2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers
Group G - Matchday 5
Zambia v Ivory Coast
Levy Mwanawasa Stadium
Ndola, Zambia
Friday, 15 November 2024
Kick-off is at 18h00
Zambia will host a wounded Ivory Coast side in the
2025 AFCON qualifier at the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium on 15 November.
Current Form
Chipolopolo claimed a 1-0 win over Chad away on 15 October and they are unbeaten in their last three matches across all competitions.
Zambia are also unbeaten in their last two home matches having recorded one win and one draw as the home side.
Meanwhile, Ivory Coast suffered a 1-0 loss to Sierra Leone away on 15 October and the defeat ended their 11-match unbeaten run across all competitions.
The defeat to Sierra Leone also ended the Elephants' five-match unbeaten run on the road having registered four victories and one draw as the away side.
Team News
Zambia will be without the injured Patson Daka, skipper Lubambo Musonda, Kingstone Mutandwa, Edward Chilufya, Miguel Chaiwa and Fashion Sakala for the back-to-back fixtures against Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Haller has been excluded from the Ivory Coast squad as the tall striker recently returned from injury, while team captain Sergio Aurier will be missing once again as the right-back remains clubless.
Quotes
“We cannot say we give up against Ivory Coast and say we will play against Sierra Leone. We need to do our best against Ivory Coast, also last year (2023) we played against them and we played well," Zambia coach Avram Grant said.
"In football, anything can happen. I have a lot of respect for Ivory Coast, all the players are key players for teams in Europe, we don’t have such players but we have the spirit. We are playing like a team, we have a good spirit and I think with this we can achieve a good result.
"I cannot say we will put effort in one game. We will put effort into the two games. Our target is very simple when the two games will finish, we will be in the Africa Cup.”
Head-to-Head
This will be the 13th meeting between Zambia and Ivory Coast across all competitions.
The Elephants have dominated this rivalry having won seven matches compared to Chipolopolo's four wins, while one match ended in a draw.
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 2-0 in favour of Ivory Coast in the 2025 AFCON qualifier played at the Stade de Bouaké (Stade de la Paix) in Bouaké on 6 September.
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