Zambia: The Football Association of Zambia is back with their weekly President Column to share the weekly updates; they started the column by giving news of Copper Queens take on Angola tomorrow (Tuesday) in the second leg of the final qualifying phase for the Morocco 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations.
Having comprehensively beaten Angola in the first leg by a 6-0 scoreline, FAZ is confident that 2023 FIFA World Cup participants will finish off the job on home soil and qualify for a record third consecutive WAFCON. Six nil can be a flattering scoreline, but they have their interactions with the ladies impressed on them not to drop guard as they host Angola tomorrow.
Given that the Copper Queens will be making a debut appearance at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium they will be obliged to gift the Copperbelt fans and everyone else a scintillating performance. A victory will not just be a gift to the fans but also a good start to preparations for the tournament.
The technical bench has all the top-performing players for the assignment on Tuesday and will, in the spirit of fair play, give it their best shot. FAZ also call upon the Copperbelt fans and their faithful travelling fans to troop to Levy Mwanawasa Stadium and give the Copper Queens a traditional rousing Kopala welcome.
Tickets are still selling across Shoprite outlets, with the lowest fetching K20. FAZ appealed, “Let us be in full voice at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium and seal off qualification to the Africa Cup in grand style. There is no stopping this women’s football revolution that has so far seen the Copper Queens qualify for the Olympics, win bronze at the WAFCON, and appear at the FIFA World Cup.”
The team is about to earn a third straight WAFCON qualification where the target will be to do better than the third-place finish in 2022 but, most importantly, qualify for the second World Cup.
Furthermore, they shared, “Away from the Copper Queens business, the Chipolopolo preparations are underway with the technical bench presenting a roadmap leading up to the tournament. The technical bench has presented options for an international camp that will see the team prepare for the tournament in an environment devoid of distractions.”
“Our engagements with the government on the preparations for the tournament have been progressive. We have duly submitted the budget in line with the Memorandum of Understanding with the two parties. There is no substitute for success than good preparations. We will do our part on the administrative part and ensure that the players and technical staff do their part,” said FAZ.
Finally, FAZ spent the last few days interacting with the Lusaka Province administrators and hosting a Governance workshop. There are few things as fulfilling as interacting with the grassroots who are the real drivers of the football agenda.
There is no real decentralization without investing in the empowerment of the grassroots. With what they saw in Lusaka and other provinces across the country, it is heartening to see decentralization taking root. It will obviously take a lot of work, but with continuous investment and empowerment, they will eventually present a model case for other associations to learn from.