Egypt had a rough way of starting their Women's Africa Cup of Nations 2026 campaign with a crushing 6-0 loss to Zambia in the first game of their group stage series in Morocco on Tuesday.
Zambia's captain Barbra Banda was superb as her side dominated the Egyptian defence, scoring four goals for the Copper Queens in the game.
Racheal Nachula and Ireen Lungu scored the other goals to put Zambia at the top of the group with three points.
This allowed Zambia to move at the Egyptians and make attacking life difficult for them, but they failed to get a handle on the flank movement, nor did they find sufficient opportunities to cause the opposition hassle.
Egypt finish Group Three with no points after losing, while Zambia scored a first for a group that also features defending champion Nigeria and Malawi.
Egypt will look to bounce back when it meets Malawi on Saturday, and finish their group-stage runs off against Nigeria on Wednesday.
It was also the Egyptian team that garnered interest in the game, due to the seven stars above the national badge on their jerseys.
Egypt's women haven't won any of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations but the stars denote the seven African Cup of Nations titles that the men's team has won.
The men's competition is more successful in Egypt as they won in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010.
The seven stars on the national team's identity of the Egyptian Football Association do not represent the titles that the team on the badge has won, but the overall achievements of Egyptian football.
Egypt's ladies still have their first big continental prize to chase and will have to step up in their final group stage games to maintain their optimism.
