The slot became available following Congo Republic’s decision not to host the competition citing logistic challenges as the reason for doing so.
The Wild Card slot will be used to select a country to replace the original host country. As part of a group of countries that fell short of the mark in the qualifiers, Zambia is in line for a shot at the biannual competition.
The team missed out on qualifying to the next round of qualifiers due to an inferior goal difference to second placed South Africa in Group 1; South Africa and group winner Angola have made it to the Championship.
Zambia is in a frontline three way tussle to get the pass alongside Cape Verde and Chad. Prior to Congo’s withdrawal, Rwanda and Cape Verde were awarded a slot to compete in the tournament.
Zambia last played in the AfroBasket in 1989.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
