Mweemba Toasts Historic U-15 World Cup Milestone

Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President Keith Mweemba has congratulated the Zambia U-15 Men’s National Team after the young Chipolopolo were crowned Tier B champions at the FIFA World Cup tournament in Azerbaijan, following an impressive 5-2 victory over Portugal in the final.

Mweemba, who is in Azerbaijan attending FIFA engagements on the sidelines of the tournament, witnessed the team’s triumph and praised the players and technical bench for their achievement.

“On behalf of my executive and the entire football family I would like to congratulate our Under-15 boys and the technical bench for being crowned champions of Tier B of the World Cup,” says Mweemba.

He said the international exposure gained by the players would be important in their development, adding that FAZ intends to carefully manage their progress and support their transition to the next level.

“The kind of exposure that the lads got at this level is immeasurable and we can only build from this. It is our plan to manage their progress and ensure their transition to the next level is seamless.”

Mweemba also described the victory as a proud moment for Zambia and other African football representatives who witnessed the achievement.

“ We have a number of youth tournaments ahead like the CAF Schools and also Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier tournament in December that we can use to expose some of these lads,” he added.

Zambia’s route to the Tier B title included victories over Montserrat, Comoros, England, Niger, Slovakia and Senegal before overcoming Portugal in the final. The team recorded wins over Comoros (3-2), England (3-2), Niger (2-0) and Slovakia (3-1) along the way.

The tournament featured 189 teams from six confederations, divided into 32 groups. Group winners advanced to Tier A, while runners-up competed in Tier B, with the competition extending through Tier F to ensure every participating team had an opportunity to play until the final day.

Matches were played in an eight-a-side format, consisting of two 20-minute halves.

The triumph provides the young Zambian players with valuable international experience as they look ahead to future youth competitions.