Musonda: Qualifying for AFCON an amazing moment

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Frankie Musonda claims that qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with Zambia won’t really sink in until he hangs up his boots.

The 26-year-old defender, who plays his club football for Ayr United in Scotland, only featured in three of Chipolopolo’s six qualifiers as they won Group G by one point ahead of Ivory Coast.

Avram Grant has guided his team to back-to-back tournaments since being appointed head coach in December 2022 and he’ll be hoping to fare better than the 2023 edition when they bowed out at the group stages.

Musonda admits the amount of travelling he has to do for each international game is hectic, but insists the experience of playing for his country makes the effort more than worth it.

“It’s been a brilliant time recently. That was another amazing moment, qualifying for AFCON with Zambia again,” he told the Ayr Advertiser.

“I just feel really privileged to be a part of the Zambia team really. It’ll not really sink in just what we’ve achieved until I probably stop playing.

“It is quite taxing on the body just getting there – but I’m used to it now. It’s three flights that equate to over a day’s travel.

“I fly to Dubai which is about seven and a half hours, then from there it’s a flight to Johannesburg in South Africa which is another eight or so on top of that. From there its another hour and a half from there to Zambia. It’s a lot, but I’ve got no complaints.

“It’s more than worth it to pull on the shirt. I’d say it’s been the best time of my career so far. I always feel very fortunate to get called up so I’ll never take any amount of minutes I get for granted.”