Zambia secured their place in the summer’s Olympic Games after turning a 2-1 deficit from the first leg against Morocco to win 2-0 in the second leg, leaving Head Coach Bruce Mwape excited and relishing the prospect of yet another Olympic Games.
Bruce Mwape was appointed as Zambia head coach in May 2018 after the departure of Albert Katchinga, who returned to club football.
Since his appointment for the National Women’s team, Mwape has been taking the Copper Queens to new heights on the continent and world at large.
Although Mwape’s first major competition for Zambia – the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – ended on a disappointing note, the head coach has been able to turn the tide around since then and managed a number of impressive results for Zambia.
The calamitous group stage exit of Zambia from the 2018 WAFCON was just the start to what has been, to this point, a successful tenure for Bruce Mwape.
Mwape had garnered experience from his past continental exploit and stewarded Zambia to a third place finish in the next WAFCON in 2022, —their highest ever finish— securing a place in the World Cup in turn.
Amidst all the elations caused in Zambia by Mwape and his technical team, the Copper Queens had already participated in Tokyo’s Olympic Games prior to that, and made a good account of themselves.
Tokyo’s performances, where Zambia managed to score 7 goals in 3 games, left fans very hopeful of a great performance at the World Cup.
But despite Mwape’s best efforts, the team failed to replicate the same performance at the World Cup, losing 2 and winning 1, resulting in their exit.
However, Zambia’s participation at the forthcoming Olympics is one that Mwape says he is looking forward to.
It actually means a lot to me because this will be a back-to-back participation in the Olympics. The last time when we had the Tokyo tournament, we also qualified. So, to me, it’s good, going by the way we’ve been improving from the time when I started coaching this team. We managed to go through almost all the tournament [ African cup we’ve been there twice] and we’ve been to the Olympics and World Cup, so it’s actually a bonus to me.
Zambia qualified for the Olympic Games alongside Nigeria, who will be making their 4th tournament bow by the time the football events begin in Paris on July 25, 2024.
The Copper Queens are pitted against Germany, Australia and the United States in Group B
–
Story by: Andrews Sefa Bamfo |univers. ug.edu.gh
