- Egypt, Malawi complete Group C at WAfCON kicking off on March 17
ROBINSON KUNDA
Lusaka
THE Copper Queens will renew their rivalry with Nigeria in the first round at the 2026 Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAfCON) kicking off on March 17 in Morocco.
And Minister of Youth, Sport and Arts Elvis Nkandu said all the teams that Zambia will face in the group stage are beatable and only adequate preparations are needed.
Other teams in Group C are Egypt and eastern neighbours Malawi.
The 2026 edition will double as a qualifier for the 2027 Brazil FIFA Women World Cup.
According to draws conducted in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, yesterday, Zambia were paired against Nigeria from Pot One.Zambia were in Pot Two.
From Pot Three were Egypt and Malawi.
At the 2024 edition in Morocco last July, Nigeria thrashed Zambia 5-0 in a quarterfinal fixture.
In a 2022 third-place play-off, Zambia beat Nigeria 1-0 courtesy of midfielder Evarine Katongo’s thunderbolt.
Malawi are familiar foes for Zambia, having met on several occasions. The recent fixture was last November at the Three Nations Tournament in Lilongwe.
The teams drew 1-1 and Zambia went on to beat Zimbabwe 3-1 to win the tournament.
Zambia and Malawi have met 10 times, with each side winning four apiece while two games ended in stalemates.
It will be the first meeting between Egypt and Zambia.
And Nkandu said: “I want to tell our girls that all the teams that they have been drawn against are beatable. For us as Government, we have always been ready to help. We will wait for FAZ (Football Association of Zambia) to submit their programme, then we come in to support where we can.”
He said time is ripe for the Copper Queens to win trophies.
“We finished third in 2022 but now it’s time to start winning.
Our expectations are high. In fact the poor performance that we saw from the men’s team should motivate the women to do much better,” Nkandu said.
He said the least the team should settle for should be qualifying for the Brazil finals.
The tournament will end on April 3 and will be staged at Moulay Al Hassan (Rabat), Al Madina (Rabat), Larbi Zaouli (Casablanca) and Complexe
Sportif de Fes (Fes).
Groups:
Group A: Morocco, Algeria,
Senegal, Kenya Group B: South Africa, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Tanzania.
Group C: Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Egypt
Group D: Ghana, Cameroon, Mali, Cape Verde
