The Chipolopolo Boys of Zambia

Some of North-Western Province's volunteers supporting the Chipolopolo Boys

The Chipolopolo Boys are the darlings of Zambia. This group of men makes up Zambia’s national football (soccer) team.

In the United States we don’t have anything that quite compares to this group or the love of this group by the entire nation. Instead, maybe an aggregate of a bunch of teams, some real and some fictitious, may suffice to allow understanding. Here’s the best that I could come up with.

Take the marketability of the New York Yankees — it seems like everyone has some Chipolopolo apparel; add the spunk of the Hickory Huskers from the movie Hoosiers and the geographic mystery of a team like the Golden State Warriors and which city are they actually in (most people have no idea where Zambia is on a map).

And finally the champion’s attitudes of the Chicago Bulls from the Michael Jordan years — the players have extremely high confidence in themselves. And that about sums up Zambia’s national team.

Even though Chipolopolo is mostly unknown abroad, this has started to change due to recent events — in 2012 they won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and became the best of the African continent’s 58 teams.

Zambia had never been the champion before until last year’s win, in penalty kicks, over a much more highly touted Ivory Coast squad. The only other time they were considered to even have a chance was in 1993 but, sadly, that team never had the opportunity to compete.

While on their way to a World Cup qualifying match, just months before the AFCON tournament, their plane crashed just off the coast of Gabon — where the 2012 team would eventually play for the championship — killing a majority of the team’s players, coaches and staff,

An investigation determined that pilot fatigue and error led to the tragedy. However, a new team was quickly assembled and, inspired by the tragedy, managed to reach the finals. But it fell short to Nigeria and had to settle for second place.

That tragic loss still resonates with Zambians. It garners a similar reaction as Pearl Harbor did with my grandparents’ generation, JFK’s death with my parents’ and the attacks of Sept. 11 with mine: everyone remembers where they were when they first heard the news.

Chipolopolo!

The 2012 team, made up of seemingly smaller than average, yet highly talented players, made its way through the field of competitors before reaching the semifinals and a highly ranked West African team in Ghana.

They won 1-0 over Ghana, and then faced Ivory Coast from the same soccer powerhouse region of West Africa. Zambia won that game in dramatic fashion by outshooting the Black Stars of Ghana, 8-7, on penalty kicks, and became the kings of Africa.

Last month, many of the 2012 Chipolopolo squad returned to play games against Sudan and Lesotho during the qualification round for the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

And I couldn’t wait. Watching a game with the locals is great. When a shot is taken, it seems as if all the air in the room is swept away due to everyone inhaling and holding their collective breath. If that shot is a miss, then it becomes a scene of “what ifs” and “he should haves.” But, when the shot is on its mark and goes in — it’s pandemonium.

If there is no television then the village’s radios are crowded around and the only noise heard is static-infused voices from the announcers. I imagine it was like the old days my grandfather told me about at his family’s farm in Indiana with everyone crowding around radios and every listener being enraptured by the play-by-play.

Unfortunately, Zambia’s World Cup chances hang by a thread after a 1-1 tie against the Sudan in mid June. But while the country awaits its fate for the prestigious event, Zambia this week will host the COFASA Cup, which features teams from southern Africa. So soccer fever will continue.

In the end, though, all Zambians love the Chipolopolo Boys. Whether they win or lose really doesn’t matter because they’re going to be adored no matter the outcome.