Zambia: The Football Association of Zambia is back with their weekly President Column to share the weekly updates. This upcoming week is a busy week for FAZ. Copper Queens are also on their way to Angola for the first leg of the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
FAZ is also excited at the prospects of a third possible consecutive WAFCON qualification. Having been at the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, they are determined to make qualification for the tournament a habit.
According to FAZ, “Followers of our women’s team will note that our graph has been on the upswing since the team’s debut qualification in 2014 where we did not win a match and later participated at the 2018 edition where we posted our first ever tournament victory. We bettered our record in 2022 with not just qualification to the quarterfinals but won bronze. Given that progressive pattern, we are confident we will do even better in the next edition. We are, however, conscious that we must negotiate our way through the qualification process before we begin to dream.”
Over the years, FAZ has prioritized the growth of the women’s game and ensured that it is at par with the men’s game. The remuneration structure is the same for the women as in the men’s game.
“We are one of the few countries that has an identical pay structure for women and men. It is not by accident that we have since revolutionised the women’s game, qualified for the Olympics (Tokyo 2020) and the World Cup (Australia/New Zealand),” said FAZ.
“Our deliberate investment in the women’s game has seen some positive results. We now have a fully-fledged women’s league that has cascaded to the provinces. Ultimately, we envisage that the seed sown today will forever change the landscape of the women’s game not just in our country but continent as well.”
Finally, the Chipolopolo stumbled in their second Group E FIFA World Cup qualifier against Niger. They had hoped that after winning 4-2 at home against Congo Brazzaville, we would sustain the momentum against Niger. It did not happen, but we are confident that we will recover.
The qualification process is a marathon, and nothing is decided after two matches. Our focus now will be on preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations. We are working on the pre-tournament camp, where we hope the team will fine-tune itself ahead of the tournament.
The technical bench has presented a programme that we hope to actualize in the next few weeks. It remains our primary objective that we will not just be participants in the tournament.