Zambia coach Bruce Mwape says he’s excited about their back-to-back qualification to the Olympic Games.
The Copper Queens made history in their debut Olympics in Tokyo in 2020 where Captain Barbra Banda scored two hat-tricks in two games, and tied the record for most goals scored by a woman after Canada’s Christine Sinclair who netted six goals as well at the London 2012 Games.
Zambia qualified by defeating Morocco 3-2 on aggregate, a team that was hoping to make their debut in the Games. The Copper Queens, who also made their debut in the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand last year have been placed in a tricky Group B alongside the USA, Australia, and Germany.
However, Mwape will hope to rely on the experience of his players with Banda having recently moved from Chinese Super League side Shangai Shengli for the second-highest fee in women’s football of $740 000.
Zambian striker Rachael Kundananji recently broke the most expensive women’s football transfer record after joining Bay FC from Madrid CFF for $860,000. Mwape says he’s done it all in his position as the head coach of the Zambia National team.
“This will be back-to-back participation in the Olympics, the last time we also played in the Tokyo Tournament.
For me, this is good judging by the way this team has been improving ever since I took over this team, we’ve managed to go to all the tournaments, Africa Cup [Women’s Africa Cup of Nations], we’ve been there, we’ve been to the Olympics and even the World Cup. So, it’s actually an honour to me,” Mwape said.
