Avram Grant: Former Chelsea Manager Becomes Zambia Coach

Zambia Football Association has appointed Avram Grant as the new head coach of the country’s national team.

Avram Grant is a former Chelsea, West Ham, and Ghana manager whose biggest achievement in world football was leading Chelsea to the Champions League final in the 2007-2008 season.

During the final, Manchester United defeated Avram Grant’s Chelsea 6-5 via penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time. He was sacked after the final.

Since then, he has gone on to coach 6 different teams including West Ham United and Ghana. He has been out of coaching since 2018.

On Thursday, 22 December 2022, Zambia FA announced that Avram Grant has signed a two-year deal with the country’s national team.

This means that the 67-year-old Israeli tactician will oversee the country’s qualification for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations which will be held in Ivory Coast from January 2024.

In his first press conference as Zambia’s head coach, Avram Grant said: “I was looking for the right challenge and that’s why I chose Zambia.

“I came here because of the challenge and I hope when I leave here I will look around and say we did a good job and made a good foundation for the future.

“I think Zambia has the potential, we have set the targets of what we want to achieve.”

Recall that Grant coached Ghana to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations final, where they lost to Ivory Coast on penalties, but left two years later when the team finished fourth in the same tournament.

His first game in charge of Zambia will be at home to Lesotho in March, a qualifier for the 2023 Cup of Nations.