The Copper Princesses of Zambia sailed through to the fourth and final round of the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers via a 2-1 aggregate score.

Uganda scored in the 73rd minute courtesy of Sylvia Kabene but it was not enough to stop the Copper Princesses from booking a place with either Morocco or Algeria in the final round having won the first leg meeting on Lusaka 2-0.

Meanwhile, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) immediately issued a statement to congratulate the team for reaching the final qualifying round of the Dominican Republic 2024 FIFA World Cup.

FAZ President Andrew Kamanga said the girls have so far fought gallantly in a very long and tedious qualification process. “On behalf of my executive committee and the entire football family, I wish to congratulate the Zambia U17 Women national team for making it to the final qualifying round of the Dominican Republic 2024 FIFA U17 World Cup,” said Kamanga.

“We have one more round to play and therefore should not drop guard. The final round will be tougher and therefore requires us to be on top of our game.”

Zambia will play either Morocco or Algeria on June 7-9 for the first leg with the return leg billed for June 14-16. The FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup is set to take place between 10 October and 03 November 2024, with African teams eager to emulate the impressive performances of the senior African women’s national teams at the recent FIFA Women’s World Cup. Three slots are up for grabs for the African continent.