ZESCO United Football Club Team Ya Ziko
“Football is not a sport for girls but boys. You should instead focus on getting good grades at school.”
Grace Chanda, Zambia’s and the continents Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers top scorer, has had a first-hand experience of what it entails to be a female professional footballer in an environment where the game is predominantly a male-dominated sport.
Growing up in a society where the game’s biggest legends are men and the majority seeing the sport as off-limits to female participants, Grace had to shrug off traditional stereotypes to pursue what she believed was her career calling.
Chanda Kampamba, Grace Chanda’s mother led the charge in dissuading her daughter from pursuing her dream career in a sport that she strongly felt was a man’s domain.
“My mother was very much against my decision to play football. She constantly reminded me that football was not a sport for girls but boys. I would play street football in secrecy because I knew what would happen if word reached home that I was playing football with the boys. I wasn’t interested in school; football was everything to me.
I think it wasn’t just my mother who looked at football in that way. It was strange for many people who saw me play the game, especially with boys. The belief that a girl can’t play the game was strong among many people.”
In 2007, Chanda’s mother made a radical decision to move her daughter from Ndola to Kasama because of her unyielding desire to fashion a career out of the game.
“My love for football begun when I was very young. Football was a major part of my life then and of course, my male friends made me like the game even more. My mother didn’t see it that way, so she decided to send me away to live with my uncle in Kasama, Northern Province.”
Two years later, Chanda was back in Ndola with only one mission on her mind; excelling at school. Being at a school where physical education was part of the school curriculum, Chanda was required to join one of the many sports activities that were at her disposal.
As fate would have it, Chanda’s schoolmates whispered to school authorities about her exploits in the game.
“After returning from Kasama, my parents decided to take me back to school. There was a girl’s football team at Kansenshi Secondary school which actively participated in provincial competitions. Teachers asked me to join the team at the recommendation of my friends. That was the turning point in my career.”
That year Chanda’s team qualified for the provincial competitions where she performed exceptionally well to the delight of tournament organizers.
A year later, she was among a handful of young girls who were picked to represent her school during the ‘Airtel Rising Star Tournament’, a competition aimed at identifying budding young players on the continent.
Chanda used the 2013 ‘Airtel Rising Star’ as a springboard to announce her arrival on the national stage.
Nimble-footed with great ability to dribble past defenders, Chanda overwhelmed her opponents with some fantastic finishing skills which saw her emerge as the competition’s top scorer and player of the tournament.
“I was determined to show everyone especially my family that my future was in the game. I worked hard and emerged competition’s top scorer and tournament’s best player. It was an important moment for me because it was a big turning point in my career. I think it was a moment when my mother realised that I was good at the sport.”
Chanda’s eye-catching performances at the tournament did not go unnoticed and earned her a rare call-up to the National team.
She was to be part of the Zambia U-17 Women’s National team that was preparing for the qualifying series for the 2014 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup held in Costa Rica.
In the same year, Chanda clinched a professional deal with ZESCO Ndola girls, a team managed by ZESCO United Football Club.
“Two things happened to me that year. I signed for ZESCO Ndola girls and was selected at the National team. I was even happier when we qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup because it was the biggest stage for any young player. That World Cup experience motivated me to work even harder.”
Despite Zambia’s failure to go past the group stage, 16-year old Chanda had a first-hand experience of playing the game at the highest level.
“It is every player’s dream to play at a FIFA World Cup; never mind the level. We had a lot of scouts around, media too. The quality of teams was unmatched to any other competition you will feature at the youth level. I am very lucky I had that opportunity at a young age.”
That leap to the world stage was only the beginning of Chanda’s rapid rise in a two-year spell from Zambia’s youth teams to the Zambia Senior Women’s National team.
“I have played three COSAFA competitions with the Senior National team. I got my first goal at the senior level at the COSAFA tournament held in Zimbabwe in 2017. I was also part of the 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nationals held in Ghana where I scored a goal.”
Chanda’s 7-years of hard work, patience, and perseverance were to produce great dividends for player and country at a moment when nobody gave Zambia a chance to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Women’s Olympic competitions to be held in Japan.
On the road to Tokyo, Zambia hosted their neighbours and bitter rivals, Zimbabwe. The Copper Queens put up a five-star performance, embarrassing their rivals by a 5-0 score-line with Chanda bagging her debut hat-trick in national colours.
The Copper Queens were later drawn against Botswana with the first leg played in Lusaka. Zambia won by 1-0 before comfortably defeating Botswana 2-0 in an away game played in Francistown, Botswana. Chanda was yet again on the score sheet, scoring Zambia’s second goal.
The ZESCO Ndola girl’s diminutive striker took her goal tally to four goals in two games on the road to Tokyo.
Next up for the Copper-Queens was an encounter against the Harambee Starlets’ of Kenya.
The Copper Queens managed to steal a crucial 2-2 away draw in Nairobi, with Chanda yet again proving Zambia’s deadliest striker in the qualifying series by scoring the team’s first goal. In the return leg played in Lusaka, Zambia edged Kenya by 1-0 to keep their Tokyo dream alive.
The Lioness of Cameroon was the only team standing in Zambia’s way of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
It was a clash of titans with Cameroon favourites to qualify for the competition. Although the tie ended 3-2 in favour of the host, Zambia’s prolific striker, Chanda struck twice to give Zambia two crucial away goals before the final tie.
Zambia’s dream of playing at the Olympic Games was finally realised when the team beat Cameroon 2-1 in Lusaka to qualify on away goals. Trailing 3-2 from the first leg, Zambia won through on away goals after drawing 4-4 on aggregate.
Chanda emerged as a star player after posting seven goals, making her Africa’s top scorer in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifying series.
“It is difficult for me to explain the joy of qualifying for the Olympics. Nobody gave us a chance of making a maiden appearance at the competition because they thought we were a weak team without strikers. I thank God for giving me a rare opportunity of being the top scorer in the qualifiers. We worked as a team and we won as a team.”
Zambia Women’s National Team Coach, Bruce Mwape has described Chanda as a natural goal poacher with a great eye for goals.
“Grace is a complete player, she can dribble, she has the speed and great awareness of what is around her. She also has a fantastic eye for goals. The unique thing about her is that she hardly misses when given an opportunity. I have no doubt she will go a long way in the game if she keeps her head down and continue working hard.”
22-year old Chanda has the World at her feet and her mother is now her greatest asset.
“She is very proud of what I have achieved. She calls me whenever my name is mentioned on the news. I am glad she realised quite early that my career was in football. I am hoping to go back to school because I have plans of running my own business when I stop playing football.”
As the team prepares for the Olympics, Chanda is well aware of the responsibilities that come with representing the country at the biggest stage of the women’s game equalled only by the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“Many teams will focus on my game especially that I scored the most goals in the qualifiers. I am ready for whatever challenge that lies ahead. I am also positive that we will make the nation proud because we play as a team and believe in ourselves.”
Author: Desmond Katongo
