Carol Kanyemba, Zambia U-17 Women’s national team head coach, has described the Copper Princesses’ campaign at the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup as bad after the team lost all three Group D matches and exited the tournament without a point.

The Copper Princesses opened their campaign with a 5-0 defeat to Japan before suffering a 3-2 loss to Venezuela and concluding their group-stage journey with a narrow 1-0 defeat to France on Sunday.

Speaking after the loss to France, Kanyemba admitted that the team had fallen short of its expectations, despite approaching the tournament with hopes of recording positive results.

“Overall, the tournament has been bad for us because we never recorded any positive results,” she said.

Kanyemba acknowledged that the competition was an important developmental platform for the young players but stressed that learning to win at the youth level was equally crucial in preparing them for the next stages of their careers.

“As much as we are developing these players for the future, for the next category, we expect them to learn the winning ways. If they build on that, it will be easier to perform, even as they transition into the senior team,” she said.

She said the failure to collect points, compared with Zambia’s previous appearance, would give the technical bench an opportunity to reassess player selection, scouting, and the team’s overall development.

Kanyemba noted that players develop differently and that the squad had included both new faces and players who featured in the previous edition, some of whom had struggled to reproduce their earlier performances.

Kanyemba apologizes to fans.

“We can never have the same team twice. Every player will come differently. We have had some new players, and we had some players that were here last year who have failed to take on as they did in the previous edition, but we continue working on them,” she said.

The coach also apologized to supporters for the team’s disappointing run while thanking those who had continued to stand behind the players.

Kanyemba, however, praised the players for their efforts in securing Zambia’s qualification for the World Cup, pointing out that the team had gone unbeaten in its six qualifying matches.

She said the contrast between the level of competition in Africa and at the World Cup highlighted the need for greater exposure for young Zambian players.

“We never lost any game out of the six games that we played, and that shows that they have character. It is just that the level at which we play at the World Cup and in Africa is quite different” she said.

Kanyemba encouraged the players not to lose confidence following the disappointing campaign, urging them to remain committed to their development as they pursue opportunities at higher levels.