The Senior Zambia National Football Team has concluded its 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign on a disappointing note after losing its final match at home one-nil to Niger.
The 1-0 thumping loss to Niger played at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola in the final Group E FIFA World Cup qualifier saw Chipolopolo fail to end the campaign on a perfect finish , having beaten Tanzania 1 nil last Wednesday.
ZANIS Sports reports that Niger’s Ghana-born forward Daniel Sosah scored the decisive lone goal in 56th minute to stun and silence Chipolopolo and send a message that their earlier 2 – 1 victory in the first leg in Morocco was no fluke.
For Niger, the stakes could not be higher as they moved to 15 points from eight matches.
Despite Chipolopolo no longer in contention for a spot at the 2026 World Cup, the match against Niger looked an opportunity to wrap up the campaign on a high note.
The West African side, known as Mena, relied heavily on teamwork and defensive organisation to keep Zambia at bay while searching for opportunities to strike on the break.
Avram Grant tutored Chipolopolo, huffed a lot of chances and were overrun by the Mena in the second half as they failed to give a thunderous home crowd support a befitting win to end the 2026 World Cup campaign.
Zambia, despite flashes of promise earlier in the qualifiers, saw their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup end prematurely after a series of inconsistent performances.
Current Group E standings show Morocco leading with 21 points from 7 games, followed by Niger with 15 from 8 games, Tanzania with 10, Zambia with 9, and Congo Brazzaville with one point.
The Chipolopolo Boys will, however, view this fixture as a ‘lesson to restore’ pride and build momentum for upcoming continental competitions.
Sundays’ match offered both teams an opportunity to conclude their campaigns with a statement performance — for Zambia, to show pride and promise for the future and for Niger, to prove their progress on the continental stage;
Just retire the entire national team and technical bench and replace with the U 17 boys, but we should not expect results now but after 2031
Proscribe the whole team. A waste of taxpayers’ money; Divert to social cash transfer!
British North Eastern Rhodesia 0 – Niger 1.
When will British North Western Rhodesia play?
Ba Coach bochosa mu trashcan. Chipolopolo which can’t fire? Where are the missiles? Chipolopolo doesn’t need this leaking iron Dome mwebantu. Let’s get missiles I think from Iran that can go through the iron Dome.
It is time to part company with the clueless coach,who should not have been appointed in the first place. Please appoint a Zambian.
If it was a local coach he could have long been replaced