28/11/2017
Side’s significant achievement sees them set for first season in Division One
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – Zambeef Football Club are celebrating their historic promotion to the Football Association of Zambia’s Division One after being crowned Division Two champions.
Next season will see the side mark their debut in the league after securing the Division Two title.
The club came close to securing promotion in the 2016 season but finished the campaign in fourth place.
But this year turned out to be a glorious one for them, the side losing just five out of the 30 games they played and lifting the league title trophy after racking up 65 points.
Zambeef FC team co-ordinator Lazzie Mukonga stressed how his side’s dedication and excellent work ethic had paved the way for their success and added how much they were looking forward to playing at a higher level in 2018.
He said: “We are excited to start this new chapter as it shows that we have been working really hard in the last 12 years to get where we are today. “It has been a fruitful year and this is definitely a new challenge for us, but one I believe we are ready for.”
Zambeef staff make up the team put together in 2005 and they first won promotion to Division Two four years ago. Mr Mukonga added that playing football has so many positives: “Sport provides an avenue for our staff to relax and connect outside of work as much as it is a benefit in terms of health and keeping fit.”
He further noted that football has also provided a great opportunity for the company to engage with the community. Zambeef’s association with football goes way back with the firm supporting several football teams playing in leagues and at a community level which have provided a path to the top for players like Zambian star James Chamanga.
A further football connection comes through the Zamleather division which makes the popular Kaleza Z-12 and AstroTurf football boots, the first of their kind to be locally designed and manufactured in Zambia. Zamleather is also home to the Alive & Kicking employment-generation project that manufacturers quality leather footballs that carry health messages and are distributed to under-privileged teams nationwide.
Zambeef Football Club
Zambeef Products Plc is the largest integrated cold chain food products and agribusiness company in Zambia and one of the largest in the region, involved in the primary production, processing, distribution and retailing of beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs, dairy products, fish, flour and stockfeed, throughout Zambia and the surrounding region, and Nigeria and Ghana.
The Group is also one of the largest cereal row cropping operations in Zambia, with approximately 7,787 hectares of row crops under irrigation which are planted twice a year, and a further 8,694 hectares of rainfed/dry-land crops available for planting each year.
The company slaughters around 78,000 beef cattle, 7.3 million chickens and 60,000 pigs per annum, while also processing 19 million litres of milk, producing 154,000 tons of stockfeed, 69 million eggs, 68,000 pairs of shoes and processes 100,000 hides in its tannery per year.
It has 195 retail outlets throughout Zambia and West Africa.
Zambeef employs over 7,000 people with a total of K357 million paid in remuneration and benefits in the last year.
More information is available at www.zambeefplc.com
