The Zambia National Team has been crowned Champions of the 2023 Cosafa Cup for the seventh time.
The Chipolopolo Boys, who started their campaign with a 1-0 loss to Malawi, successfully defended the title they won in 2022 after beating Lesotho 1-0 on Sunday.
Moyela Lilamba scored the winning goal for Zambia in the 77th minute after an evenly contested first half.
The Crocodiles of Lesotho, who were hoping to win the trophy for the first time in history, were a hard nut to crack, but the Chipolopolo proved too strong and have now become the most successful football country in Southern Africa.
Zambia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are the only countries to win back-to-back COSAFA Cup titles since its inception in 1997. The first country to do so was Zambia in 1998 when they defended their inaugural title, followed by South Africa in 2008.
The last team to win back-to-back titles was Zimbabwe in 2018. However, the Copper Bullets have stepped into a galaxy of their own by winning it back-to-back for the second time, mimicking their triumphs in 1997 and 1998.
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They are also the first Southern African country to win ten key accolades.
Zambia has now won seven COSAFA Cups and two CECAFA crowns in addition to the AFCON title in 2012.
They now have ten titles, one more than South Africa and Zimbabwe, both of whom have seven.
