ZESCO Ndola Girls goalkeeper Leticia Lungu has been called up to the Zambia team in place of goalkeeper Hazel Nali who has withdrawn due to injury ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Lungu was part of the 35-member provisional team that was in Germany for an international camp but did not make the final team as Nali, Kazakhstan-based goalkeeper Catherine Musonda and Nkwazi Queens goalkeeper Eunice Sakala made the cut.

Nali’s World Cup journey came to a premature end after she suffered laxity in the Medial Collateral Ligament and a complete tear of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) during training in Germany and is likely to be out of action for a long period after further tests conducted in New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Thandiwe Zulu and Green Buffaloes Women FC defender Anita Mulenga have joined the Copper Queens technical bench in New Zealand as team nutritionist and equipment manager respectively.

Zulu, a lecturer at Makeni School of Nursing will conduct nutritional assessment on the team and provide dietary guidelines for the team through their training, pre-match, matchday and post-match recovery programmes. She has previously been part of surveys in the minimum diversity for children and women.

She comes in with a wealth of experience in maternal and child nutrition, food security, sports nutrition as well as rural household food security. In the sports field, Zulu is a squash player and introduced squash at the University of Zambia (UNZA) and later served as squash president in 2016.

2022 WAFCON bronze medallist Anita Mulenga joins the Copper Queens backroom staff as equipment manager and the initiative to engage Mulenga is part of the Football Association of Zambia’s Career Transition Programme.