caf-Zambia’s She-polopolo

Zambia’s She-polopolo will compete at their first Africa Women Championship finals after six previous unsuccessful attempts.

Zambia was one of eight nations that entered the first Africa Women Championships in 1991 but they did not see any action as they withdrew before the final.

In the first round they beat Zimbabwe on a walkover after Zimbabwe withdrew, but in the second round Zambia withdrew, giving Cameroon a walkover to the final, where they lost to Nigeria.

Zambia entered the next tournament in 1995, but their progress was stopped in their first round qualifier which they lost 11-5 on aggregate to South Africa.

South Africa won the first leg 5-3 at home and then won the second leg 6-2 in Lusaka.

Zambia did not enter the next two championships in 1998 and 2000, but were back in 2002 when their progress was once again stopped by South Africa.

Zambia won their first qualifying round against Botswana on a walkover, but then lost 8-1 on aggregate to South Africa in the second qualifying round. South Africa won the first leg in Zambia 4-1 and the second leg 4-0 at home.

Zambia did not enter in 2004 and in 2006 they were eliminated in the first qualifying round. In the preliminary qualifying round they beat Botswana on a walkover but in the first round they lost 6-2 on aggregate to the DRC (2-3 at home and 0-3 away).

In 2008 they once again did not get past the qualifying stage, as they lost 6-3 on aggregate to Zimbabwe in the first qualifying round (2-3 at home and 1-3 away).

Shepolopolo did not enter the 2010 championship, when they instead entered the qualifying competition for the 2012 Olympic Games.

In the first round qualifier they beat Botswana 6-2 (4-1 at home and 2-1 away), but in the second qualifying round they lost 5-1 on aggregate to South Africa (1-2 at home and 0-3 away).

Zambia once again entered the qualifiers for the 2012 Africa Women Championship, where they progressed to the first qualifying round.

They beat Malawi 9-4 on aggregate in the preliminary qualifying round (7-0 at home and 2-4 away), but then lost 6-2 on aggregate to South Africa in the first qualifying round (1-4 at home and 1-2 away).

After six unsuccessful attempts, Zambia finally qualified for their first final this year after successfully progressing through the qualifying stages.

In the first qualifying round they beat Tanzania 3-2 on aggregate. They won the first match 2-1 at home through a Tanzanian own goal and another by Hellen Mubanga, and then drew 1-1 away through a goal by Susan Banda.

In the second qualifying round they beat Zimbabwe 2-0 on aggregate (1-0 at home and 1-0 away) with Mubanga scoring both goals. Mubanga finished as the joint second top scorer in the qualifying rounds with three goals.

Shepolopolo have been preparing at home for the past few months while they also hosted South Africa and Cameroon in recent friendlies.

At the end of August they lost 4-0 to South Africa in Lusaka, with Portia Modise scoring a hat trick for Banyana Banyana.

Over the past week, they played Cameroon twice, losing the first encounter 2-0, but then drawing the second 0-0 last Saturday.

Zambia is currently ranked 16th in Africa and 116 in the world.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.