Striker Ricky Banda is set to miss the African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament due to injury the ZamFoot Crew understands.
Banda sustained a groin injury earlier this week and is expected to miss both the CHAN tournament and Red Arrows pre-season camp.
The former Jumulo forward was recently drafted into the Zambia CHAN squad by coach Avram Grant.
The 2021/2022 MTN Super League Golden Boot winner is back after a short loan stint with Sudanese giants Al Merriekh who play domestic football in the Mauritanian league.
The premier tournament for Africa’s home-based national footballers is set to run from 2 to 30 August 2025 across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The Chipolopolo will be making their fifth appearance at the biannual tournament with their best outing being 2009 when they finished third.
Since then Zambia has missed three tournaments (2011, 2014 and 2022) and reached the quarter finals the other three times (2016,2018, and 2020).
Zambia has been drawn into Group A alongside hosts Kenya, Congo DR, Morocco, and Angola.
Chipolopolo will kick off their CHAN campaign on 7 August against Congo DR, followed by a meeting with Angola on 10 August.
The third match is against Morocco on 14 August, before concluding the group stage with a potentially decisive tie against the hosts Kenya on 17 August.
