Zambian defender Lushomo Mweemba scored the Copper Queens’ first Women’s World Cup goal, a powerful volley that split two Costa Rican defenders and flew over the keeper, then sprinted toward Avell Chitundu, who supplied the corner kick.
As the weight of her teammates’ celebrations brought them all to their knees, there was intense joy and also, surely, catharsis: the debutants had recorded a first victory at the tournament, defeating Costa Rica 3-1, yet allegations of misconduct against head coach Bruce Mwape and a lack of investment from the country’s football authorities meant this was not the experience they had hoped it would be. Mweemba’s goal reminded them that, in spite of everything they’d been through, they were still capable of doing the very things that got them to New Zealand in the first place.
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Five days prior to that in their match against Spain, Zambia found themselves in a similar position — driven to the ground with emotion — for a different reason. They’d just been released by the merciful final whistle of a 5-0 pummeling that ended any hopes of advancing to the knockout stage (Zambia also lost their first match against Japan by the same scoreline). Many of the Zambian players crumbled face down on the grass, bodies shaking with the unmistakable motion of heaving sobs. It was a moment and feeling that transcends borders, language, FIFA rankings. The Spanish players went over to them, rubbing their backs and offering encouragement.
It’s easy to show grace after earning a result like that, but there was also a notion of solidarity between the two sides. Players on both teams have expressed deep concern over their managers’ behavior. In Spain’s case, players felt they were treated in a childish manner; in Zambia’s the suggestion was of abusive and coercive behaviour. But the extremities of the Copper Queens’ journey to and through the World Cup — which began with a statement-making victory over Germany in a friendly on July 8 and ended with an early exit from the World Cup three weeks later — have only exacerbated the question that hangs over the crop of World Cup contenders whose talent and promise have outgrown their federation’s apparent ability or desire to accommodate them: what could have been?
Former Zambian women’s national team head coach Enala Phiri told The Athletic that “97% of the players on the current World Cup roster” funneled through her tutelage in some capacity over the course of their careers. The first woman to manage a national team in Zambia, Phiri began coaching in 2012 with the U23 national team. Star striker Barbra Banda, despite being around 12 years old, was playing with the U17 and U20 squads at the time, Phiri recalled, along with Margaret Belemu, Martha Tembo, Ireen Lungu and Grace Chanda. Phiri said the Football Association of Zambia was still in the early stages of making a concerted effort to grow the women’s game back then, but that the aforementioned players’ talent quickly translated into on-field strides that fueled the game’s expansion.
In 2014, the senior women’s team competed in the African Women’s Championship (now known as the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations) for the first time. The team failed to qualify for WAFCON in 2016 but have featured in every competition since. Despite getting knocked out of their group at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Zambia made headlines worldwide when Banda became the first player to net hat-tricks in two consecutive games, against China and the Netherlands. At last summer’s WAFCON, Zambia beat Nigeria, who are on a successful World Cup campaign of their own, to place third in the continental tournament.
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Phiri has watched these players grow up together, not only as players but as people, from adolescence to adulthood. The core senior team has been playing together since they were teenagers, she said, and has a deep understanding of each other on the field. Phiri didn’t travel to New Zealand to follow Zambia’s World Cup journey, but she watched closely from back home in Zambia. What she saw of their performances revealed to her the extent of the internal struggles that persist between the team and the federation.
“I know them,” Phiri said. “When they’re going to the pitch, they’re very confident young people. But against Japan and Spain, they looked sorry. They looked sorrowful. How are they supposed to perform? They’re vulnerable, and now they’re defeated psychologically. It’s not good for the sport. It’s not good for my country. It’s not good for the players.”
Mere hours after their thrilling defeat of two-time World Cup champions Germany, The Guardian reported that Zambia’s head coach, Mwape, was in the midst of an investigation led by FIFA over allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. When asked about the status of this reported investigation, a FIFA spokesperson told The Athletic: “As a general policy, the independent Ethics Committee does not comment on whether or not investigations are underway into alleged cases. As usual, any information the Ethics Committee may like to share will be communicated at their discretion.”
The story contained interviews with a player and a source close to the team, both of whom were granted anonymity out of concern for possible retaliation. The unnamed player claimed, “If he (Mwape) wants to sleep with someone, you have to say yes,” and that it was “normal that the coach sleeps with the players in our team”.
The other unnamed source said they believed the players were being threatened into silence with “punitive action,” and that the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) was purposefully ignoring the players’ alleged concerns because the team was becoming increasingly successful and authorities wanted to convey “a good image”.
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But the opposite happened. The report became the entire narrative of Zambia’s World Cup campaign, creating palpable tension during the team’s media appearances as reporters pressed Mwape about the ongoing investigation.
“What environment affecting the team in particular?” Mwape responded when a journalist asked whether he would consider stepping down to ease the training atmosphere. “What are you talking about? I would like to know because there is no way I can retire without reason.
“Maybe your reason is because what you are reading from the media or from the press, but the truth of the matter should actually come out, not just on rumors.”
Shortly thereafter, a FIFA official ended the press conference ahead of its scheduled time.
Phiri told The Athletic she has not communicated with Mwape since the start of the World Cup, but leading up to the tournament the two would speak on occasion, exchanging text messages or discussing players she thought he should keep an eye on for national team consideration. When asked about FIFA’s investigation, she was clear the inquiry needed to be completed, and stressed the importance of understanding the context of life for girls and young women in Zambia.
Growing up, Phiri’s parents discouraged her from playing football because it fell outside the gendered norm. She didn’t want those limitations to prevent other girls from taking up football, so she became a coach herself.
“When we are coaches, we are actually also parenting these young players,” she said. “Some of them come with personal challenges from home, from their community, from school. So when you don’t take a keen interest in their personal lives, you may be using players who are vulnerable because psychologically, they are going through things but have nobody to talk to.”
Phiri shared instances throughout her career when girls approached her asking whether certain behaviors they’d experienced from family members were normal, inadvertently revealing to her that they were being sexually abused. If that abuse is normalized, Phiri added, it could condition young players desperate for an opportunity to make misguided decisions.
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Phiri added that sometimes the issue is not one of sexual encounters, but eliminating competition from their own teammates. “When I was a coach finalizing the team (roster), I saw some players stepping to injure others in training. Those things happen in football, and it’s unfortunate,” she said.
Phiri did not comment on the Mwape allegations, but she did emphasize that the federation’s failure to address what appeared to her as clear signs of emotional distress (presumably caused by the effect of the Mwape allegations) essentially cost them what could otherwise have been a successful campaign in Zambia’s Women’s World Cup debut.
“What if there are such challenges in the camp and you’re only wanting them to win the World Cup?” she asked. “They might not do it for you. So we need to be concerned and involved in their lives. They don’t even have a psychologist (on the team) to talk them down and counsel them.”
The Athletic contacted the FAZ for comment about the issues raised in this article but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
That Zambia managed to exit the World Cup on a victorious note, punctuated by a Player of the Match award given to Banda, offered yet another pendulous swing to their volatile journey through the tournament. In October and November, they will compete for spots in the 2024 Olympics and WAFCON respectively, with a high chance of qualifying for both. Whether they embark on another international tournament with Mwape at the helm, or with the support of their federation, however, remains to be seen.
(Top photo: Hannah Peters – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)