By Kalumiana Kalumiana
FAZ president Keith Mweemba insists unity beyond partisan sentiments is going to be a very key ingredient to making Chipolopolo great again.
Chipolopolo were by press time this morning, in friendly action against FIFA World Cup champions Argentina away in Buenos Aires, while earlier in the evening Chipolopolo B were playing Zimbabwe in the final of the four-nation friendly tournament in Francistown, Botswana.
Mweemba said in his prematch address in Buenos Aires that starting with the March 2026 friendly assignments, the goal was to ensure collective participation by all stakeholders in Chipolopolo’s revival mission after a rough 2025 if their objectives were to be successfully attained.
”It’s a great team; we are Zambia. At the end of the day, we are Chipolopolo and we must all believe and make Zambia great again, and that can only be achieved through unity of purpose and conviction and putting aside political, you know, inclinations and focusing on rebuilding the team and not playing politics of any kind whatsoever,” Mweemba said.
”I think we should not be divided as a nation. I know in the world of social media, everyone has got freedom of expression and ideas, but we must look at the bigger picture. Zambia must win. It’s not about an individual, it doesn’t matter. The country is more important than any single individual. Zambia must rise again from the ashes like a phoenix from the ashes and we must make Zambia great again.”
The March friendlies marked the first time Chipolopolo returned to action since making another group stage exit from the 2025 AFCON in Morocco where they finished bottom of Group A and scored just 1 goal from 3 games.
Chipolopolo exited the 2025 AFCON on 2 points from 3 games and bottom of Group A.
It was only the second time in Chipolopolo’s AFCON history that Zambia has only managed to score just 1 goal at the tournament since 2002.
”We want Zambia to go back to where it belongs. I think we cannot be proud of the recent performances but obviously there’s always a starting point and without going to the past or talking about where we went wrong, I think it’s a question of rebuilding. Football has got phases,” said Mweemba.
