Under-15 Team Heads To Croatia

Under-15 National Team coach Chisi Mbewe has named the final squad for the Croatia ‘Vlatko Markovic’ 8-Nation Invitational tournament. Due to kick off on September 23, the squad will make a stop-over in Egypt ahead of the tournament in order to play Zamalek in a friendly match. 

The technical team selected the final 23 players from more than 500 boys across the country. 

“We have seen so much talent in the 500 players that we called for the trials and the doors are still open to those young kids who did not make the final list. This project is to develop these young players into great players for the national team,” Mbewe stated.  

The full squad is a follows: 

GOALKEEPERS: Perry Chipindi, Martin Chulu, Joseph Mulenga 

DEFENDERS: Owen Gondwe, Patrick Malama, Ashley Kalaba, Taonga Mkandawire, Lyson Banda, Ricky Chanda, Sekanji Siame, Emmanuel Kateka 

MIDFIELEDERS” Aaron Simpasa, Tyson Banda, Mbemba Phiri, Perkinhgs Mwale, Joseph Banda, Emmanuel Mutale, Emmanuel Mwanza, Paul Mwape 

STRIKERS” Joseph Ndau, Samson Malupenga, Patrick Simwinga, Thomas Mwambazi  

Participation in the tournament comes following the signing of cooperation agreement with the Croatian Football Federation (CFF) in 2019 by Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga. 

“The partnership is very strategic and it fits in with our 10 year strategic plan of building from the bottom going up and in the Croatia partnership, we are also likely to get additional support in setting up of the FAZ coaching school because their coaching school is organized,” Kamanga has stated. 

“For the first time we are going to treat coaching as a professional career and we will see different coaches trained over a long period of time in different age groups, which I think will go towards enhancing the value of our game.” 

The FAZ president said he hoped the unique opportunity to play in the eight-team tournament will provide inspiration for the young players as they seek to become professional footballers in years to come. 

“We see this as a good sign that our young players are being given the right opportunities. So even this group, we expect that some of them will make it and be motivated by the likes of Patson Daka and Mwepu so that they can also aim high,” he said. 

The team departs on Saturday.