The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) have said they are ready to face their former coach Aljosa Asanovic at FIFA over their contractual dispute.
FAZ on Sunday announced that the Croatian had resigned from his job after going AWOL since July.
Asanovic has been in his native country since Zambia lost 1-0 at home to Mozambique on July 30 to crash out of the Algeria 2023 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.
FAZ STATEMENT
“FAZ wishes to inform its members and stakeholders that Chipolopolo coach Aljosa Asanovic has resigned,” FAZ said in a statement on Sunday.
Asanovic, who took over the Chipolopolo hot seat in January, communicated his resignation to FAZ.
FAZ General Secretary Adrian Kashala confirmed Asanovic sent his resignation from his home country after refusing to “resolve the matter through a roundtable”.
“Following weeks of fruitless efforts to get the coach to return to his workstation and resolve contractual matters, we have been notified by Mr Aljosa Asanovic through his lawyers that he has quit his position as Zambia National Team Head Coach,” Kashala said.
“Understandably, after failure to meet some of the key performance indicators and propensity to leave his workstation after every international assignment made his position untenable.”
He further said they welcomed his decision to drag the association to FIFA to seek closure.
The coach, through his legal team, claimed the Zambia FA had violated contractual obligations.
“I must emphasize that coach Aljoša Asanovic is no longer the coach of the Zambian national football team, as of September 22, 2022.
“Because the coach unilaterally terminated the contract due to the violation of contractual obligations by the Football Association of Zambia,” his legal representative Davor Radic was quoted by Croatian media.
“When I say violations, I mean primarily the failure to fulfil financial obligations towards coach Aljoša Asanovic.”
However, Kashala added they were equally keen to have the matter put to finality.
“We welcome Mr Asanovic’s desire to report the matter to FIFA as we equally want finality on the matter especially in the claim for remuneration for the period one is absent from work,” he said.
FAZ, according to Kashala, is in consultation with government and other stakeholders and will announce the next steps in due course.
