USWNT beware! Zambia is a rising power in women's soccer as big-money NWSL signings eye Olympic shock

When Zambia debuted at the Olympic women’s football tournament in 2021, it did so as an unknown quantity. After all, only four players in its squad played for clubs abroad – in Israel, Kazakhstan, China and Spain’s second tier. But after giving a good account of themselves in Japan, the Copper Queens return to this stage in France with the potential to do even more, not least because their frontline now boasts the two most expensive women’s footballers of all time.

Racheal Kundananji shot to the top of that list in January, when NWSL expansion side Bay FC signed her for a world-record fee of $860,000 (£685k). Barbra Banda, her Zambia team-mate, snuck up just behind her in those rankings in March, the Orlando Pride paying $680k (£582k) to bring her to the U.S.

Before the last Olympics, Zambia had never played a major international tournament and in three appearances at the Africa Cup of Nations, it had won just one game. But the sensational transfer fees and interest from big clubs that some of the Copper Queens are attracting shows the rise of women’s football in a nation that was hardly on the map in the sport a few years ago.

Pooled with Australia, Germany and the United States for the group stage at Paris 2024, the odds will be stacked against Zambia once again, as they were on debut at the Olympics and at last year’s World Cup, where Spain and Japan progressed at its expense. But against three teams that will have medal ambitions, the African nation has enough quality to at least pose problems, if not cause a big upset.