AFCON 2025: The Best Chance To IMMORTALIZE Zambia’s 1993 Fallen Heroes

It is half-a-year short of three decades that a tragic incident occurred
on the evening of April 27 – 1993, when a DHC-5 Buffalo transport aircraft of the Zambian Air Force crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off from Libreville, Gabon.

The flight was carrying most of the Zambian national football team to a 1994 FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Senegal in Dakar. All 25 passengers and five crew members were reported to have died instantly. Further investigations concluded that the pilot had shut down the wrong engine following an engine fire, blended with the Pilot’s fatigue.

Shocked and distraught over the incident, the whole of Zambia was plunged into deep mourning.

Fast forward to 29 years later, the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) have made a bid to host the 2025 Africa Cup Of Nations, after CAF withdrew the right to host from Guinea – because of inadequate infrastructure.

Zambia, a football-mad country where footballers are almost treated as deities and where every victory is celebrated with great pomp, astonishingly, is yet to host the Africa Cup of Nations, in the competition’s 65 years of existence.

The Zambian FA motored by its supremo – Andrew Kamanga, has stepped in and made a potent bid to host the 2025 AFCON.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has paid itty-bitty tributes but this could be the best chance to immortalize the players who passed on, today referred to as the Fallen heroes of 1993.

Zambia’s national team, show-named the Chipolopolo have long moved on from what now seems a distant past. Testament to the team’s rebirth was the 1994 AFCON final played against Nigeria a year later, before the 2012 win that earned Zambia a maiden AFCON trophy.

Zambia joined 6 other countries in the race: Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Benin and South Africa, as they all seek to host the biennial tournament.

However, the Southern African country was second its region to submit their bid and the sportglizt crew can confirm that the Football Association have been backed by the country’s government to submit their bid.

‘Next year will be 30 years since the Gabon disaster. It will also be good for our Government and FAZ to include the memory of the fallen heroes as we plan to host the AFCON 2025,’ FAZ’ Andrew Kamanga told sportglitz.com.

‘CAF will do well to recognise the fallen heroes by granting us (Zambia; editor’s note) the right to host the 2025 AFCON tournament.’ opined the refined sports administrator.

Doctor Kamanga believes that CAF can grace the occasion especially at a place like the Independence stadium in Lusaka, where members of the national team killed in the crash were buried in what became known as “Heroes’ Acre”.

On a holistic look at the country’s infrastructure, Zambia has two modern stadiums at Heroes and Levy. There are equally four existing stadiums upgraded and Goverment has reportedly agreed to build a new 20,000 seater capacity stadium in Livingston, a global touristic destination.

Regional balance looks to be the path CAF is taking. From 2015, AFCON has been held in Central, North and West Africa. One can only think a return to Southern Africa since South Africa 2013 is likely.

CAF awaits confirmation of the countries that have expressed their intention to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on the CAF deadline, which is December 16, before sending inspection committees to those countries pending an official announcement on February 10, 2023, for the official organizer of AFCON 2025.