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Sport Peerless

The Chipolopolo of 2012

2012

Won the Africa Cup of Nations in the city where the 1993 team died

Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the Zambia Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.

Why they are here

Nineteen years after a Zambian air force plane went down off Libreville with almost the whole national team aboard, Zambia won the Africa Cup of Nations in Libreville — a few hundred metres from where it fell.

Before the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations began, the Zambian squad went down to the beach at Libreville and laid flowers on the sand, near the water where a Zambian Air Force plane carrying most of the 1993 national team had crashed on its way to a World Cup qualifier in Dakar, killing all thirty aboard.

Zambia then won the tournament in that same city, beating Côte d'Ivoire — a side containing Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré and Kolo Touré — in the final at the Stade d'Angondjé. The match finished goalless after extra time and Zambia took the shoot-out 8–7. It was the country's first continental title, and it is very hard to find a result in the history of African football that meant more.
Sources

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