FIFA referee Joseph Kalunga has been banned for the rest of Zambia’s MTN Super League season following his poor officiating of a match between Atletico Lusaka and FC Muza on Saturday afternoon, March 1.
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) general secretary Reuben Kamanga has confirmed the suspension of Kalunga for his questionable handling of the game Lusaka won 2-1.
He said Kalunga was suspended on the recommendation of the Technical and Match Review Committee of the Referees department that viewed video evidence of the contested decisions in the match played at Nkoloma Stadium.
“A video clip in which Mr. Kalunga awarded a penalty to MUZA FC in the game they played Atletico Lusaka on Saturday 1 March 2025 in a week 26 fixture was forwarded to the Technical and Match review committee of the Referees department. This committee is composed of eminent FIFA and CAF instructors and Assessors and is mandated to review the performance of match officials,” Kamanga said.
“The report from their incident review is that Kalunga was wrong to have awarded the 'penalty' among other contested calls that led to crowd trouble.”
He says FAZ cannot condone the conduct of referees who do not uphold high standards of professionalism.
“At this stage of the league, we will only use referees who are committed to upholding high standards of officiating and not bring our beautiful game into disrepute,” he says.
Kalunga is the second high-profile referee to be banned this campaign after Shem Nyondo who was also penalised for his officiating of a match between Kabwe Warriors FC and Nkana FC on December 18, 2024, at Godfrey Ucar Chitalu Stadium in Kabwe.
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