FAZ Elections- Women’s league representatives: A look at Queens Academy Proprietor
By the ZamFoot Crew | May 25, 2020
Women’s football in Zambia has improved in the recent past as evidenced by the qualification of the senior Women’s national team to the 2018 AWCON and the historical qualification to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
For those who follow Women’s football religiously it was not a surprise to see the Barbara Banda led Copper Queens side rise like a Phoenix and make history in front of a sizable home crowd back in March at the expense of a fancied Cameroon Indomitable Lionesses side.
Away from the pitch, this being an election year, there is a serious battle going on with a number of ‘Iron Ladies’ looking to take up the seat of National Women’s representative.
The incumbent Brenda Kunda is being challenged by KYSA Director Mwansa Hilda Muntangama, Nkana EXCO member Kunda Bowa and Green Buffaloes Women’s football club President Col Priscilla Katoba.
Today, The ZamFoot Crew looks at one of the candidates, Col Katoba. The 44-year-old is a Deputy Director General Finance Branch in the Zambia Army.
She is also the founder and CEO of Kabwe based Women’s club Queens Sports Academy, She is the President of Green Buffaloes Women Football Club and also the Director/Co-founder of Rising Star Sports Academy. Her campaign message is anchored on the Development and Promotion of equality in the game. Col Katoba has vowed to continue to train more female coaches and managers to help improve the Women’s game.
The National teams may be doing well but there is no structured league in the country as only provincial leagues are the ones running currently. The Queens Academy proprietor is however keen on having a well-structured women’s football league (women super league ) and helping in creating women’s teams in all the provinces.
Col Priscilla Katoba is also a firm believer in a proposal to encourage premier league clubs to each to have a women’s football club alongside and lobbying for them to play in a game before the men’s team as a curtain-raiser to help improve the profile of the Women’s game.
Despite all the achievements the Women’s national teams are bringing home there is little or no sponsorship for them and Col Katoba plans to sort this out by leading the hunt to source for sponsors for the women’s super league.
There is a saying that education is key to success whether that is true or not we can all agree it plays a big role in shaping one’s future and most of the girls in the league don’t have the financial capacity or muscle to pay for their education but Col Katoba who is already sending a number of girls to school on her own budget is keen on looking for sponsorship to fund education for the girls.
During her six-year tenure as Green Buffaloes Women’s football club president the club has won every tournament they have participated in, had a player (Memory Phiri) go abroad on a Sports Scholarship at a reputable Oklahoma University in the USA pursuing a Degree in Medicine and sold a player to Europe ( Barbara Banda to EDF Logroño in 2018).
Col Katoba surely has a rich CV in Women’s football administration at the club level but it is up to the councilors to decide whether she is the right person to head Women’s football once the elections come around after the Coronavirus epidemic comes to an end.