The 2021 TOTAL Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations, which was to kick-off this weekend in Morocco was on Monday canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic after an emergency CAF Executive Committee meeting.
Zambia was among five out of 12 participating countries that already set a base in Morocco to prepare for the tournament which was due to run from 13 March – 31 March.
FAZ Technical Director who was also the delegation leader Lyson Zulu described the cancellation as devastating.
“It is devastating, to say the least; this (the Under-17 Africa Cup) is a dream that we have sold to the boys for the last two years since we identified them at Under-15 level,” Zulu said.
“It is very unfortunate that the tournament cannot go on but at the end of the day I feel human lives matter and we feel for all the teams that are in quarantine that have produced positive cases due to Covid-19.”
“These boys had great potential in the region and they have something to show the world and this is the potential that the world will get to see one day,” he added.
Meanwhile, head coach George Chilufya was also left disappointed but he is confident the boys will remain positive after the discussion they had with the technical bench.
“It’s not good for African football. The boys and the technical bench and all the Associations have invested in this. But again, we are living in a world that is full of surprises and this coronavirus has turned things upside down,” Chilufya said.
“We have no control over nature; the only thing we can talk about is the football aspect and the disturbance that is there. We are hopeful that from the few words that we have spoken to them (the players), they will remain positive.”
Defender, Aaron Phiri was left devastated by the cancellation given that it was his dream to play at the AFCON tournament.
“It’s a very sad development, Firstly the world cup was canceled and now the AFCON which was the only opportunity for us to play at a higher platform but hear that it was canceled it was sad to hear for all of us,” he said.
” I think this is very bad and I can’t manage to explain it. It had shattered dreams, we dreamed about this and hoped to show what we have,” he added.
Zambia was due to play hosts Morocco, Ivory Coast, and Uganda in Group A at the Moulay Hassan Stadium in Rabat.
Group B had Nigeria, Tanzania, Algeria, and Congo while Group C was composed of Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, and South Africa.
Levels of reporting, awe sure. The article DOES NOT SAY WHY CAF CANCELLED IT. All we are reading is people’s feelings & reactions to the unexplained cancelation. Poor reporting.
We did an entire article on the cancellation immediately it was canceled.
Mr Job.haven’t you seen or read that they have talked about the conona virus and then people have also expressed their feelings
Mr job awe sure
Mr Job awe sure ba boss.
Am a left winger I will be thankful to zambians if they let me show my skill and stability