Zambia Football Association has signed former Chelsea coach Avram Grant to manage the Zambia national team Chipolopolo. Grant’s major task would be to revive Chipolopolos for the 2024 African Cup of Nations, ranked 88th in the world in the latest FIFA Men’s Ranking. It won the Africa Cup of Nations once in 2012 but has failed to qualify for the continental tournament since 2015. Grant is best known for leading English side Chelsea to the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League final, narrowly missing out on European soccer’s most coveted honor to Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United on penalties. In 2015, he guided the Black Stars of Ghana to a final appearance in the continental competition but lost on penalties to Ivory Coast.
His international career also includes coaching sides such as the English Premier League’s West Ham United and Portsmouth, as well as Serbian outfit Partizan Belgrade. Domestically, Grant managed some of Israel’s top teams, including Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv, before going on to head the Israeli national team.
