Zambia U20 national team head coach Perry Mutapa is expected to name his squad for the Team has been drawn in Group C for the 2026 CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations COSAFA Qualifiers in the coming days.
The ZamFoot Crew understands that Mutapa will announce his squad later this week ahead of preparations for the regional competition.
Mutapa is expected to carry the bulk of the U17 National team squad that participated in the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar.
Austria bound Jonathan Kalimina, and Sweden based duo of James Nene Sibeene and Robert ‘Sugar Sugar’ Banda are expected to lead the provisional squad.
Zambia were drawn in Group C alongside Malawi, Comoros and Botswana at the tournament which will run from 18-27 September in Mauritius.
The tournament will serve as a qualifier for the Africa Cup of Nations which will take place in Ghana next year.
The top two teams in the tournament will qualify for the AFCON. Meanwhile Group A has hosts Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Seychelles.
In Group B has defending champions South Africa, Angola, Eswatini and Lesotho.
Group winners will automatically qualify to the semifinals while the fourth spot will go to the third best placed team across the three groups.
The Perry Mutapa coached U20 squad will be looking to not just clinch a ticket to the AFCON but hope to take Zambia back to the FIFA World Cup. Zambia are record 12-time Cosafa u-20 champions and were at the last AFCON in 2025 under the tutelage of Boyd Mulwanda.
