Häuptle offers Zambia’s WAFCON assessment after Nigeria mauling

Zambia women’s national team coach Nora Häuptle has revealed the areas her team must improve following the 5-0 defeat against Nigeria in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca on Friday.

Speaking after the heavy defeat that ended their campaign in the tournament, the Swiss tactician affirmed her trust in Zambia’s long-term football development.

“We have not been in control in the air, these set pieces. So there we need to find and definitely look for a solution. We knew that Nigeria would deliver a lot of crosses… still, we need to admit there is a lot of room to improve,” Häuptle told FAZ Media.

Häuptle stressed the importance of creating better pathways for young Zambian players to gain international experience.

“How can we develop for our talents a better pathway so that they can go a bit early abroad?… We need to ensure that the path of our talents goes abroad, maybe in a league where they also get playing time,” she noted.

“None of us has been on top. I think it was a collective loss. We share the victories and we also fall for the same cause. We are going to go back to Zambia, we are going to go back to work in all the cases and let’s see what happens in the next one.”

She concluded: “The evolution is visible. But still, 10 games (in charge of the team) is not enough, we need big pictures. The more games we have, the more we can develop.

“We are on the growth, we are in good development…We are here to hunt. We will also hunt in the next tournament. So we are hungry.”

Zambia’s attention will turn to the 2026 WAFCON qualifiers, where they will play Namibia in October.