The Zambia national football team formed in 1929. The team joined FIFA and the Confederation of African Football in 1964. Zambia won their first major tournament in 2012 by lifting the Africa Cup of Nations.
Until 1964, Zambia was a colony of the United Kingdom and known as Northern Rhodesia. The team’s first competitive game was a match against Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1946. The north won 4-0 on Southern soil. Zambia’s biggest win is a 9-0 defeat of Kenya from 1978. The team has been beaten by nine goals twice in its history; 10-1 to DR Congo in 1969 and 9-0 to Belgium in 1994.
Tragedy struck Zambia in 1993 when a plane carrying the team crashed into the sea off the shore of Gabon. All passengers and crew on-board died. Eighteen of Zambia’s promising squad lost their lives, as well as the manager and support staff. Only a few players from the team, who were travelling separately, survived.
The plane was taking the Zambia national football team to compete a 1994 word cup qualifying match. A hastily formed team completed the campaign but did not make the world cup finals. The new Zambia competed in the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and defied the odds by reaching the final. Despite taking the lead, the team lost to Nigeria 2-1.
In 2012, Zambia won their first Africa Cup of Nations in Libreville, Gabon. The final was played a few hundred metres inland from the 1993 crash site. The team beat favourites Ivory Coast on penalties and dedicated the match to the memory of those killed in the incident.
Ranked 76th by FIFA, the Zambia national football team is riding high after a good run of results.
World cup 2018
Fixtures to be announced.
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