FORMER Chipolopolo skipper Christopher Katongo says there is need for Zambian football to start improving because not qualifying for two consecutive Africa Cup of Nations is a sign that the game has reached rock bottom.

In an interview, Katongo said if the handlers of the sport were not knowledgeable enough, there would be little development.

“It starts with the management, the people that are managing the teams all over Zambia, the executive. If there are a lot of people who do not know football, it will make football to go down,” Katongo said.

“The other reason [for the underperformance of national teams] is there was no good transition at the national team. Good transition is very important on every level. Even in a village setup there is a transition of changing the headman or changing the people who lead that village and from that I say the transition was bad in our country and that is why football has been going down from.”

Katongo, who captained the team to victory at the 2012 AfCON, said it was not right for the former champions to fail to feature at the biennial tournament.

“I can’t say exactly what is wrong but we can’t stay not taking part in AfCON. For now, we have reached the bottom, we have not qualified to the AfCON two times now, the ship has sunk to the bottom and we just need to start going up again otherwise from this moment we just need to start going up,” said Katongo.

The Chipolopolo boys have struggled to qualify after their first success at the AfCON under then coach Herve Renard.