Original Story Published by: FIFA.com
Zambian football was omitting an indescribable buzz in April 1993. It was the circumstance of a half-decade in which the Zambian game had shed its cape of anonymity and risen to prominence.
Zambian football was omitting an indescribable buzz in April 1993. It was the circumstance of a half-decade in which the Zambian game had shed its cape of anonymity and risen to prominence.
At the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Seoul 1988, a Kalusha Bwalya hat-trick had propelled them to a 4-0 thumping of an Italy side including Ciro Ferrera, Luigi de Agostini and Andrea Carnevale en route to topping Group B. That same year that same player had beaten the likes of Roger Milla, Rabah Madjer and George Weah to become the first Zambian to be crowned the African Footballer of the Year.
They felt they were poised to continue their fairytale adventure from obscurity to the FIFA World Cup. They were actually, in harrowing contrast, set to partake in a tragedy of inexplicable proportions.
The Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) finished third at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 1990, and had recorded first- and third-placed finishes at the two previous CECAFA Cups. Things were even blooming for Zambian clubs: Nkana reached the final of the African Champions’ Cup – a precursor to the CAF Champions League – in 1990, while Power Dynamos won the African Cup Winners’ Cup the following year.
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