It's not just soccer, it's Chipolopolo

CHIPOLOPOLO AT THE GLOBAL STAGE

Zambia is considered a footballing nation by many football experts; it has participated in several global and continental competitions among which is the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Under 20 World cup.

The Zambia National Football team represents Zambia in association football and is governed by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). During the 1980s, they were known as the KK 11, named after founding president Dr. Kenneth Kaunda (KK) who ruled Zambia from 1964 to 1991.

The KK BOYS

After the country adopted multiparty politics, the side was nicknamed Chipolopolo, the &Copper Bullets.&

On February 12, 2012 Chipolopolo played a final match against Ivory Coast at the Stade d'Angondjé in Libreville, Gabon, to determine the winner of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

The team has three Africa Cup of Nations final appearances to its credit, winning the 2012 tournament with victory over Ivory Coast in the final.

Chipolopolo boys celebrates the AFCON in 2012.

Furthermore, in 2017, the Zambia Under 20 soccer team survived a heart-stopping encounter to see off Germany 4-3 after extra-time to progress to their first FIFA U-20 World Cup quarter-final, just few months after bagging the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

Zambia also found itself in the world news as one of its fallen heroes Godfrey Chitalu was among the world record breaking strikers who scored more than 100 goals in one calendar year which was in 1972, more than Gerd Müller's total in 1972 85 goals and Lionel Messi's 92 goals total in 2012, both of which are often referred to by journalist as &world records.” 

Chipolopolo legend Godfrey Chitalu makes a drible

However, Zambian researchers found out the goals were actually 116 throughout the calendar year.

The researchers also reviewed that, this includes 15 goals in CAF competitions, 91 goals in FAZ tournaments, 5 goals in friendly games, 3 goals in the NFL Trophy and 2 goals in the NFL Benevolent Fund Match.

The research was presented in the year 2012 after Lionel Messi broke the alleged world record of Gerd Müller.

Nevertheless, a FIFA spokesman declared that an official FIFA world record had never existed as they did not keep track of domestic competitions.

Chitalu is widely regarded as the greatest Zambian player of all time as he holds his national team's goalscoring record and was voted Zambian footballer of the year five times. 

As well, he was selected by CAF as one of the best 200 African footballers of the past 50 years in 2006.

Apart from the crowd-wowing achievements by Chitalu, another one of Zambia’s success in football can be accredited to Christopher Katongo, a Zambian international footballer who also plays professionally for Zambia Premier Soccer League Club Green Buffaloes F.C. as a striker.

Former Chipolopolo Captain celebrates his BBC player of the year award in 2012

He is an Africa Cup of Nations winner and won the BBC's African Footballer of the Year award in 2012, winning just over 40% of the public vote.

As if that is not enough, Patson Daka is another upcoming legend who has a lot of football accolades to his name. Daka, an Under 23 Zambian footballer plays as a forward for Austrian team FC Red Bull Salzburg and the Zambia national team.

U-23 Chipolopolo striker Patson Daka

The young star was voted as the 2017 Central African Football (CAF) Young player of the year, which is recognized at the continental stage.

Zambia has had a successful performance in sports and the government has since engaged the Ministry of Youths and Sports to cooperate with the Ministry of Education to facilitate the growth of sports in the country.