees for our football to develop at the same level in all parts of the country, " he said.

NFF general secretary Anders Krystad, who was facilitator at a trainers seminar in Lusaka, said the decision to come to Zambia was arrived at in collaboration with other organizations like Kicking AIDS Out.

Krystad said the NFF had also embarked on programs that could be used to curb such vices like racism, HIV/AIDS using sport as a tool.

Source: Xinhua