Zambia: The Football Association of Zambia is back with their weekly President Column to share the weekly updates. They started with the word for the 2023 Coted’voire Africa Cup of Nations, which means welcome, as they learned in Abidjan during the draw.
Cote d’Ivoire put up quite a spectacle to lay the ground for the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations that the Chipolopolo will deservedly be part of. As everyone already knows, Zambia is in Group F alongside neighbouring Congo DR, Tanzania, and Morocco. Given the competitiveness of the qualification process, there would never be an easy draw for any team.
Overall, the draw is fair but will require adequate preparations for a successful tournament. The work has already begun with Chipolopolo utilizing the FIFA window by playing two international friendly matches.
Coach Avram Grant and his troops succumbed to a 1-0 loss to Egypt at the Abu Zayed Stadium in the United Arab Emirates. However, the final match will be played tomorrow against Uganda. These matches are meant to help the technical bench prepare for the assignments ahead.
“FAZ said they have the twin targets of preparing for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November and the AFCON. As a first step, we had a team from Zambia having a look at the situation on the ground in San Pedro, where Group F will be based. We understand what needs to be done to ensure that the team settles well in that environment before and during the tournament.”
“Our emissaries already had a look at the accommodation sites, training pitches and the match venue. We have already started our engagements with the government on the preparatory programme and budget to ensure that we are on top of things, “said FAZ.
In the women’s game, Malawi’s new-look Copper Queens were edged 2-1 in the final of the 2023 Cosafa Women’s Championship. FAZ congratulate the team for making it to the final with a youthful side that gives us hope that we are going to be competitive for a long time. The technical bench made a very thoughtful decision to give newcomers a chance to play at a high level.
“This is part of the plan that, post the 2023 FIFA World Cup, we should begin to regenerate our team. The Cosafa provided a perfect first step, and we have no doubt that we will be a revitalised force going into the WAFCON qualifiers and Olympic matches.”
“FAZ also urge the under-20 girls not to be discouraged after being eliminated from the race for the Colombia 2024 FIFA Women’s World Cup race on away goals rule by the Democratic Republic of Congo. We will do a postmortem of the two-legged assignment and build from there. With junior teams, the idea is always to give them maximum exposure.”