OFFICIAL: NORA HAUPTLE APPOINTED COPPER QUEENS COACH
Press Statement
(For Immediate Release)
Football Association of Zambia
Football House, Lusaka
4th January 2025
FAZ APPOINTS HAUPTLE AS NEW COPPER QUEENS COACH
The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has appointed Swiss national Nora Hauptle as Copper Queens coach on a three year deal.
FAZ General Secretary Reuben Kamanga says Hauptle had been hired to consolidate on the gains made in the women’s game.
“We are excited to announce the appointment of Nora Hauptle as the new Zambia Women National Team coach. We have every reason to believe that she has the pedigree and profile that will take us to the next level,” says Kamanga.
“Her duty is to consolidate on the gains made in our women’s game in the last few years that has seen us win bronze at the WAFCON, qualify to a maiden FIFA World Cup in 2023 and back-to-back Olympic qualifications.”
The former Swiss defender is expected to be unveiled soon.
The new Copper Queens coach had a distinguished career as a defender in Europe and represented Switzerland at international level before retiring in 2009.
She took up coaching and notably drilled SC Sand in the German Frauen-Bundesliga, in 2020, where she was, at the time, the only female coach in the league. Hauptle left SC Sand in 2021 before being appointed Black Queens coach in 2022.
Kamanga says Hauptle’s predecessor Bruce Mwape will be re-assigned in a different capacity in the developmental teams.
“We also wish to thank Bruce Mwape for the work done since his appointment in 2018 which has seen the team qualify to the World Cup and two Olympics (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024). He remains a core member of our wider technical development program as we secured a CAF Pro License course for him as part of our collaboration with the Royal Morocco Federation. He will become the second Zambian coach to undertake the CAF Pro License after Wedson Nyirenda,” he says.
The Copper Queens have already qualified for the 2024 WAFCON (to be played in July 2025) that takes place in Morocco.
For and on behalf of:
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA
Sydney Mungala
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
Be careful Zambia don’t pay foreign coaches
I do not agree with this appointment. Bruce Mwape has developed the girls who were not known in Africa and the world at large. He has improved the women’s football to the level it is today. The best you can do is to kick him out and bring an expatriate to take over from . Cry my beloved Zambia. First you have taken a job from a deserving Zambian and given it to an expatriate. Second , you will pay the expatriate more than you were paying the Zambian. If Bruce had any problems, the best you could have done is to sit him down. It is not too late, let HE the President of the Republic of Zambia step in and stop this nonsense.
But this is not Good at all.
What’s wrong with Bruce Mwape leadership?
Copper Queens are famous and on the map because of BM. They thru spanners in his moving wheel.
If they start going down BLAME FAZ.
If they perform well it is not the new Coach NO it is because they were already set rolling in winning gear by BM.
Anyway when decision is made no one reverses. So FAZ has made the decision though it is a wrong one, hopefully the girls won’t start loosing.
A female coach for female players. That makes more sense. Ofcourse to find a female Zambian coach might be a long shot out of reach.
We know about all the controversies that surround a man coaching women… no matter how far a man will make them go, a womans dignity always comes first.
Good luck and win for Zambia