Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Chipolopolo were scheduled to host Namibia this Sunday
Zambia’s home friendly match scheduled for this weekend against Namibia has been cancelled.
Chipolopolo were scheduled to host Namibia this Sunday, at Nkoloma Stadium in Lusaka in a build-up match ahead of both sides participation in the 2016 Cosafa Cup.
The Football Association of Zambia (Faz) said in a statement on Thursday afternoon that the cancellation was due to operational reasons.
“The match has been cancelled at the request of the Government of the Republic of Namibia, due to the 2016 Cosafa Castle Cup competition that will be hosted by Namibia,” Faz stated.
Namibia, who are also the defending Cosafa Cup champions, will host this year’s tournament in Windhoek from June 11-25.
The news comes after Zambia entered day two of training camp in Ndola for the friendly.
Zambia and Namibia enjoy preliminary group stage byes and will enter the competition at the quarterfinal stage on June 17.
Namibia will play Botswana while Zambia await winner from Group A where Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Madagascar and The Seychelles will battle for that lone quarterfinal ticket to face the four-time champions.
The friendly against Namibia was due to be the two sides first meeting since The Brave Warriors beat Zambia 5-4 on post-match penalties in last year’s Cosafa Cup quarterfinals en-route to lifting their debut regional title in South Africa.