Binewa Team Profile: Zambia at TotalEnergies AFCON 2023
By Mwambo E. Lyonga
Zambia is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bordered to the north by the Democratic Republic Congo, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique to the southeast, Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south, Namibia to the southwest, and Angola to the west. The capital city of Zambia is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of Zambia. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the north, the core economic hubs of the country. Zambia has a rich football history in Africa though they are yet to qualify for a FIFA World Cups. The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations winners made their debut in the competition in 1974 and lost the final to Ndaye Mulamba’s all conquering Zaire in Egypt. They have qualified for the tournament 18 times, finishing as runners-up twice and Bronze medalists three times.
Team Bio
The Chipolopolo or ”Copper Bullets” of Zambia announced themselves in style on the African football showpiece in their maiden participation in 1974 in Egypt. They went all the way to the final and lost to then Zaire. They beat Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda in the group stage, losing only to Egypt and sealed their place in the semifinals. Their semifinals against Congo was only decided in post match penalties, they prevailed in the shootout but lost to Zaire in the final.
After arguably world football’s greatest tragedy in 1993 the team bounced back to a silver medal in 1994. Tragedy struck the Zambian team when the military plane (REG: AF-319) transporting the team to Senegal for a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifier crashed late in the evening, on April 27, 1993. Three stops were planned for re-fuelling, but at the first stop, in Brazzaville, engine problems were noticed on the Buffalo DHC-5D of the Zambia Air Force. Despite this, the flight continued and a few minutes after take-off from Libreville, Gabon, where the second stopover had taken place, one of the engines caught fire and stopped. The pilot, who had already made a flight from Mauritius the day before, accidentally shut down the other engine, which was still running. The loss of power, during the climb after take-off, caused the plane to fall and crash into the water 500m off the coast. All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players, were killed in the accident.
Zambia rallied from this incident to bounce back in style and equal their best performance till then in the competition. They finished third 1982 and 1990 with a quarterfinals spot in 1992 and group stage eliminations in 1978 and 1986.
In 1994 in Tunisia, they finished top in Group C with a 1-0 win over Côte d’Ivoire and a 0-0 draw with Sierra Leone. At the quarterfinals, a narrow 1-0 win over Senegal was enough to seal their place in the last four. In the semifinal against Mali, Litana, Saileti, emblematic captain Kalusha Bwalya and Keneth Malitoli were on target in an emphatic 4-0 win over Mali.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria were the last obstacle to what would have been a historic and emotional triumph for the Zambians. Elijah Litana quickly opened the scoring for Zambia at the third minute of the game but Emmanuel Amunike replied two minutes later before scoring Nigeria’s winner at the 47th minute. Zambia lost but gained the respect and admiration of all and sundry.
They built on that improbable success story to finish third in South Africa in 1996. In 1998, 2000, 2002 2006 and 2008 they were eliminated at the groups stage. In 2010 in Angola, they were ranked 6th in the tournament after a quarterfinal exit. History was beckoning in Gabon, land of the 1993 tragedy in 2012.
Drawn in Group A with co-hosts Equatorial Guinea, Libya and Senegal, Zambia finished top of the Group with wins over Senegal and Equatorial Guinea and a draw with Libya. They made light work of Sudan with a 3-0 win in the quarterfinals before edging Ghana 1-0 in the semifinals thanks to Emmanuel Mayuka’s 78th minute strike, his third in the tournament.
In the final against Côte d’Ivoire at the Stade d’Angondjé in Libreville both teams failed to score in normal and extra time and the decision had to be made in a nail biting shootout. Kolo Toure and Gervinho missed their spot kicks for Côte making Rainford Kalaba’s miss inconsequential at Zambia prevailed on an 8-7 score line. The Chipolopolo had turned their land of tragedy into land of glory with a first AFCON triumph.
They failed to build on that win as they were eliminated at the group stage in 2013 and 2015 and failed to qualify for the next three tournaments. Their return to the AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire should be a big revival in their AFCON history.
The Journey
Group H of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification tournament was one of the twelve groups that decided which teams will qualify which for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament. The group consisted of four teams: Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Comoros and Lesotho (winners of the preliminary round).
As the hosts of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, Côte d’Ivoire participated in the qualifiers with the team guaranteed a spot in the finals regardless of their ranking in the group. Their matches and results counted in determining the qualification of the other teams from their group.
The teams played against each other in a home-and-away round-robin format between June 9, 2022 and September 9, 2023.
Zambia, finished as group winners with 13 points and joined Côte d’Ivoire, the group runners-up and tournament hosts, in qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Earlier results
Game day 1
Côte d’Ivoire 3-1 Zambia
Game day 2
Zambia 2-1 Comoros
Game day 3
Zambia 3-1 Lesotho
Game day 4
Lesotho 0-2 Zambia
Game day 5
Zambia 3-0 Côte d’Ivoire
Game day 6
Comoros 1-1 Zambia
Qualifications group
Zambia 13 pts
Côte d’Ivoire 13 pts
Comoros 7 pts
Lesotho 1 pt
Players to watch
Patson Daka
With five goals to his name in the qualifiers and finishing as Group H’s top scorer 25– year – old Patson Daka is Zambia’s most dreaded player ahead of the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. Daka began his career with the youth team of his local club Kafue Celtic. Subsequently, he was sent on loan to Nchanga Rangers and Power Dynamos, where he was able to further develop his skills. In January 2017, Daka joined Red Bull Salzburg’s reserve team Liefering in Austria, and was then made part of the first team in the following summer. He helped Salzburg win four Austrian Bundesliga titles and three Austrian Cups. In summer 2021, Daka joined Leicester City in the English Premier League.
Daka made his senior international debut for Zambia in 2015 at the age of 16. He made his senior debut for Zambia in a 2–0 friendly victory over Malawi on 10 May 2015. He was the 2017 CAF Young Player of the Year
Lameck Banda
He was a key player for them in the qualifiers with two goals to his name. 22-year-old Lameck Banda was on born January 29, 2001 in Lusaka. He plays as a left winger for Italian Serie A club Lecce. After spells with Nkwazi and ZESCO United in Zambia, on July 10, 2019, Banda signed a contract with Russian Premier League club FC Arsenal Tula. He joined his compatriots Evans Kangwa and Kings Kangwa at the club.
He made his debut in the Russian Premier League for Arsenal Tula on July 12, 2019 in a season-opening game against FC Dynamo Moscow, as a starter. On September 3, 2020, Banda signed with Maccabi Netanya in Israel. On September 7, 2020, Arsenal Tula confirmed the transfer and announced that it is a loan until May 2021. On August 6, 2021, he returned to Israel, joining Maccabi Petah Tikva on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
On August 4, 2022, Banda joined newly-promoted Serie A club U.S. Lecce on a permanent deal, signing a four-year deal with an option for a fifth season.
Kings Kangwa
Kings Kangwa was born on April 6, 1999 in Kasama Zambia and plays as a central midfielder for Serbian club Red Star Belgrade. He was another key player for them in the qualifiers, with two goals to his name. Kangwa began his career at Lusaka-based club Happy Hearts. In 2017, he signed for Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva, before returning to Happy Hearts in 2018. Ahead of the 2019 Zambian Super League season, Kangwa signed for Buildcon. On July 10, 2019, he moved to Russian club Arsenal Tula. On May 29, 2022, Kangwa joined Serbian club Red Star Belgrade.
Coach
68-year-old Israeli coach Avraham “Avram” Grant was born on born May 6, 1955. He is a vastly experienced professional football manager. He has spent the majority of his career coaching and managing in Israel, winning a number of national league and cup victories with different teams, and also managing the Israel national team for four years. He has also had coaching spells with Portsmouth, West Ham United and notably Chelsea in England. Grant moved to England in 2006 to become technical director of Portsmouth before being appointed director of football at Chelsea in July 2007. Two months later, in September 2007, following the departure of José Mourinho, Grant was appointed as Chelsea’s manager. Despite leading the club to the Champions League and League Cup finals, as well as contesting the Premier League title to the last day, his contract was terminated at the end of the season. After one season with Partizan Belgrade and one season as the technical director for Thai club BEC Tero Sasana, Grant was appointed coach of the Ghana national football team in 2014. He stepped down from the position after a defeat in the semi-finals of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
On December 22, 2022, Grant was unveiled as the new manager of the Zambia national football team after signing a two-year deal.
2023 AFCON matches Group F
Zambia will kick-start its campaign against two time winners DR Congo on January 17, and play against Tanzania and Morocco on the 21st and 24th of January respectively.
