Levy Mwanawasa Stadium final approval awaited… Final touch ups ongoing 

A week and four days to the Chipolopolo Boys hosting their opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Levy Mwanawasa Stadium is yet to be approved. 

The 49,800 capacity Stadium is Zambia’s only hope of playing their World Cup qualifiers at home but final touch ups are not yet completed. 

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) in June made recommendations of what needs to be improved in order for the Chipolopolo Boys to play FIFA sanctioned matches at home. 

Lusaka’s National Heroes Stadium has been completely struck off the list of FIFA approved stadia.

“The only lingering sticky point is about the final authority to play our match at home at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium. We have been collaborating with government who are the owners of the stadium to ensure that we are fully complaint with the FIFA/CAF requirements. 

With Heroes Stadium completely struck off the list of FIFA approved stadia; we only have Levy Mwanawasa as our fall-back stadium. We remain optimistic that the final approval will be given once all the touch ups are done in line with the set benchmarks by CAF,” FAZ President Andrew Kamanga wrote in his weekly update, The President’s corner. 

Kamanga has also called on the fans to turn up in numbers to support the team and push them to World Cup qualification emulating the Copper Queens. 

“We also wish to appeal to the public to turn up for the Chipolopolo as they keep their push for world cup qualification alive. The fans will be crucial in inspiring the lads to victory. The women national team have already written a beautiful story with a historic world cup qualification that came on the back of Olympic appearance. Our aim is to sustain this beautiful story for our game.”

Zambia hosts Congo Brazzaville on November 17 before facing Niger away four days later. 

Chipolopolo coach Avram Grant and his technical team will be getting to work in the next few days ahead of the back-to-back matches with the announcement of his squad expected this week.