News
Kamanga Celebrates U17 Boys’ Landmark World Cup Achievement
In a statement, FAZ president Andrew Kamanga highlighted that the historic qualification for the FIFA World Cup further solidifies the growing presence of national teams on the global stage, marking another milestone in their rising prominence.”
Below in the full statement;
The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) wishes to congratulate the Under-17 Men’s National Team and the technical bench for qualifying to the Qatar 2025 FIFA World Cup and the quarterfinals of the on-going TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations.
FAZ president Andrew Kamanga says the historic qualification to the FIFA World Cup adds to the growing number of national teams now becoming a regular feature on the global stage.
“On behalf of the Football Association of Zambia and the entire football family, I wish to congratulate the under-17 boys and the technical bench for making history by qualifying to the world cup for the first time and also the quarterfinals of the AFCON,” Kamanga says.
“The Zambian flag and anthem have become a regular feature at the finest global events like the World Cup, Olympics, AFCONs and regional tournaments. This is a huge testament of the works put in at grassroots level aligned to our 10-year strategic plan.”
He has urged the team to remain focused and not be carried away by world cup qualification but ensure that they fight hard to win the trophy.
“My message to the team is to remain grounded and focus on the top prize. We also urge the fans to give the lads a positive drive as they fly our national flag high,” he says. “Thanks to the academies, clubs, fans and FAZ secretariat for the support and work done to actualize this world cup dream.
The focus now should be to make it count. We were at the world cup with the under-20 in 2017, Copper Queens in 2023, under-17 women in 2024 in the Dominican Republic and the back-to-back Olympic appearances by the senior women national team which gives Zambia a huge presence on the global stage.”
Kamanga says the U17 boys qualification sends the right signal to other teams that have qualified for CAF tournaments.
“We have five teams that have qualified for CAF tournaments this year and we have urged them to make qualification count by aiming for silverware at the tournaments,” he says. The 2025 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar in November with Zambia among the 10 African countries at the global showpiece. At the AFCON, Zambia will face Burkina Faso in the quarterfinals.
Congratulations to the boys.
