14 Feb 2012

Zambia dedicates win to lost former players

6:06 am on 14 February 2012

The Zambia football coach Herve Renard has dedicated his side's Africa Cup of Nations win to the victims of the plane crash that killed 18 members of the team in 1993.

Zambia beat Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in Libreville, Gabon, yesterday to secure the trophy for the first time.

Renard also praised the courage of Kalusha Bwalya, an iconic figure in Zambian football who would have been on the 1993 flight - which was taking the Zambia squad to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal when it crashed shortly after take-off from Libreville airport, killing all 30 people on board - but had made his own way there.

Bwalya became coach and is now the Zambia Football President.

Bwalya, in turn, praised the French coach, and immediately looking ahead to the upcoming Nations Cup 2013 and World Cup 2014 qualifiers, says Renard "can stay as long as he wants".

The defeat saw Ivory Coast miss out on their second title, despite not conceding a goal from open play in the entire competition.