“He Betrayed Me”: Fashion Sakala Exposes Alleged Corruption and Manipulation in FAZ

Zambian international Fashion Sakala has addressed his absence from the national team and alleged a pattern of dishonest and potentially corrupt behaviour within the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), specifically implicating President Andrew Kamanga and national team coaches.

In an interview on Hot FM’s Hot Seat Programme on Tuesday, Kamanga has attributed Sakala’s long absence from the national team to a strained relationship between the player and some of his teammates.

Sakala has not played for the national team since 21 January 2024. His omission came after he publicly criticised coach Avram Grant for favouring players that are under the agency of Israeli player agent Nir Karin.

Responding to the comments by Kamanga, Sakala went live on Facebook stream on his page, claiming that his current exclusion stems from a planned confrontation with coach Grant orchestrated by Kamanga, who subsequently betrayed him.

Sakala claims he consulted Kamanga before responding to Grant’s audio, with Kamanga instructing him to insult Grant, promising to remove the coach and reinstate the 28-year-old forward.

“Mr Kamanga started telling me now how I should respond to Grant. Why would Grant send you such kind of voice notes? Does he know how far you’ve come with the national team? Does he know where you came from? You have been playing for the national team for years, and he’s being disrespectful to you like that,” Sakala revealed.

“You have to insult him. You have to send bad messages to him because he’s very stupid. I’m [Kamanga], the boss, and I’ll take him out of the national team. He can’t talk to you like that. You are the senior player.”

With over 12 matches since his last Chipolopolo cap as he remains frozen out of the squad, Sakala adds Kamanga is portraying a false narrative in interviews and that his exclusion from the national team is a result of Kamanga failing to uphold his promise.

“Mr Kamanga is not an honest person. He has been doing interviews. He has been saying all these things, but Mr Kamanga is not an honest person. So you get it from me.”

“Mr Kamanga is a betrayer. He betrayed me. You know, after all these things that I and he spoke about in secret, he’s going live, having interviews and starting to tell people, telling the whole country about No, the coach has the power to select the players, which is true, by the way.”

Sakala explicitly states that his response to Grant, which was leaked in an audio recording, was planned in consultation with Mr Kamanga.

He also alleges that players are being pressured to sign with the coach’s agent to be considered for national team selection.

The Al Fayha forward recounted a specific instance involving his former roommate, Toaster Nsabata, who was allegedly threatened with exclusion if he didn’t sign with Karin, a FIFA agent. Sakala views this as detrimental to the integrity of Zambian football.

“After that meeting, I spoke to my teammate, who was my roommate in the Africa Cup. I told him, I said, You know, because that agent was telling my teammates that, you know, you have to sign with me. If you don’t sign with me, you won’t play for the national team.”

“The agent of the coach putting pressure on players. No, you have to sign with me. No, you have to, you know, be my player to play for the national team. No, we are Zambians. That should come first.”

Sakala maintains he has always been disciplined and respectful, and his reluctance to apologise stems from his belief that he was following Kamanga’s instructions and that the issue is not simply about his individual playing status but the integrity of Zambian football.