Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President, Andrew Kamanga believes there are alot positives that can be picked from the Chipolopolo Boys’ Africa Cup of Nations outing.
Kamanga believes the players have gotten valuable exposure at the big stage that will help them going forward.
Kamanga was also quick to thank the fans for their support towards the team and the KoPa jersey.
“Football felicitations to our sports family. We are conscious of the cloud of disappointment hovering across our great nation after our first-round elimination from the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations. It is very easy to be hard on ourselves and the Chipolopolo following the early exit but like every sport we must pick ourselves up and focus on the upcoming tournaments,” Kamanga wrote in his weekly update, The President’s corner.
“We came to this tournament on the back of having missed out on three editions and had to summon everything we had to be at par with the big guns on the continent. Most of our players were making their debut appearance at the AFCON and needed the exposure on the big stage going forward. We will not delve into the technical review of the tournament just yet as the technical bench will duly present a report that will be reviewed. Overall, there are a lot of positives to build on from the tournament that will see us return better at the next edition. Special thanks to hordes of Zambians that rallied behind the team during our matches.
It was humbling to see Zambians unite and don their now beloved KoPa kit to show solidarity with the Chipolopolo. We felt the love on the streets, board rooms, markets, churches and even cyberspace and express our profound gratitude to the Zambians who showed love to their team. We will keep our focus on the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers that resume in June with back-to-back fixtures against Morocco and Tanzania in a repeat of AFCON fixtures.”
“We will have an opportunity to prepare for the June fixtures during the March FIFA window. As FAZ, we have never relented in ensuring that we line up quality preparations for international matches. We did the same for the Chipolopolo that we sent to Saudi Arabia for a 10-day international camp with an international friendly match against five-time African champions Cameroon to wrap it up. We have every reason to believe that the crop of players we have picked up lessons from the AFCON that we will use in the future. The 2025 AFCON draw will be held next month, and we will have a clearer idea of the path we will take to return to the next edition,” he added.
The Chipolopolo Boys were eliminated in the group stage after finishing third in group F with just two points from three games.
Zambia drew 1-1 with DR Congo and Tanzania before losing 1-0 to 2022 World Cup semi finalists, Morocco.
