The Zambia U17 Women’s National team will kick off their FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Morocco 2025 on Sunday evening against CONMEBOL Champions, Paraguay.
The Copper Princesses will be making their third appearance at the global showpiece and this is the first time they have qualified back to back.
For their fourth appearance in the tournament, Paraguay have arrived in Morocco in their new role as South American champions.
After shining at the CONMEBOL Sub 17 Femenina 2025, where they beat Brazil in the final, they will be keen to maintain their momentum in Morocco and finally make it through the group stage.
The Copper Princesses also aim to reach the knockout stages for the first time after failing to do so in 2014 and 2024.
Unlike Paraguay, who have eight defeats and one draw to their name at this tournament, the Copper Princesses have already won a match at the U-17 Women’s World Cup: against Costa Rica in 2014.
An own goal and a Grace Chanda header off a Barbra Banda assist gave the Copper Princesses their first win at the global showpiece.
Coach Carol Kanyemba and her technical bench will be hoping to add to that history and get a second ever win for Zambia at this tournament.
Kanyemba says the team has been putting in extra effort in training and are ready for this encounter.
She says she has psyched the players and believes the best team will win the game today and she feels that’s her team.
“So far so good, the girls have been putting extra effort and you can see that they’re looking forward to this game just like us the coaches are looking forward to it so that we’ll be able to see what we’ve been coaching the girls if they’re able to implement. If they understood the things that we learned. This is a taste of everything that we have the technical abilities, the tactical understanding of the game and see how they can be able to implement. So as we prepare for the game tomorrow our main focus is getting maximum points out of the game. We shall use everything that we have, we shall put in everything that we have so that we get maximum points out of this game,” she said.
“I know it’s not an easy game but we’ve psyched our players to believe in themselves, we at this stage because we as good as our opponents are and we’ve taught the girls that if they can do it we can do it right and that’s the message we’re trying to tell the you’ve got what it takes to go all the way because we are all girls we all have two hands two legs and one heart so we’ll go 50-50 and the best team of the day will definitely win and we believe that we shall be the best team of the day.”
Paraguay beat Brazil in the final of CONMEBOL Sub 17 Femenina 2025 and are coming into this tournament as South American Champions but Kanyemba feels Zambia also came out tops in Africa as they qualified to the showpiece with a good record.
“Football is different in every region. I believe even with our team, we came out the best in the region, considering the number of goals that we scored in the qualifiers and the ones we conceded. We also came out in the best. So this tournament is the best of the best. If you want to be the best, you need to beat the best. So Paraguay being the best in their region, I think for us to make a name, we should be able to stand against them and perform highly. This being a developmental stage, we were here last year. I want to see the progress that we’ve made over the year and how much the girls can respond to high-profile opponents that we meet,” she said.
“So that’s what we are looking at, to see the understanding of the girls, regardless of what comes out. But outmost, we want to see the progression of the team. the development of the girls themselves.”
Kanyemba has been nominated for the Coach of the year, the team has been nominated for the team of the year while Mercy Chipasula and Ruth Mukoma have been nominated for the young player of the year category in the 2025 CAF Women’s Awards.
Kanyemba believes the nominations will act as motivation for both her and the team as it shows them that they are on the right track.
“It’s indeed a great motivation to realize that our efforts at the under-17 can be recognized even at African level. I think that speaks volumes. Step by step, we’re getting on the ladder and happy to see the two girls from the under-17 team being among the young players of the year under CAF . So that is a motivation to the girls. We are telling the girls to say, if we’ve made it this far to be nominated and be recognized, if we perform better here, I think we stand a better chance of putting ourselves on a bigger map because we’ve got what it takes,” she said
“We’ve got the talent. We’ve got the zeal. We’ve got the morale. So this should be a driving force for us to perform much better, better than we did in the qualifiers, better than we did in the region and be able to show the world that, OK, Africa has got something to offer to the world.”
The Green Buffaloes Women’s Football Club assistant coach has also asked the fans to keep supporting the team.
“To the fans, first and foremost, I want to say thank you very much for the support that the voters rendered us. To our critics, we say thank you very much because they give us the zeal to work hard and to be able to deliver. To the fans, we say may you continue rallying behind us, knowing that these are girls, these are babies that are developing. We might not get the best that we want out of this stage, but I can rest assure you that give these girls two years, the senior women’s national team will have a lot of depth to pick players from because we are grooming them for the high-level kind of competition that they’ll meet when they join the senior team, the under-20 team. So we are developing them and building their confidence from this stage, and I can assure you we are building a stronger platform for Zambia to pick players,” she said.
“Physical fitness and readiness is what we’ve been preparing for. And we knew about this tournament way back. And we’ve been working on that on the team. I think we as coaches have done everything that’s needed to give the players. Tomorrow will be all about the girls, how much they believe in themselves, how much they want to expose themselves at this stage. We’ve psyched them psychologically to know that they can fight anyone, they can conquer anyone, as long as they believe in themselves. So tomorrow we’ll be able to see what they’ve got and expose what we’ve taught them.”
Loveness Chingwele and Mary Nyangu will battle for a place between the sticks while Lweendo Hanongo, Precious Mwape, Nana Malanda and Natasha Nkaka are expected to make up the back four with options in Esther Ngabwe, Faith Kaunda and Gift Mazimba.
In midfield, Taonga Mubanga and Natasha Kasema are expected to partner and control the flow of the game.
Beatrice Njobvu, Taonga Tembo, Sharon Siakaloba and Faith Kajiya will battle for a place to join the duo.
Upfront Mercy Chipasula is expected to lead the charge with Victoria Mbali.
Masela Sekeseke, Hellen Sichamba, and Grace ‘Pogba’ Phiri all available for selection.
Kick off at the the Football Academy Mohammed VI (Pitch 3) in Sale is set for 21h00 Central African Time.
