Copper Queens striker Racheal Kundananji has revealed how she uses criticism to improve her performance for her club, Bay Football Club.

The 24-year-old forward, who scored two goals for Zambia’s women’s team in back-to-back international friendly matches against Malawi last month, is currently preparing for the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) with her team.

Kundananji joined Bay FC last year for a world record fee of $787,600 from Madrid CFF. However, Naomi Girma’s recent transfer to Chelsea for $1 million broke that record.

Speaking ahead of her second season in the NWSL, Kundananji explains that she views criticism from Zambian fans as motivation to prove her worth on the pitch.

Despite scoring only five goals and four assists in 22 games last season, Kundananji says he is not under pressure and is looking forward to enjoying her game time in the new season.

“I don’t have pressure right now. The only thing I want is just to enjoy the game,” she told ESPN. “Fans might say a lot of things. People in Zambia… When you are not doing well, they are against you, but when you are doing well, they will support you. I’ve just come up with an idea to say: when they support me, every time they are against me, I will go back and use that support [as fuel].

“I will just go [back] to [the support I had in good times] and say, ‘Ok, they still support me. They just want me to push.”

Bay FC now experienced – Kundananji

Kundananji believes Bay FC has garnered enough experience to compete at full throttle in the upcoming season.

She says, “As Bay FC, we are no longer a new team. We now belong to the NWSL because this is our second season, so we need to do something different—something beautiful.”

Kundananji notes that, being one of the highly rated players in the league and at her club, she needs to make amends for the missed scoring chances from the previous season.

“I feel like I missed a lot of chances. This year, I won’t promise anything, but just watch out,” she stated.

Bay FC commences its season with a clash against Utah Royals on March 16, with kick-off set for 01:30 CAT. This is only the second season they will be participating in the NWSL since their establishment in 2015.

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