Copper Queens coach Nora Häuptle# did not want the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) tiebreaker rules explained to the players ahead of their final group match against Malawi on Wednesday, according to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ).

Zambia needed to beat Malawi by at least a two-goal margin to advance to the quarter-finals but managed only a 2-1 victory. The players appeared confused after the final whistle over whether they had qualified before later learning that they had been eliminated.

FAZ National Women’s Representative and Head of Delegation at the 2026 WAFCON, Col. Priscilla Katoba, has disclosed that Häuptle did not want the tournament rules or qualification permutations explained to the players ahead of the decisive match.

“I can indicate is I think not, of course, to blame someone, but I think our technical bench didn’t do the needful,” she added. “They didn’t do their part to prepare the girls on the rules that were given. The rules came in, and from my angle, I could have loved that the technical bench had prepared the girls, explaining exactly our stance on the regulations that were given. That in case things went the way they went, of course, then it was going to be a head-to-head qualification.”

“So on that, our girls didn’t know the rules even as they went into the Malawi game. They only knew that as long as they won that game, then we were through. And that was a disappointment to the girls and to everyone.”

We all knew the rules apart from players- Katoba

Katoba said that two days before the decisive match, FAZ president Keith Mweemba attempted to explain the qualification permutations to the players, but Häuptle stopped him.

“Football as it is, it has got rules and regulations that you need to follow at any particular time. So the rules came in, and here we are. We are eliminated in the group stages. It is sad.”

“These rules are there throughout, and no wonder at a particular time I saw the president wanted to highlight to the team, and it was unfortunate that by that time the coach had decided that she didn’t want to start the calculations.

“She knew about the rules. Even the whole Zambian leadership, we knew. We received the rules. I received the rules. The president had the rules. Our competitions manager had the rules, and everyone was aware at a leadership level. And no wonder I said even in the preamble that it was sad that our technical bench didn’t highlight the rules to the players. The rules came in. We had two days to digest and be able to highlight and be able to warn our players that they should have gone in that Malawi game with that focus to get more goals, unlike just going for a win, a mere win.”

Following their elimination, the Copper Queens will miss out on qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup.