Zambia defeated Ivory Coast's much-vaunted Elephants on penalties in the final in Libreville following a 0-0 draw in the decider, but that is barely half the story.
To truly understand the magnitude of the triumph, you have to go back to 1993 and one of the greatest tragedies to befall African football.
The Zambia national team were on their way to Senegal for a 1994 World Cup qualifier, with almost their entire squad on an Air Force flight that left Lusaka and landed in Libreville, Gabon for the second of three refuelling stops.
According to reports, engine issues had been noticed during the previous stop in Brazzaville, Congo, but the plane continued.
While climbing out of Libreville, the left engine caught fire, a serious but not necessarily fatal occurrence. However, it is alleged that the pilot shut down the right engine in error, leaving the plane stricken as it plunged into the sea, killing all 25 on board.
This was a Zambia team made up of many members who had defeated Italy 4-0 at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, though their talisman Kalusha Bwalya was not on the flight, along with several other Europe-based players who had separate travel arrangements to Senegal.
Still, 18 members of the squad were killed and it decimated the national team, sending a nation into mourning.
The team was quickly rebuilt and only missed out on a place at the 1994 World Cup by a point to Morocco. They also reached the final of the 1994 Cup of Nations and took a first-half lead before Nigeria came back to win 2-1.
The crash remains one of the darkest days in Zambia’s history, let alone for its football team.
But fast forward to 2012, and Chipolopolo entered the Cup of Nations finals on virtually no one’s radar to lift the trophy, seen as rank outsiders under coach Hervé Renard.
The fact that they would go on to win was remarkable; that they would do it just a few hundred metres from where their compatriots perished 19 years earlier is nothing short of an extraordinary coincidence given the vastness of the African continent.
It was as if the spirits of those young lives cut so cruelly short carried the players on their shoulders to victory.
But Kennedy Mweene, who was goalkeeper for the 2012 side and scored a penalty in the 8-7 shootout win over the Ivorians, says the players always had belief they could pull off a miracle.
“When we went into the 2012 tournament, the belief actually started after the 2010 AFCON in Angola,” Mweene tells Flashscore in an exclusive interview.
Zambia had reached the quarter-finals in Angola two years prior but lost on penalties to Nigeria after a 0-0 draw.
“We regrouped in Johannesburg (South Africa) for camp, and about 90 to 95 percent of that squad was the same group that had been to Angola,” he said.
“We sat down as players and said, ‘There’s no way we can go out in the quarter-finals in 2010 and then go to Gabon and fall in the first round.’ We started taking accountability. If someone was walking in training, we confronted him. We reprimanded each other as friends.
“Once we sorted ourselves out as players, it became easier for the coach because we already understood what he wanted. We told ourselves we weren’t going there just to participate, we were going to compete.
“Most of us were based in Africa, we knew each other well, and that togetherness became our strength. After that, everything fell into place.”
Suave Frenchman Renard cut his coaching teeth on the African continent, first as an assistant to the well-travelled Claude Le Roy and then as a coach in his own right.
He was in his second spell with Zambia in 2012 and always had a good rapport with the players.
“He was very strict when it came to work, but also flexible,” Mweene says. “He treated us like adults, gave us freedom when it was earned, especially over weekends, but expected 120 percent when it was time to train.
“He listened, but he also challenged us. He would pull you aside and say, ‘This is not the Kennedy I know, what’s happening?’ Players loved that because it showed he cared.
“We trusted him and he trusted us. He was like a father or an older brother to many of the boys.”
Any coach will tell you that winning your first game of a tournament is key, and Zambia pulled off a surprise 2-1 victory over Senegal thanks to goals from Emmanuel Mayuka and Rainford Kalaba.
“The coach told us before Senegal: ‘Who knows Kennedy? Who knows Chris (Katongo)? No one. So why play under pressure?’” Mweene said. “He said if we lost, no one would talk about it. If we won, it would be a story. That removed all the pressure.
“After we won 2–1, he reminded us it wasn’t about individuals; it was about the team. That win made every player believe it was possible.”
Zambia then twice came from behind to rescue a 2-2 draw with Libya, which Mweene says showed the fighting spirit of the group.
“That match was like playing in a swimming pool, the pitch was full of water after heavy rain. At halftime (Renard) told us, ‘How can you play at that level against Senegal and then show me mediocrity today?’” Mweene said.
“He said it was up to us whether we wanted to win or lose. Then he sat down and let us talk among ourselves. We knew exactly what he meant. We came out stronger, came from behind twice, and got the draw. He always knew which buttons to press.”
Perhaps their best result in the group came in their final pool match, where they went to Malabo and beat co-hosts Equatorial Guinea 1-0 in front of 44,000 fervent fans.
“We used to joke with the strikers and say, ‘Just score one, they won’t score against us,’” Mweene said. “There was always a bet between defenders and strikers in training. If we conceded, defenders paid. If strikers didn’t score, they paid.
“That created a fighting spirit. Even against the hosts, we believed that no matter what happened, we would come back. Everyone trusted the unit.”
Zambia were favourites for their quarter-final against Sudan given the form they had shown and ended up winning 3-0.
“People thought Sudan would be an easy game, but we didn’t allow that into our heads. Those are dangerous opponents because you don’t know them well,” Mweene said.
“Coach told us: ‘Any chance you get, make it count. Score and enjoy the game.’ We said to ourselves, ‘There’s no way we can go out in the quarter-finals after playing Senegal, Libya and the hosts.’ That mentality is what carried us.”
Beating Ivory Coast in the final was a massive achievement, but Mweene maintains their most difficult clash was the semi-final against Ghana in Bata, settled by a lone Mayuka goal and after Mweene has saved Asamoah Gyan's spot-kick.
“The Ghana game was the toughest match of the whole tournament, even harder than the final,” the goalkeeper said. “(Renard) told us that Ghana had better individual players, but we had the better unit. We dragged the game as far as we could and got the winner. Up to today, I still say that semi-final was the most difficult match I played.”
The final against the Ivorians was a gritty affair that finished goalless before Zambia triumphed on penalties. Mweene showed guts to take his side's fifth spot-kick, though to be fair he was a regular penalty-taker throughout his career.
Kolo Touré and Gervinho missed in the shootout and Zambia were champions for the first time, against all odds.
“It was pure excitement being in the final,” Mweene said. “We didn’t care who we were playing, just the fact that we were there. Anything can happen in a final.
“The coach told us we weren’t the first Zambian team to reach a final, the 1994 team had done it. So if we finished second, it wouldn’t be history. ‘If you want to be remembered,’ he said, ‘go all the way and win it.’
“Everyone expected Ivory Coast to win, they had Drogba, Touré, Gervinho, all of them. But we felt it was our time to make a stamp.
“When it went to penalties, we were confident. We’d been practising them even before the tournament. Everyone knew their job.”
The Zambian players had visited the beach near where the plane that killed 25 of their compatriots fell, to pay their respects in emotional moments amid the chaos of an AFCON.
“To be honest with you, that team that perished there in Libreville in 1993 was way better than the one which won the AFCON in 2012,” Mweene admits. “I think any player would tell you that. That team had everything.
“But we were the chosen ones to win AFCON, I cannot tell you why. We were blessed. We were the ones who could finally close the curtain on the story of those fallen heroes, to achieve something they were denied by that plane crash.
“We could smile and say, ‘mission accomplished’. You start to understand why all of a sudden now we are in the final. Why now we are playing in Gabon, where our brothers, our fathers, crashed.
“There’s a reason why we are here, and there’s a reason why we fight to the end. Why we had to close this chapter for them. And we did it.”
Zambia take on hosts Morocco, Mali and Comoros in Group A at the 2025 finals that get under way on December 21. Their opening clash is against Mali in Casablanca the following day.