Chipolopolo head coach Avram Grant says the team has learned a lot from the 2026 World Cup qualification games overall.
Grant was speaking after the Chipolopolo suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss to Niger in their final Group E World Cup qualifier at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The former Chelsea boss believes his side played better than the Ménas on the day and feels the team is improving and has made a lot of progress.
Anthony Sosah’s lone goal was all that the visitors needed to maintain their stay on the second slot in the group.
“I think Zambia is a good team. We learned a lot from these qualification games,” Grant said.
“I think the team made huge progress on the football side. I am sure that even you saw that we are playing well and we play much better than the other team. But I believe that if we continue this process, we will get better like this,” he added.
Meanwhile Niger coach Ezzaki Badou said his team was in Zambia for a win.
“We came here to win, and we knew that Zambia came from a good victory from Tanzania, we planned to stop Zambia’s best players, and we waited for our opportunity,” he said.
The loss saw Zambia finish fourth in the group with 9 points while Niger moved up to 15th points in second place and boosted their chance to join the four best second placed teams for a CAF play off tournament with an outside chance of World Cup qualification.
Chipolopolo will now shift their focus to the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), Morocco 2025 which will take place between 21st December 2025 and 18th January 2026.
Zambia is in Group A alongside hosts Morocco, West African giants Mali, and Comoros.
