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WAFCON 2026: Zambia Star Helen Chanda Sends Strong Warning To Super Falcons, Eyes Dream Start

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Zambia midfielder Helen Chanda has expressed her excitement at returning to the Copper Queens camp ahead of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), declaring that the team is determined to make a strong statement despite being drawn in one of the tournament’s toughest groups.

The Orlando Pride midfielder, who has become a key figure in Zambia’s national team setup, said she is delighted to be back with her teammates after recovering from injury setbacks that limited her international appearances.

Zambia has been drawn in Group B alongside nine-time champions Nigeria, Egypt, and Malawi, in what many observers consider one of the most competitive groups at this year’s tournament in Morocco.

“I’m happy to be back with the national team. The atmosphere in camp is great, and everyone is working hard because we know what’s at stake,” Chanda said.

The Copper Queens have emerged as one of Africa’s fastest-rising women’s football nations in recent years, finishing third at the 2022 WAFCON and qualifying for their historic first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

With stars such as Barbra Banda, Racheal Kundananji, and Grace Chanda expected to lead the attack, Zambia will be hoping to challenge for a maiden continental title.

“This year’s competition will be very difficult because every team has improved, but we’re confident in ourselves and believe we can achieve something special,” she added.

The Super Falcons remain the most successful team in WAFCON history, but Zambia will fancy their chances after recent improvements and impressive performances on the continental stage.

Chanda acknowledged the quality of the opposition but insisted the Copper Queens are approaching the tournament with confidence, determination and the belief that they can compete with Africa’s best as they target another memorable WAFCON campaign.

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‘Nigeria Needs a Football Identity’ — Akwuegbu Calls for One Philosophy Across All National Teams

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Former Nigeria international Benedict Akwuegbu has called for the introduction of a unified football philosophy across all of Nigeria’s national teams, arguing that a consistent playing identity could help address the country’s recurring problems.

Akwuegbu believes Nigeria has tried several approaches without achieving sustained success and should now establish a clear football philosophy that can be implemented across the different national teams.

Read Also: ‘Nigeria Has Failed to Keep Pace’ — Okunwa-Igunbor Blames Poor Preparation for Super Falcons’ WAFCON Collapse | Sports247 Nigeria

According to the former striker, players should become familiar with the same principles and style of play as they progress from one age grade to another.

“We need to have a philosophy that cuts across all the national teams, so that when players move from one level to another, they already understand the system.”

The former international believes such continuity would make the transition from the youth teams to the senior national sides smoother.

Rather than constantly changing tactical approaches depending on the coach or age-grade team, Akwuegbu wants Nigeria to develop a long-term identity that can survive changes in personnel.

His proposal comes amid intense debate over the state of Nigerian football following a series of disappointing results.

The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the Super Falcons missed the 2027 Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history. Nigeria’s U-20 men’s team also suffered a 4–1 defeat to Burkina Faso in the WAFU-B final.

These setbacks have prompted calls for broader reforms extending beyond individual coaches and players.

Akwuegbu believes establishing a national football philosophy could provide one part of the solution by ensuring that technical development begins at youth level and continues through to the senior teams.

Such a system would also give coaches a common framework while allowing players to develop technical and tactical understanding over several years.

The former Nigeria international’s proposal comes as the NFF faces growing pressure to address the structural issues affecting the country’s national teams.

Akwuegbu believes Nigeria now needs continuity and a clearly defined identity rather than repeatedly changing approaches without establishing a long-term football philosophy.

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Calendly throws its hat into meeting note-taker circus

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Note-taking has quickly turned into a critical part of the productivity space, with many workplace software companies chasing the dream of having AI automate tasks based on action items created from meeting transcripts. Calendly, known for its scheduling and meeting booking software, is now entering the fray with a note-taking product.

Like others in the space, Calendly’s note-taker also joins meetings, records the audio and video, and transcribes it, after which it can generate a summary, action items, and draft follow-up emails. The company said it is also testing a Granola-like feature that uses system audio to transcribe meetings.

Calendly is also planning to release an AI assistant named Callie that taps the company’s existing meeting and scheduling stack to set up meetings, check peoples’ availability, and surface context from prior meetings. (Meeting notetaking startup Read AI launched a similar email-based assistant earlier this year.)

Calendly CEO Tope Awotona said the company wanted to automate workflows for its top users: people in outward-facing roles like sales and marketing whose workday is typically inundated with meetings.

But the competition in this space is intense. On one end, you have meeting note-taking apps like Granola, Fireflies, Read AI, Otter, and Fathom; on the other, productivity companies like Notion, ClickUp, and Wispr have also added note-taking assistants and features to their suites.

Still, Awotona says there’s big opportunity in automating tasks after the meeting is transcribed.

“There’s a litany of notetakers, and all of them do a great job of recording and transcribing notes. But a lot of work happens after the meetings. And we think that really that’s where the opportunity for our note-takers to be efficient,” he said.

Given that some companies in this space, like Otter and Granola, are facing allegations of violating privacy, Awotona said Calendly’ note-taker will inform users that their meeting is being recorded. The recording assistant sends a message in the chat to inform everyone of its presence and activity, and any user can ask the app to leave the conversation. It can even inform people before the meeting starts that the call will be recorded, thanks to its integration with Calendly’s scheduling system.

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