Africa Cup of Nations - Group A - Zambia




Colours: Yellow shirts with a green trim / black shorts / yellow and green socks
Capital: Lusaka
Country population: 12,935,000

Zambia are currently ranked 72 in the World, which falls a long way short of their highest ever ranking of 15, which they obtained in 1996. However, they have done well to recover from the position of 101, which they occupied this time last year. They have never qualified for a World Cup and their best finish in the Africa Cup of Nations was in 1994 when they reached the semi-finals emulating the team of 1974. I think that French trainer Herve Renard will probably have his work cut out for the team to get close to that this time.

the Zambian national team will also be remembered for one of the biggest disasters in world football when their plane crashed on the way to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal in 1993 which wiped out the team.

Star Player: James Chamanga

He might be a bit long in the tooth now, but James Chamanga who now plies his trade in China with Dalian Shide could be an inspiration to the other Zambian players. He comes with a lot of feathers in his cap. He scored his first goal for Zambia in the COSAFA Semi final against South Africa in 2005. Since then he has added 14 more to his tally for the national team and will be looking to at this tournament, which could well be his last major one. He also holds the record of scoring 5 goals in one match when in 2007 he netted 5 for Moroko Swallows in a 6-2 victory over Platinum Stars.

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