Zambia women's national under-17 football team

Last updated

Flag of Zambia.svg Zambia
Nickname(s) Copper Princesses
Association Football Association of Zambia
Confederation CAF
Sub-confederation COSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coach Carol Kanyemba
FIFA code ZAM
Kit left arm zam23H.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body zam23H.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm zam23H.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts zam23H.png
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
First colours
Kit left arm zam23A.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body zam23A.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm zam23A.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts zam23A.png
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks long.svg
Second colours
African U-17 Women's World Cup qualification
Appearances5 (first in 2008 )
Best resultQualified for World Cup (2013, 2024)
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
Appearances2 (first in 2014 )
Best resultGroup stage (2014, 2024)

Zambia women's national under-17 football team, nicknamed the Copper Princesses, represents the country in international under-17 matches. The team has participated in FIFA sanctioned events, including U-17 World Cup qualifiers.

Contents

Background

Zambia women's national under-17 football team is nicknamed the Junior She-polopolo. [1] The team's official kit colours include green shorts, a green jersey and green socks. [2] Women's football was formally organised by the Football Association of Zambia in 1983. Since that time, Zambia has created a women's senior national team and an under-20 team. Women's football continues to be supported by the national federation who have budgeted money for the women's game and youth game. [3] In 2009, there were 100 women's teams for players over 16, and 112 youth women's teams for players under 16. [3]

Women's football in Africa as a whole faces problems that include limited access to education, poverty amongst women in the wider society, and fundamental inequality present in the society that occasionally allows for female specific human rights abuses. [4] When quality football players are produced in Africa, often they leave the country to seek greater opportunities elsewhere, to the detriment of the local game. [5] Funding also is a problem for the women's game in Africa, with most of the funding for women's football in the Africa coming from FIFA, not the local national football association. [5]

Performance

Zambia women's national under-17 football team has competed in several competitions representing their country, including in the qualifying part of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the African Women U-17 Championships. [6] [7]

The team participated in the 2008, 2010 and 2012 African qualification tournaments for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. [6] [8] Zambia women's national under-17 football team participated in the 2008 African Women U-17 Championship. In the preliminary round, they played Ghana women's national under-17 football team. In the 3 February match in Lusaka, they lost 0–2. In the 17 February match in Accra, Zambia lost 0–4. [7] [9]

The 2012 season coach was Beauty Mwamba. [1] The assistant coach was Angela Sunga. [10] This team competed in the Confederation of African Football qualifiers for the FIFA U-17 World Cup that will be held in Azerbaijan in September 2012. They did not advance out of their region. [8] In the early rounds, Zambia played Botswana women's national under-17 football team in Gaborone, beating them 5–1. In the return match against Botswana in Lusaka, Zambia won 2–0. [10] During qualification, Zambia played Nigeria, losing 1–2 at home and 0–5 in Nigeria. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Zambian officials suspected that the Nigerian team cheated by having age ineligible players on their squad. The national federation would have liked to appear the decision but it would have cost US$2,000 (K10 million) and they did not have the money to make the appeal. The loss also brought to question continued support by the Football Association of Zambia to support the team. [16]

Competitive record

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup record
YearResultPositionPldWDLGFGA
Flag of New Zealand.svg 2008 Did not qualify
Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg 2010 Did not enter
Flag of Azerbaijan.svg 2012 Did not qualify
Flag of Costa Rica.svg 2014 Group stage11th310227
Flag of Jordan.svg 2016 Did not enter
Flag of Uruguay.svg 2018 Did not qualify
Flag of India.svg 2022
Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg 2024 Group stage16th300317
Flag of Morocco.svg 2025 to be determined
TotalGroup stage2/86105314

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Zambia/Nigeria: Jnr She-Polopolo Confident of Flamingoes Game". allAfrica.com. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  2. "Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) – Information – Zambia – CAF". Cafonline.com. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Goal! Football: Zambia" (PDF). FIFA. 21 April 2009. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  4. Jean Williams (15 December 2007). A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football. Berg. p. 186. ISBN   978-1-84520-674-1 . Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  5. 1 2 Gabriel Kuhn (24 February 2011). Soccer Vs. the State: Tackling Football and Radical Politics. PM Press. p. 34. ISBN   978-1-60486-053-5 . Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Women U-17 World Cup". Rsssf.com. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  7. 1 2 "African Women U-17 Championship 2008". Rsssf.com. 25 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  8. 1 2 "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: Qualifiers". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  9. "Regulations – CAN U-17 women 2010 – CAF". Cafonline.com. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  10. 1 2 "Zambia: Harambe beatable – She-polopolo". Ezambiablog.com. 27 February 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  11. "Flamingoes Defeat Zambia's 'She-Polopolo' | Leadership Newspapers". Leadership.ng. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  12. "Give us World Cup Maigari charges Flamingoes". Tribune.com.ng. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.
  13. "Goodbye She-Polopolo — Okaeme — SuperSport — Football". SuperSport. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  14. "Duo out of She-Polopolo clash — SuperSport — Football". SuperSport. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  15. "Maidens thump SA 17 Women for WC slot". MTNFootball. Retrieved 16 April 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  16. "Vanquished U-17 girls lament". Zambia Daily Mail. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2012.