Copper Queens regain Cosafa crown 

Zambia’s 2024 Cosafa Women’s Championship title triumph was down to teamwork and strong belief in their ability, winning coach Florence Mwila says.

The Copper Queens defeated hosts South Africa 4-3 on penalties, following a goalless draw in the final in Gqeberha on Saturday, to take home the trophy they lost to Malawi in 2023.

Zambia’s previous success came in 2022, while Banyana Banyana were hoping to lift the trophy for the first time since 2020.

Winning the competition by overcoming Malawi in the semi-finals and then record championship winners South Africa was no mean feat, Mwila says.

The victory also showed the Copper Queens’ strength in depth, having claimed honours minus star player Babra Banda, voted the 12th best women’s football player in the world, according to the Ballon D’or.

“Thank God we got the trophy like we promised we would. Overall, we’re proud of the girls and how far they’ve come. Our biggest strength is that we play as a team. We pushed each other and motivated each other,” says Mwila, whose standout players, Ochumba Lubanji and Fridah Mukoma, shared the golden boot after they scored four goals each, while the Copper Queens also took the Fair Play award.

The standard of the game in southern Africa has risen rapidly in recent years, Mwila says.

“You can see that the teams are really doing something about it – there’s so much improvement. I’ll talk about the Comoros beating a strong team like Angola.

“That shows you we are really headed in the right direction. For the other teams, they’ll know what to work on,” he says.

“We had two teams from the southern region going to the Fifa Women’s World Cup. That shows you how strong the southern region is right now on the continent.”

Making light of the loss, South Africa coach Maude Khumalo says the experience of getting to the final with her youthful second-string side was priceless.

The full Banyana Banyana team is on tour in Europe in preparation of the defence of their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown.

Banyana’s Isabella Ludwig won the player of the tournament prize, with teammate Jessica Williams claiming the golden glove.

“Zambia have more experience than our young Banyana team,” Khumalo says.

“We are trying to build a team – future players that could maybe help beef up the senior team to prepare for the upcoming tournament like the Wafcon.

“To be honest, I am very positive, because these are young players and this is where you start to build.”