2025 Africa Cup of Nations: DRC-Zambia in friendly match on Tuesday in Spain

Kinshasa, Dec. 14^th, 2025 (CPA). – The Leopards of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia have announced on Tuesday in Alicante, Spain, that they will play a friendly match in preparation for the African Cup of Nations (CAN) football tournament, scheduled to take place in Morocco from December 21^st, 2025, to January 18^th, 2026, according to the Fecofa website. “The Leopards of DRC, who are on a training camp in preparation for the 2025 CAN in Alicante, Spain, will play a friendly match against the Chipolo-Polos of Zambia on Tuesday, December 16^th,2025, at 4:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. Kinshasa time),” it is read. According to the source, the players are scheduled to gather from their respective clubs on Saturday, December 13^th, and DRC national team delegation will have five days before flying to Rabat, in the Kingdom of Cherif, on Thursday, December 18^th. According to their initial schedule, before FIFA intervened to change the release date for players playing in European clubs, the Leopards had planned to meet Angola’s Palancas Negras and the Elephants of Ivory Coast. In the end, neither the one nor the other will serve as sparring partner for the Fauves (Big Leopards), who will ultimately face off on Tuesday against the Chipolo-Polos in a match reminiscent of the double final between the Leopards of DRC, then Zaire, in 1974 in Cairo, in Egypt, against the Chipolo-Polos of Zambia, once known as the “KK Eleven,” that is to say the 11 Kenneth Kaundas, from the name of the late former president of Zambia.  In the final phase of this continental football event, which kicks off on the next Sunday, December 21^st, DR Congo will play in Group D, alongside Benin, Botswana, and Senegal. Zambia, DRC’s opponent in Tuesday’s friendly match, has been placed in Group A after the draw for this Moroccan campaign, alongside Morocco, Mali, Zambia, and the Comoros.