Sports

The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has unveiled former Switzerland defender Nora Häuptle as the new Zambia Women National Team coach.

Häuptle’s unveiling at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka was graced by FAZ President Andrew Kamanga, his Vice Justin Mumba, FAZ Women’s Representative Col. Priscilla Katoba, Lusaka Province FAZ Chairperson Jordan Maliti, FAZ General Secretary Reuben and Technical Director Lyson Zulu.

The former Black Queens of Ghana coach takes over from Bruce Mwape who will be sent to Morocco to pursue a CAF Pro course in the Association’s continued investment of local coaches to strengthen the local pool.

Häuptle immediately charmed the press corps on her unveiling with her witty humour and punchlines as she admitted her long term dream to coach the Copper Queens. FAZ president Andrew Kamanga said the Association had appointed coach Häuptle with clear targets that she should take the Copper Queens to the next level.

“One of the targets that we have set is that of winning the women’s Africa Cup of Nations coming up in July and also make sure that we qualify for the 2026 edition which will be a qualifier for the FIFA World Cup,” Kamanga said at the unveiling ceremony.

“We have also tasked the technical bench to qualify us to the next Olympics. Beyond the Copper Queens assignment, we will expect that the new coach will keep tabs on the various junior teams that have talent knocking on the senior national team door.”

Häuptle will work with fellow Swiss Philippe Hasler as her assistant coach and locals, Charles Haalubono and Enala Phiri. “We have also attached some local coaches to the technical bench to ensure knowledge transfer as it remains our long term goal to have local coaches handle our national teams. We are mindful that to get to the point where we have all local benches, we have to empower them with training,” Kamanga said.

“We are already sending many of our local coaches for advanced training like the CAF and CAF Pro Licenses. In this respect, we have identified training programs for Mr. Bruce Mwape and will be sending him to Morroco to pursue CAF Pro Courses.

Kamanga added. “We wish to thank our Patron, President (Hakainde) Hichilema for his continued support towards the game. Through his leadership, we have seen the desire to expand the Memorandum of Understanding between FAZ and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Arts to include women’s football. We believe that part of this bold step to appoint an expatriate coach for the copper queens is motivated by the fervent atmosphere created by his government.”