FAZ President Andrew Kamanga says Football House has set 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualification as the ultimate target for Shepolopolo.
The Zambia Women have already qualified to 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) coming up in Morocco in July.
The AWCON will be used as a FIFA World Cup qualifier with the top four nations earning automatic qualification to the 9th edition of the World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Writing in his Weekly Column, Kamanga repeated that Shepolopolo will embark on an international camp preceding the Africa Cup that will be staged from July 3-23 in Morocco.
The team has commenced preliminary preparations in Lusaka under coach Bruce Mwape.
“As for our Copper Queens, we staged a Zone A versus Zone B clash for players from our local league as part of talent identification. The best talents from this exercise will play an All Stars (national team) versus The Rest clash that will culminate in final selection for the Morocco 2022 Africa Cup of Nations for Women. The final selection will embark on an international camp preceding the tournament that will be hosted from July 3-23 in Morocco,” Kamanga stated.
Mwape named his 30-member squad for next month’s fixture against a combined FAZ Women’s Super League select team.
“The AWCON will be used as a FIFA World Cup qualifier which is the ultimate target; we have set for our senior women national team. Top four teams at the AWCON will automatically qualify to the Australia/New Zealand FIFA World Cup while the fifth and sixth placed nations will engage in an intercontinental play-off. Having been to the AWCON in the previous two editions and capped it with Olympic qualification we are not losing sight of World Cup qualification,” Kamanga wrote.
According to FAZ Media, the game against a joint Zone A and B select team will act as part of preparations for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON).
Thirty nine players comprising 19 from Zone A and 20 players from Zone B will face-off on Saturday and the top performing players will be named in the squad against the Copper Queens to be played on the weekend of 16-17 April.
