Zambia: The Football Association of Zambia is back with their weekly President Column to share the roadmap for the next few days and reflect on their busy schedule last week.
This week is scheduled towards the women’s game as they had the FIFA women’s Referees training that saw 35 participants drawn from across the ten provinces.
FIFA instructor Jason Damon and other refereeing experts inducted the 35 lasses in the intricacies of the officiating business. “We have never stopped investing in the training of our match officials, and this opportunity was not any different.”
“With the changes in the refereeing landscape where technologies like the Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) are taking centre stage, we cannot afford to drop the ball. We also had two of our women’s national teams in the thick of things with the Copper Queens kicking off their Cosafa title defence while the Under-20 girls had a home match against Congo in the FIFA 2024 Women World Cup qualifiers,” said a FIFA instructor.
Reports indicated that the Copper Queens are looking good after two matches, with a place in the semifinals looking certain, while the U20 girls will need to dig deep in the return leg after a 2-2 home draw.
Furthermore, he said, “They are very excited that the Copper Queens technical bench has cast the net wide to give previously untested players a chance to showcase their talent. With Olympic and WAFCON qualifiers ahead, this will help regenerate the team.”
“The atmosphere is ripe for starting a new cycle of a women’s team that will write its own story. To the under-20, the race is far from over, and we implore the technical bench to seal the gaps observed in the home match and ensure that the race for the Colombia 2024 FIFA World Cup place remains in sight.”
On the Chipolopolo side of the business, the Chipolopolo has assembled in the United Arab Emirates for the two international friendly matches against Egypt and Uganda on October 12 and 17, respectively.
“We have taken note of the cry for fans to watch these friendly matches on home soil, but regrettably, our current stadia situation makes it hard to host a FIFA-sanctioned match. Given the limited time to regroup, it becomes logical to settle for a place that is easily accessible to players travelling from Europe and other regions.”
“They also shared that their commitment to preparing our teams with quality-friendly matches remains on our priority list. We are conscious that with the FIFA World Cup qualifiers coming up in November and the Africa Cup of Nations kicking off in January, we will not have many opportunities to play quality friendly matches.”
FAZ scheduled the Ivory Coast 2023 Africa Cup of Nations draws in Abidjan this Thursday. The draw will help them refine their plans for the preparations so that they align them with the kind of opposition in the group.