Zambia National Team: Chipolopolo Football Squad, Fixtures and African Kick Off Times

Africa Cup of Nations champions in 2012, the Zambia national team is the country's senior men's football side, nicknamed the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) and run by the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ). They play in CAF and in the southern African COSAFA region, reached the AFCON final in 1974, 1994 and 2012, and won seven COSAFA Cup titles between 1997 and 2023. For South African readers searching for Zambia soccer, Chipolopolo identifies this same national side.

Zambia’s football history connects the loss of 18 players in the 1993 air disaster with the team’s AFCON triumph in 2012. Squad announcements, fixture details and results appear in the updating modules above; the sections below explore Zambia's identity, honours and football connections across Africa.

Who Are the Chipolopolo, and Why Are They Called the Copper Bullets?

The Chipolopolo are Zambia's senior men's team, governed by FAZ and entered in CAF competitions such as the Africa Cup of Nations and in COSAFA competitions for southern Africa. Their first recorded international came in 1946, a 4 to 0 defeat against Southern Rhodesia, played while the country was still Northern Rhodesia. That makes the side older than the independent nation. If you want the other sides on the continent in one place, our national teams hub lists them all.

The nickname has moved with the country's politics. In the 1980s the team was known as KK 11, after President Kenneth Kaunda, and after Zambia moved to multiparty politics in 1991 it became the Chipolopolo, the Copper Bullets. Copper is the obvious link, because the metal has shaped Zambian towns such as Ndola on the Copperbelt, where one of the home grounds now stands. Perhaps that is why the name stuck so quickly, since it ties a quick, direct football side to the thing the country is best known for across the region.

Zambia Fixtures: What Time Is Kick Off Where You Live?

Zambia's fixtures fall in the international windows that FIFA sets through the year, so the Chipolopolo play in short bursts of matches rather than every weekend like a club. Most windows carry AFCON qualifiers or World Cup qualifiers, with friendlies and the COSAFA Cup filling the gaps, and the fixtures module above lists each match with its competition, venue and kick off time once FAZ and CAF have confirmed it. So, if a date looks different elsewhere, trust the confirmed listing over an early report, because international friendlies in particular can move at short notice.

Lusaka runs on Central Africa Time, which matches South African time, so a home match in Zambia reads the same in Johannesburg as it does in Ndola. For a Chipolopolo home fixture starting at 15:00 in Lusaka, readers can use these equivalents: WAT 14:00 in Lagos, EAT 16:00 for Nairobi and Kampala, SAST 15:00 in Johannesburg, and GMT 13:00 for Accra. Away matches follow the host country's clock, which is why the module converts every fixture into all four zones for you. It is worth checking it on your phone on the morning of the game rather than trusting memory, especially when a qualifier is played in North Africa or the Gulf.

Who Is in the Zambia Squad?

The current Zambia squad, with every player's club and position, sits in the live squad module, which updates when FAZ names a new group for each window. We keep the names there rather than in the prose because the list changes every few months, as fitness, form and the coach's preferences move players in and out. The captaincy can change between windows too, so the module marks the armband rather than this paragraph, and you will always see the group exactly as it was announced.

Zambia goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene joined South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns in 2013, following his spell at Free State Stars. His club career provides a dated connection between the Chipolopolo and South African football.

Who Coaches the Chipolopolo, and How Do They Play?

The current head coach and staff are listed in the team module, which changes only once FAZ confirms an appointment. The style has been steadier than the names on the bench. In my opinion, the best Zambia sides have been compact, hard to break down and quick on the counter, and the 2012 results included: they beat Senegal 2 to 1, Equatorial Guinea 1 to 0 and Ghana 1 to 0, then held Ivory Coast to 0 to 0 in the final before winning on penalties. So, when you watch a new Zambia side, look for that tight shape and the pace of the forwards breaking from it; when both are there, the Chipolopolo are a hard opponent for anyone on the continent.

How Do You Read Zambia's Qualifying Groups and FIFA Ranking?

Each Chipolopolo qualifying victory adds three to Zambia's points column; a drawn fixture adds one. Zambia's group table (log for South African readers) orders the participating nations by accumulated points, applying the relevant competition's tiebreakers whenever totals match. Read Zambia's row alongside the qualification markers to understand which finishing places secure passage to AFCON. For the Chipolopolo, goals scored and conceded also deserve attention, although the competition rules determine when their difference separates otherwise level sides.

The FIFA ranking is the other number readers ask about, and the live figure sits in the module. Historically, Zambia's highest ranking was 15th, in 1996, the year Kalusha Bwalya finished as top scorer at AFCON with 5 goals, and their lowest was 102nd, in February 2011. What came next is the best argument I know for not reading too much into a ranking, because about a year after that low point Zambia were champions of Africa. The ranking module shows Zambia’s updated position.

What Have the Chipolopolo Won?

The Chipolopolo won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012. Zambia also won seven COSAFA Cup titles between 1997 and 2023, with victories in 1997, 1998, 2006, 2013, 2019, 2022 and 2023, and became the competition’s most successful team in 2023. Their AFCON record runs deeper than the title. They reached the final at their first tournament in 1974 and again in 1994, and took bronze in 1982, 1990 and 1996, the last of those with a 1 to 0 win over Ghana after a 4 to 2 semi final defeat to Tunisia.

The title that matters most in Zambia cannot be separated from 27 April 1993. That day a Zambian Air Force plane carrying the team to a 1994 World Cup qualifier crashed after taking off from Libreville, in Gabon, and all 30 people aboard died, 18 of them players. Nineteen years later, in February 2012, Zambia won the Africa Cup of Nations final in Libreville, beating Ivory Coast on penalties after a 0 to 0 draw that ran through extra time. That final is my defining match for this team, and I suspect most readers feel the same, because a side went back to the city where it lost a generation and left as champions of Africa.

Who Holds the Zambia Records?

The updating records module identifies Zambia's appearance and scoring record holders and displays their international totals. Use it to check the leaders as records change; the table below lists dated honours and historical milestones.

Where Do the Chipolopolo Play, and How Can You Follow Them?

Zambia play home matches at two grounds, the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola, on the Copperbelt, and the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, the capital. The fixtures module shows which one hosts each match, and tickets for home games come through FAZ and its official ticketing partners, with sale details announced ahead of each window. If you are planning a trip from Johannesburg or Harare, wait for the confirmed venue before you book anything, because a qualifier can be placed in either city and the two are a fair drive apart.

Where to watch depends on your country, and the broadcast line beside each fixture comes from the rights data for Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda rather than from guesswork. Check the fixtures module for the time, the squad module for the names and the results module after the final whistle.

Why Do the Chipolopolo Matter in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda?

South African readers have the strongest stake, because Bafana Bafana and Zambia are COSAFA neighbours who meet in the regional cup and in friendlies, and every meeting between them is logged in the results module. The rivalry is friendly but sharp. For Ghanaian readers the link is just as personal, since Zambia beat the Black Stars 1 to 0 for bronze in 1996 and 1 to 0 again in the 2012 semi final, two results that return whenever the sides are drawn together.

Nigeria and Zambia met in the 1994 AFCON final in Tunis, where the Super Eagles won against a Zambian side rebuilt after the air disaster. A later club connection linked Zambia's Patson Daka with Nigeria's Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi at Leicester City in 2021. For Kenya's Harambee Stars and the Uganda Cranes, Zambia matter less as a regional rival and more as a continental one, a regular AFCON contender whose ranking and results help shape the pots and groups East African sides land in.

What Should You Call the Zambia National Team?

Any of the common names works, and readers across the five countries use them all. Zambia national team and Zambia squad are the plain search terms in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, Chipolopolo is used almost everywhere the team is followed, and Copper Bullets is the English translation that travels furthest. KK 11 belongs to the 1980s and the Kaunda years, so it turns up mainly in history pieces and in conversations with older fans. If you are looking for a fixture or the line up, the plain team name or Chipolopolo will bring you back here fastest, and from the national teams hub you can move across to Bafana Bafana, the Super Eagles or any other side on the continent.