Former national football team skipper Christopher Katongo has advised young footballers to remain in school while pursuing their dream.
He says footballers can benefit from an education while they develop their talent in preparation for a professional football career.
Speaking in Lusaka at the recent Samsung ‘Dream Camp’ at Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC), Katongo encouraged students from Munali and Matero Boys Secondary School to focus on completing their education.
“Even when I knew I wanted to play football, I completed my education. Stay in school because it helps you when you begin to develop your talent and have to interact with people, coaches and other footballers all over the world,” he said.
Katongo, whose football career has seen him play in the German, Turkey, South African and Danish league among others, was conducting a training camp with the students from the secondary schools under the Samsung ‘I See Your Dream’ initiative which brought the two schools together in helping them with skills development and interactive training.
Samsung is the official sponsor of the ongoing Orange Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Equatorial Guinea. The ‘Dream Camp’ forms part of Samsun’s commitment to bring football fans closer to the beautiful game and create excitement amongst communities during the Orange AFCON 2015.
The camp allowed young soccer enthusiasts to receive training from professional football coaches. The professional coaching session took the students through their paces as they found out first-hand what it takes to compete at international level.
Samsung brand ambassador Katongo took part in the ‘Dream Camp’ and shared his experiences as a professional football player who has represented the national side at the highest level, ultimately seeing him lift the AFCON trophy as captain in 2012.
“Our greatest passion in Africa is football and the Dream Camp gives young footballers the opportunity to go after their dreams. The Samsung ‘I See Your Dreams’ Dream Camp has inspired Zambia to create tomorrow’s legends and support local football talent,” says Katongo.
And George Ferreira, Chief Operating Officer & Vice President of Samsung South Africa said the Dream Camp was an opportunity to foster the spirit of professionalism and nurture the love of football in the youth.
“It isn’t often that students get the opportunity to receive training from professional coaches and meet professional footballers who have played on the global stage. As we reach the final stages of the campaign, we focus on sustainability and growing the talent through Dream Camp,” Ferreira says.
Nice one Ba Katongo. It’s amazing most of national team players can’t articulate themselves well in the queen’s language.
My admiration for this man is never ending. I wish he had been on Janzas squad. Hope to see him in 2017. Keep the good work, my brother
aint u ashamed using my name?
No . Trying to show a sharp contrast yo your clueless rankings. Any way l am Ghana Paradox. The country at the 2015 AFCON finals. Their early exit u hoped for never materialized. ARENT U RATHER ASHAMED OF YOURSELF?grie up & come out of your baseless hatred for others who disagree with u on trivial matters. Your language is offensive & uncultured . Don’t u read from seasoned persons like ROK & POSITIVE THINKING ? If not, do so.
your fellow comrades ie GB BOI, Brasii 27, selfmade, zambia is our toilet holes and kukuffile started all this u see from us on GSN. This was after zambia beat ghana twice in a row andf= CAF Awaded us free point after the sudan game, they started coming to this site with heavy insults, we as zambians took the fight to them to GSN, Thats y u see me and mumbi on your site, we r there because of wat yo frends started
Nice one captain. Please consider buying buying a pair of football boots to that boy ( player ) seated bare foot in front of you in this picture. He may make another you in years to come
Forget about that “kama Girl” you smuggled into your room in Ndola. ebwaume ubo. Nabo Bukulu!!! In any case Chris keep it up and not down. We want to see you at the AFCON 2017 instead of Sautu, Patson Daka, and other young ones, They need to mature!!! If only you, Isaac Chansa, Musonda Jacob and Chamanga were there we could have been speaking of a different story!!!
I can’t believe you can even mention those names like Chansa, Musonda and Chamanga.
James chamanaga and Joseph musonda are old dogs stop calling for them. The ones who would have made a difference are felix katongo, Chris katongo, Jacob mulenga, Rodgers kola, fwayo and nyambe mulenga. If these platers were in our team zambia would have beaten tunisia and reached at least semi final. Pathetic Janza is too blame for poor team selection. I cannot blame Kay hummer or Tc soccer man for their resentment towards Janza. However, in my opinion him and Renard are no different both pathetic.
@ John You have not got it right. Janza is not at the same level as Renard. You need to work on your opinion before we have you lost to the sister university ( Chinama Hospital) Ke…ke…..ke…….
Chamanga and Joseph nabakota,fwayo,Felix,Jacob,Rodgers and nyambe were going to make a difference.
Yes these are the players we needed in the team.
In other news Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Colombia have qualified for the under 20 world cup. The African qualifiers will be decided next month. Zambia will be one of the 8 countries fighting for a spot at the most prestigious youth football tournament in the world.
then pray you qualify with ghana since we are in the same group..the only team to win u20 wc in africa is ghana and those players are now in the national team.wait as we showcase new set of talents for future national team.
AGE CHEATING WON U THE WORLDCUP UNDER 20, NOTHIN TO BE HAPPY ABT
Stupidity serves u right. Something to be concerned about
Paradox Ghana does not age cheat. Why are they in the final of afcon and also how did they get to quarter final of the world cup. Ghana is a classy outfit let’s not hate but try and emulate them and build a team from our u-17 and u-20
@john pliz u must be ashamed of yo self mentioning that name RENARD in yo mouth the guy is in the final and u r busy comparing him with yo headless chicken JANZA ma rubbish ya muntu…!!!! That guy I hate him for wat he did to our national team
Some of you characters on this blog make me laugh you are still talking about that fluke Renard in 2015. Why do you talk about him so much as if he is a woman. Your infatuation with him scares me. I’m not interested in discussing the pathetic coach who is riding on the class of ivory Coast to build his cv. I am more interested in the under 20 world cup coming up. This will be a big tournament remember the class of essien, Figo, Henry, Messi, robben, alexis sanchez etc all these classy players have featured at this event I hope zambia can book it’s place at the 2015 world cup. I’m also excited by the fact that we are hosting afcon 2017 u-20 it will present another chance for our boys to go to the world cup as we build a solid team.
paradox,either we cheated or not,the fact remains that we won it so what is your problem? afterall its not our fault that you dont eat balance diet.
Paradox’s naivity is exhibited each day . Look at who is saying “someone is somehow mature”. How is this brainless chap able to discern that someone is matured or not? He is talking about something else as he is utterly confused.