My First World Cup: Zambia’s tournament comes to an early end with little to celebrate
Of all of the first-time qualifiers at this year’s Women’s World Cup, there was arguably no more exciting a prospect than Zambia.
Having scored seven goals and conceded 15 in just three matches at the Tokyo Olympics, the Copper Queens were expected to be chaotic yet engaging on the field.
They secured their place in Australia and New Zealand by finishing fourth at last year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, and there was a palpable sense of anticipation surrounding the team following the return of captain Barbra Banda and Real Madrid forward Racheal Kundananji.
A remarkable 3-2 win against Germany in Furth in Zambia’s final pre-tournament warm-up match suggested that Bruce Mwape’s side could be successful as well as entertaining.
But from that moment, near enough everything has gone wrong for Zambia.
First-choice goalkeeper Hazel Nail tore her anterior cruciate ligament against Germany, leaving the inexperienced duo of Catherine Musonda and Eunice Sakala unexpectedly thrust into the global spotlight as Mwape’s options between the sticks.
A harrowing 5-0 defeat against Japan in their Group C opener in Hamilton saw both feature as Musonda was sent off whilst conceding a penalty in second-half stoppage time. Sakala saved the penalty that followed, only to be ruled to have come off her line too quickly and the re-take was scored.
Far more concerning issues had become public long before that opening game, overshadowing what should have been an historic day for Zambia regardless of the outcome.
On 8 July, the day after the attention-grabbing win in Germany, allegations of sexual misconduct against Mwape surfaced. He has denied the allegations, and the case has been referred to FIFA following an investigation by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) into sexual abuse in the women’s game.
“If he [Mwape] wants to sleep with someone, you have to say yes,” an anonymous Zambian player told The Guardian. “It’s normal that the coach sleeps with the players in our team.”
Mwape has claimed he is innocent, and the FAZ have maintained that the matter is being dealt with but it has undeniably caused disruption.
A press conference ahead of Wednesday’s second group match against Spain was cut short by a FIFA media officer following a series of questions from journalists about the allegations. The media officer requested that questions remained focused solely on football before Mwape suggested that the allegations were ‘rumours’.
This has not been the only controversy following Zambia throughout this tournament.
The World Cup has provided a platform for players to expose the reality of how they are treated by their football authorities. Issues regarding bonuses have come to light after it was revealed that FIFA will be sending all prize money to football associations and federations to hand out to players rather than to those who are competing directly.
Whilst this has been a damning indictment of how far away the organisations who govern football are from truly valuing the women’s game on a par with the men’s, the situation faced by Zambia’s players has been even more shocking.
Just two days before their opening game against Japan, The Guardian revealed that most members of the squad have not been paid by the FAZ since competing in Tokyo nearly two years ago. This means they were not paid throughout their unprecedented achievement at the WAFCON nor in the build-up to their historic win against Germany. It is estimated that the players have not been paid for up to 100 days of training at this point.
The Zambia squad refused to train for two days ahead of the warm-up fixture in Furth and silent protests have taken place that involve the players not singing in their usual tradition ahead of matches and training.
Given the magnitude of the off-field issues faced by the team, it now seems an achievement that Zambia even took part in this tournament.
Whilst there are both tactical and personnel reasons for Zambia losing their opening two games 5-0, the two shots on target they managed across 180 minutes plus injury time feel irrelevant to the wider issues facing the team, and they will linger beyond this tournament.
The players will remain role models and history makers though, regardless of how these significant off-field issues play out. It is time that they were treated as such.
