Thursday, March 28, 2024

Nike opted to pull out because of mismanagement…as Ponga sheds more light on KoPa brand

FAZ General Secretary Ponga Liwewe has revealed that the association decided to turn to KoPa brand after being snubbed by the major brands as they were reluctant to offer  full sponsorship package.

And Ponga has pointed out that ‘Nike opted not to renew the contract because of the way it was managed’ as he blamed the previous FAZ regime.

Below is the full script from the official FAZ facebook page.

On Thursday FAZ announced that it had designed its own kit called KoPa which will be unveiled at the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Morocco.

Liwewe said that the kit would be of highest standard that will be produced by a Far East manufacturer.

“We looked at what was prevailing in th football market. Currently a lot of the big brands have shifted away from the smaller sponsorships, if you look at companies like Puma who a few years ago were quite dominant in the African market, they withdrew and put all their assets in the bigger teams like Arsenal if you look at Leicester City in the Premiership, Borussia Dortmund, all those are the new beneficiaries of the new strategy of Puma and other bigger companies to focus on where they have the numbers and where the money is,” he said.

“Nike for example only have two countries in Africa which is South Africa and Nigeria and remember the Nike contract was with Zambia and after Nike opted not to renew the contract because of the way it was managed, they then went to do a deal with the Nigerians and the South Africans.”

Liwewe said, “We looked at several options, we looked at MAFRO which did not live up to our expectations and limitations and did our research and thought that if we have our own brand we can own the value chain from top to bottom without having a third party to possibly pull out some of the revenues from the deal.”’

He said that deal would go beyond football and encompass other sports disciplines.

“This is a brand that will go beyond football, so it will look at catering for other sports in Zambia. It will look at all the Zambia national soccer teams,” he said.

The FAZ chief executive officer said that the kit would be manufactured in the Far East through an internationally recognized firm.

“We are working with an internationally recognisable manufacturer in the Far East, which is where all the big companies do their production. People will say Nike is an American brand, Adidas is a Germany brand, Apple is an American brand but all these companies do their production in the Far East because that is definitely where the low cost labour allows those companies to make profits,” he said.

“We have looked at the same sources of production and ensure that we meet the highest standards of production that is expected of the national team.”

He said that the association would work with law enforcement agencies to curb possible counterfeits.

“We will inform the public of where the official replica comes from because I am sure everybody wants to have a high standard replica. Nobody wants to wear an imitation or something which is of low quality. So we are taking several steps to ensure that the public get the best of the Zambian brand,” he said.

FAZ terminated its deal with Singaporean kit supplier Mafro in May citing several breaches by the sponsor.

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10 Comments

  1. Now am a bit confused, how will it be Zambian owned or Faz owned if it will be produced in the far east? Has faz entered into a new contract with the company in the far east? Clarify ba Ponga

    • Bro…the brand is the name or symbol, its patented and belongs to YOU and whatever you put it on will benefit you-if someone pays for it. FAZ has no industries but specifies the quality to outsourced industries that in turn makes the products…the industries don’t own the products but the labour! This is good for Faz and Zedian football because they will get as much more than 60% from the sold product because the middleman is eliminated. The more successful Chipolopolo is the more the KoPa brand’s association is sort after, be it by business houses or individuals…good business sense…its time to move on and do knew things!

  2. Wow! This will be a major loophole for corruption and mismanagement. There will be no transparency as it will be extremely difficult to know the turnover and exact profits. This is mafia behaviour.

    • I beg to differ. Our Zambian culture is so corrupt prone that its not amazing that you think there will be no transparency…Turnovers and profits are on paper, and paper always leaves a smoking gun. We need to give the current FAZ team a chance to prove their worth, and after the failed deal with NIKE they went along with the norm but that too gave as messed out deal with an inferior quality because nobody out their trusts us…independent auditors will find them wanting if they start stealing…we move on tata…

  3. The Kopa brand was going to be better managed if it was owned by another company. Faz has no resources to become its own supplier. The revenue for groball sporting companies is not limited to local replica sells.

  4. It is simple here “Financial Management” .FAZ will source cheap but quality material and send it to far east for production where Labour is cheap as well as taxes.In return faz will start selling the brand to teams in zambia and outside, replicas to the fans as well.some american items we see are not manufactured in USA but in others countries for profit making venture though they are of quality standards.

  5. This is thinking outside the box. What matters most is that the team look good in quality gear and us fans can purchase the same quality product. Bonus is that the profits stay with Zambia.

    There are so many brands these days. You simply find a reputable factory in China, design your product and sell.

  6. I beg to differ on this outsourcing issue. There is a tremendous opportunity to manufacture your own brand, then why not go all the way? This is a good start, but the long term goal should be 100% Zambian made.

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