By Kalumiana Kalumiana
Zambia women’s national team captain and striker Barbra Banda says from her evaluation of the teams’ performance at the just-ended 2026 FIFA Series tournament in Brazil, they have a lot of work to do at the 2026 WAFCON for them to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup that will be held in the South American nation.
On Saturday, Zambia drew 1-1 with South Korea in the two sides’ final match of the round-robin tournament that featured Canada and hosts Brazil in Cuiabá from April 11 to 18.
Zambia finished bottom with 1 point, tied with South Korea, who were third on goal difference.
Canada were second on 6 points behind winners Brazil, who finished the round-robin tournament with a perfect 9 points.
Banda said in a post-match interview that Zambia are disappointed with coming out with a draw after an improvement from their first two games.
”Not the result that we wanted, but all in all, I think we’ve done well in this last game. You know, I remember when we played the same team last time; we had conceded so many goals, but I think now it was a good game. I think we dominated the game,” Banda said.
”We conceded towards the end of the game that we need to concentrate when we are in those moments. So I think, yes, that we’re heading on a good path.”
It was Zambia’s and South Korea’s third-ever meeting after two previous friendlies.
The first two were in April 2023, when hosts South Korea won 5-0 and 5-2.
Over the last week at the FIFA Series in Brazil, Zambia posted similar results, losing 4-0 to Canada in their opening game on April 11 and then going down 6-1 to Brazil on April 14. The latter game saw Banda cut the margin to two-one in the 51st minute but the FIFA Series hosts pulled away with four more goals after the hour mark.
Against South Korea, Banda put Zambia ahead through a 26th-minute penalty, but Casey Phair equalised in stoppage time of the first half.
”The quality of the games that we played, they are very good for us and the team at large because these are high-profile games and these are the teams that we are supposed to learn from. And I think from my experience, I’ve learned more from each of the different teams that we’ve played from Brazil, Canada and South Korea. And I think we should keep the same momentum and implement them in the next game that we’re going to have,” Banda said.
”For us to come back to the World Cup, it will take a lot because we need to build our team very well. You know, we need to prepare adequately going into the Africa Cup because those are the games that are going to determine if we’re going to qualify for the World Cup.”
The 2026 WAFCON semifinalists will be Africa’s four representatives at the Brazil 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Meanwhile, the four 2026 WAFCON quarterfinal losers will meet in a play-off that will see the winner and runner-up advance to the intercontinental playoffs to be played in December 2026 and February 2027 to determine the three wild-card 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup tickets.
