Sport in Zambia
Western sports were introduced into Zambia by the European colonists in the early 1900’s, however, it wasn’t developed after that. Boxing, tennis, and basketball are popular but football was the most popular among the rest. In fact, football was considered to the Zambia’s national sport. It has become so popular throughout the country that all the people of Zambia felt devastated when their national team was involved in a 1993 plane crash while on their way to a qualifying match in a World Cup.
Kalusha Bwalya known as simply “Great Kalu” was noted as the greatest Zambian footballer of all time and is now a current president of the Football Association of Zambia.
All Africa Games sometimes called the Pan African Games or African Games is the most awaited sporting event by the Zambians. It is a continental, multi-sport event held every four years and some of the sports involved here are baseball, football, boxing, taekwondo, wrestling and many more.
Zambia has joined the Olympic Games under the Zambian flag since 1968 (they used to go under the Northern Rhodesia banner) and have competed in almost all Summer Olympic Games except for 1976. They have only received two Olympic medals. The first one was from Keith Mwila (bronze) in the 1984 Summer Olympics for the flyweight category in boxing and Samuel Matete (silver) for the 400 meter hurdles in 1996.
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Zambia. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.
Popular sports of Zambia
- football (soccer), boxing, tennis, basketball
Zambia Sporting Success
Great athletes from Zambia
- Kalusha Bwalya (football)
- Samuel Matete (athletics)
Zambia Sports trivia
- in 1993, the entire Zambia National Soccer team perished in a plane crash en route to Senegal for the 1994 U.S.A World Cup Qualifiers. All 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players as well as the coaches and support staff, were lost in the accident.
- At the first Cricket World Cup in England 1975, a team from East Africa competed, which included players from Zambia.
Zambia at major events
- Zambia at the Summer Olympics
- Zambia at the Commonwealth Games
- Zambia at the Men's FIFA World Cup
- Zambia at the Women's FIFA World Cup
- Zambia at the Netball World Cup
Past sporting events hosted in Zambia
Upcoming sporting events in Zambia
- 2019 African Games to be held in Lusaka, Zambia
Annual sporting events held in Zambia
Sporting Facilities in Zambia
Related Pages
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