Zambia U-17 national team lock horns with Burkina Faso this evening in the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium in Casablanca.
Both Zambia and Burkina Faso are unbeaten in the competition and have already secured qualification for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup after making it out of the group stage.
Burkina Faso has a 100% winning record in the competition after beating Cameroon 2-1, Egypt 2-1, and South Africa 2-0. Zambia, on the other hand, thumped Tanzania 4-1 in their opening match before drawing 0-0 with hosts Morocco and defeating Uganda 2-1.
Speaking ahead of today’s clash, Burkina Faso’s head coach, Oscar Barro, said, “I am very confident because my team is the only team that got nine points in the group stage. So we will do anything to maintain our winning streak.”
Barro also acknowledged that, “It’ll not be easy because the knockout stage is a different ball game.” He added, “Zambia will be a very tough opponent because they are the only team that got a draw against the host team.
“But I know my players will do anything to qualify against Zambia. Our first objective was to qualify for the World Cup, but now the next objective is to win the trophy. So to win the trophy, we must beat Zambia and go to the next stage.”
We will beat Burkina Faso- Bakala
Zambia’s coach Ian Bakala, who became the seventh Zambian coach to qualify a national team for a FIFA World Cup at any age level, also said, “It’s going to be a tough game, looking at how Burkina Faso is playing. But the most important thing is the game we’re playing tomorrow [today] against Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso has not lost a game, but tomorrow [today] we will be beating them.”
He went on to add, “I’ve seen the confidence in our players. They haven’t lost a game and we haven’t lost a game either, so it’s going to be a 50-50 game, but we’ll come out victorious.”
The game kicks off at 18:00 hrs Central African Time as Zambia seeks to make it to the semifinals for the first time, while Burkina Faso have reached at least the last four in their previous three appearances—finishing third twice in 2009 and 2023 and as winners in 2011.
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