Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) President Andrew Kamanga is confident Zambia stands a chance to host the 2029 Africa Cup of Nations following the country’s failed bid to host the 2025 and 2027 editions.
Zambia and Botswana submitted a last-minute joint bid to host the 2025 tournament, but it was not successful.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe last week announced Morocco as the host for the 2025 edition, while Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will co-host the 2027 tournament.
Zambia has made nine attempts to host the Afcon but has not been successful.
In 1988, they won the hosting rights but failed to host the competition due to financial challenges, and the country was stripped of the rights.
However, Kamanga is hopeful Zambia can host the tournament in 2029 if it bids again with the government’s support.
“East Africa got the rights to host largely because the Afcon had not been hosted in that region since the 1970s, and 2029 will surely be Southern Africa’s turn,” he wrote in his weekly column dubbed President Corner on the FAZ Facebook page. “We have enough time to prepare for that bid and will have no reason to fail.”
The FAZ boss further explained the joint bidding venture with Botswana.
“Initially, we targeted the 2025 bid… But once we got on the ground and re-evaluated the dynamics, we settled for a joint bid with Botswana,” he revealed.
“The back-room engagements with Botswana had been going on for a long time between the two governments. It was not a surprise that we ended up merging our bids at the behest of the government.”
Zambia has previously hosted the U-20 Afcon in 2017, which they won.
