Zambia begin the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with an expectation they did not face a few years ago: proving they now belong among the teams capable of challenging for the title.
The Copper Queens face Egypt in Rabat on Tuesday before meeting defending champions Nigeria on Saturday. An opening victory would allow Zambia to approach that game with first place in Group C at stake.
Zambia are the clear favourites.
They finished third in 2022, have competed at two Olympic Games and reached the quarter-finals of the most recent WAFCON. They progressed through the group stage unbeaten at each of the last two editions and are now undefeated in seven consecutive group matches.
Their challenge is once again built around Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji.
Banda has put behind her the hip injury that ended her 2025 season and leads the NWSL scoring charts with twelve goals, three clear of her nearest rival. She scored after 58 seconds against Morocco at the last WAFCON, the second-fastest goal in the competition’s history.
Kundananji is Zambia’s leading scorer at the tournament with six goals. She also led them through qualifying for this edition, scoring four of the seven goals with which the Copper Queens eliminated Namibia.
Nora Häuptle can also call upon Prisca Chilufya and Racheal Nachula. The Swiss coach is seeking to add greater structure to a team whose attacking potential has never been in doubt and which is particularly dangerous when given space to run into.
Egypt arrive from a very different position.
They have not appeared at WAFCON since 2016 and had been eliminated during qualifying. They lost 0-3 at home and 4-0 in Accra against Ghana, but were handed a place when CAF expanded the tournament from twelve to sixteen teams and brought back the four highest-ranked sides among those eliminated in the final round.
This will be their third appearance. Egypt failed to progress beyond the group stage in either 1998 or 2016. Their only victory in six tournament matches came ten years ago, when they defeated Zimbabwe 1-0.
Mohamed Kamal, who won eleven league titles and five Egyptian Cups with Wadi Degla, leads a team that will have to withstand the pace and power of Zambia’s attack. Sarah Essam, Nadine Ghazi and Menna Tarek provide much of Egypt’s attacking threat.
The game will also show how much Egypt have changed since their qualifying defeat to Ghana.
With only the top two teams progressing from the group, Zambia cannot afford to approach their meeting with Nigeria carrying doubts. Egypt must show from the outset that their return can amount to more than merely benefiting from the tournament’s expansion.
Zambia v Egypt
Tuesday 28 July · 19:00 in Spain
Olympic Stadium, Rabat
