Football coach and analyst Franklyn Malambo believes Zambia’s locally based players still have an opportunity to earn places in George Lwandamina’s squad for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.
With the domestic league currently in the off-season and its restart pushed back to October, locally based players face a race against time to maintain their fitness and impress the Chipolopolo technical bench.
Malambo, however, believes the players have already established a strong physical and technical foundation through their pre-season preparations.
“I don’t think there is much really, they have all had a pre-season training of at least six weeks, and in normal circumstances, that means they have gained the right physical and technical fitness base to compete,” Malambo told Bola News.
Friendly Matches Key for Local Players
According to Malambo, the biggest priority for the players now is obtaining regular match practice.
With competitive league football still some time away, he believes clubs will need to organise sufficient friendly matches to ensure their players remain sharp.
“Beyond that, it’s just about more practice of matches than anything else,” he said.
He added that the clubs’ plans for friendly matches will be particularly important because the domestic league has been delayed from the initially anticipated September restart.
Lwandamina Already Has His Plans
Despite the opportunity available to local players, Malambo believes the Chipolopolo technical bench already has a strong idea of the players it wants for the qualifiers.
“Overall, the coach already knows who he intends to have in his squad, both local and foreign, and barring any late surges or exceptional output in training and/or injury, he will stick to his guns,” he said.
However, players who produce outstanding performances during training could still force their way into the final selection.
Lwandamina recently emphasised that locally based players have an opportunity to impress and compete for places in the squad.
The local players will continue training while Zambia’s foreign-based professionals are expected to join the team closer to the qualifiers.
Zambia’s AFCON Qualifiers
Zambia face a demanding September window in their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign.
The Chipolopolo will travel to Algeria on September 25 before returning home to face Togo on September 29 at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola.
For Zambia’s local-based players, the message from Malambo is clear: stay fit, use friendly matches to build sharpness and make every training session count. A strong run of form could still change Lwandamina’s final selection plans.
