By Kalumiana Kalumiana
Zambia women’s national team football coach Nora Hauptle says the depth of talent makes her job very easy despite general perceptions of a lack of infrastructure in African football.
The Swiss-born coach is Zambia’s first foreign coach for a woman’s side and will make her debut this week when they host Malawi in two international friendlies in Lusaka.
Hauptle said at a media briefing in Lusaka that every country has technical and infrastructure challenges but one must always work around them.
“Basically, wherever you go you have challenges and for others obstacles they are things we need to solve,” Hauptle said. “But for me when you look on the player’s side, we have players who are peaking in the top 10 of the world. Players are ready in Africa and it’s not the players that are lacking. So for me, it’s a pleasure to work in Africa.”
On Friday Hauptle named her final 28-member team to face Malawi on February 22 and 25 at Woodlands Stadium.
The team comprises six foreign-based players led by the USA-based duo of Barbra Banda and Rachael Kundananji who play for Orlando Pride and Bay FC respectively.
Prisca Chilufya and Grace Chanda are out due to injuries.
