The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has organized three international friendly matches for the Egypt 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations bound junior Chipolopolo with Nigeria and Senegal.
Zambia will play Nigeria on January 27 and 30 in Abuja before heading to Dakar to play Senegal on 2 February.
The TotalEnergies U-20 AFCON 2023 kicks off on February 19 to March 11 in Egypt.
Nigeria is in Group A with hosts Egypt, Senegal and Mozambique while Zambia is in Group C with Benin, Gambia, and Tunisia.
Coach Chisi Mbewe and his bench has been drilling 29 players in a local camp that has entered week two.
In the final stages of the camp, the team is expected to hold an international camp with some foreign based players expected to join camp.
FAZ General Secretary Adrian Kashala says the Association will ensure that they give the team quality preparations.
“Preparations for the AFCON are firmly underway, we have organized three friendly matches for our under-20 boys which will see them play two matches with Nigeria and one with Senegal,” Kashala says.
“In the final stage we will have the team camped in North Africa to fully acclimatize to the conditions that will prevail during the tournament.”
Zambia last participated at the U20 AFCON in 2017 on home soil where they lifted the crown and qualified to the FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan.
The top four teams (semifinalists) at the AFCON will qualify to the FIFA World Cup.