April started on a bad note for Buildcon as they became the first team to be relegated from the MTN Super League this season following a 6-0 loss at the hands of ZESCO United.
Relegation was always going to be a reality for Team Kopala looking at how poor they had been all season and it was just a matter of when and not if.
However over the weekend things went from bad to worse as they failed to pitch up in Lumwana for a week 29 fixture against Kansanshi Dynamos giving the Solwezi based outfit a walkover.Â
And now they once big spenders could face even stiffer punishment from the local football governing body, FAZ, the ZamFoot Crew understands.
According to the Zambian Premier League Competition rules and regulations, Buildcon will be fined K10,000 and could be demoted to the FAZ Copperbelt Provincial Division Two League.Â
Rule 7.11.1 Reads : Clubs are obliged to participate in fixtures as determined by the ZPL. Any Club which fails to do so by failing to fulfil a fixture, by failing to travel to the field of play and turning up at the appointed time and venue, will be penalised as follows and may also be subject to further sanction:
- (a) Fixture Forfeited and a score of 3-0 entered against them.
- (b) A fine of K 10,000
- (c) Automatic demotion out of the ZPL at the end of the season and to the second level of FAZ Provincial Leagues with a four-point penalty if it occurs three times.
- (d) The sanctions in Rule 7.11.1 (a) and (b) and the points penalty in Rule 7.11.1 (c) will be cumulative and will be enforced each time a team fails to fulfil a fixture by failing to travel to the field of play and turning up at the appointed time and venue.
Buildcon won promotion in 2016 as AM Welding, a team that was bought by the Buildcon Investment Group owned by Moses Mubanga, a Ndola businessman.
Buildcon Investment Group bought the team just a game into the 2016 season but since the fixtures were already out, FAZ advised them to keep the name and only change the following season, 2017.
After winning promotion, the team was moved to Ndola and finished ninth in the league making a lot of noise with their colourful jersey and a starting eleven with majority of foreign players captained by former Chipolopolo player Jonas Sakuwaha.
In 2018 they finished one place higher and the 2019 transitional league saw them finish second in Stream B which meant CAF Confederation Cup football was secured.
Team Kopala’s continental journey was however short lived as they were eliminated by Eswatini outfit Young Buffaloes in the first round thanks to a 2-1 aggregate scoreline.
The 2019/2020 season was cut short due to the Coronavirus epidemic and Buildcon finished 13th on the log.
The next two seasons they finished 11th and 10th respectively but 2022/2023 has been a different season for the Ndola based outfit that came with a bang.
