84 km from Chipata covered in 1 hour 30 minutes on average speed of a vehicle as per Zambian roads safety guidelines lies a team which plays in the FAZ provincial league one of Eastern province a third-tier FAZ league, the team is called Chadiza United the pride of chadiza people.
Chadiza United was formed in 2013 and is owned by Chadiza district council with its home ground being new showground grounds. The team even has local rivals in Chadiza Police Rangers who also play in provincial league one of the Eastern province of Zambia.
After being formed, it started plying its trade in an amateur league and after 2 years in 2015, it won promotion to eastern provincial league 3 where it spent a year as it finished in the top 4 brackets thereby securing promotion to provincial league two for the 2016 season.
In provincial division two, it struggled in the first season to make a mark as it finished outside the top 4 brackets losing out on the opportunity to play in the provincial league one. Their second stint in the league proved fruitful as they qualified for the provincial league in the year 2018.
Since securing promotion for the 2019 provincial league one season, they have never looked back as they have continued to make tremendous progress.
During the 2019/2020 FAZ Eastern provincial league one season, they finished 1 point behind Petauke united with whom they went toe-toe in the race for national league playoffs, a FAZ second-tier league. If it wasn’t for the league to be brought to an end prematurely due Covid-19 pandemic maybe just maybe they would have sealed qualification to national league playoffs in which Petauke United who was one point ahead of them represented the province.
“If it wasn’t for Covid-19 pandemic which hampered the 2019/2020 provincial league one season, we would have been the one to go for national league playoffs because Petauke United was ahead of us by one point and that’s how the games were put on halt”, Albert Ndhlovu, the Chadiza united media secretary toLD the ZamFoot Crew in an exclusive interview.
Despite the ups and downs, the team has remained focused and glued to its goal of qualifying for the national league, and this year it is a target they have set again.
“This year we have set a target as a team, we want to qualify for national league and am confident that we are going to do it as you know in football everything is possible,” Ndhlovu said.
The team hasn’t started so well as they have lost one match in the two games they have played and they find themselves in 9th position with 3 points. They have got the opportunity to rearrange themselves in time as they are remaining with 32 games to play.
They will be away to Chipata city council who occupy 5th position with 4 points 2 behind league leaders Katete united and the match is poised for David Kaunda stadium, a 10,000 seater capacity stadium earmarked for rehabilitation by FAZ using FIFA funds. It will be their third game of the season and they need nothing less than a win to keep the shape for the national playoffs’ top spot.
