CLIFFORD MULENGA FIRES BACK AT MWEEMBA OVER FAZ ‘FAILURES’ CLAIMS
….blasts current administration’s lack of continuity
By DAVID KANDUZA
FORMER Zambia soccer team forward Clifford Mulenga has launched a fierce defense of his track record, when he served as a youth development officer at the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), hitting back at association president Keith Mweemba over accusations of ‘past failures’ within the country’s junior ranks.
In a scathing, data-backed statement published on his official Facebook page, Mulenga chose to lay out the cold facts of his tenure rather than retreat into self-preservation.
The explosive reaction follows comments made by Mweemba last weekend in Ndola, where the FAZ chief expressed deep displeasure with former administrators airing negative sentiments regarding the current governing body’s administrative struggles.
Instead of backing down, Mulenga double-downed on his philosophy, framing his controversial past decisions not as administrative blunders, but as a deliberate ‘youth development strategy’ that yielded unprecedented success.
At the heart of the fallout is a historical scheduling conflict involving the Under-17 national team.
Critics had previously pointed to the decision to split squads between the Region Five Games in Namibia and the prestigious Gothia Cup as a logistical breakdown.
Mulenga, however, revealed the calculation behind the chaos:
“The players who had done the work and helped Zambia qualify for the World Cup could form the core of the Gothia Cup squad. The other players could go to the Region Five Games, giving the technical team an opportunity to assess new players… To me, that was not a failure of youth development. That was a youth development strategy,” he wrote.
As a self-proclaimed “success story of the Gothia Cup pathway,” Mulenga argued that the Swedish tournament offered an unmatched gateway to global scouts, academies and agents that regional competitions simply cannot replicate.
“Why should Zambia choose between two opportunities when we could use both to develop more players?” he questioned.
To validate his philosophy, Mulenga pointed directly to the history books, drawing a stark contrast between the state of the youth system during his tenure and the current slide under Mweemba’s leaders.
“The U17 boys qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup for the first time in Zambia’s history,” Mulenga noted, before delivering a parting shot regarding his exit in August 2025.
“Subsequently, the U17 boys failed to qualify for the AFCON and FIFA U-17 World Cup 2026… records should be discussed in their entirety.”
Insisting his critique of Mweemba’s administration was ‘not personal,’ Mulenga concluded by emphasising that structural continuity was the only way forward for Zambian football.
While presidents and administrators were temporary, a player’s career was brief and fragile.
By demanding an honest conversation about the results, Mulenga had effectively thrown down the gauntlet.
The ball was now firmly back in Keith Mweemba’s court as FAZ faced growing pressure to steady a rocking youth ship.