The 2023 ABSA Cup final was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match played at Woodlands Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia on May 27, 2022. This highly anticipated match marked the debut appearance in the final for both Forest Rangers and Maestro United. The event was organized by the

Football Association of Zambia The Football Association of Zambia is the governing body of association football in Zambia founded in 1929 and based at the "Football House" on Alick Nkhata Road in Lusaka, the country's capital. Affiliated to Confederation of African Football, ...

(FAZ) and represented the 17th final of the annual knock-out competition in Zambian football. The tournament involved six teams from the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

and the top two teams from the

National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

, following the conclusion of match day 17 of the 2022–23 season. Notably, this final also marked the fourth occasion that the competition was held under the

ABSA Cup The ABSA Cup, formerly the Barclays Cup, is the current branding for an association football cup competition launched in 2007 by the Football Association of Zambia. Participants are decided half-way through current season (match day 17) and are ...

name. The match stood out as a groundbreaking moment for Zambian football, as it became the first-ever competitive game in the country to feature

video assistant referee The video assistant referee (VAR) is a Assistant referee (association football), match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those revi ...

(VAR) technology. This milestone not only marked Zambia's introduction to VAR but also established the nation as the pioneer of VAR implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Remarkably, Zambia joined the ranks of Morocco and Egypt as one of the only three African countries to successfully integrate VAR into their domestic matches. Forest Rangers emerged victorious in the highly anticipated final, securing a notable 2-0 victory over the crowd's favourite, FC MUZA. The match saw

Quadri Kola Quadri is a ''comune'' and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsul ...

's goal and

Chanda Chileshe Sanskrit prosody or Chandas refers to one of the six Vedangas, or limbs of Vedic studies.James Lochtefeld (2002), "Chandas" in The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A-M, Rosen Publishing, , page 140 It is the study of poetic metr ...

's unfortunate own goal during the first half, which proved sufficient to secure the win for Forest Rangers.

Road to the final

Match

Details

{{Football box , date = 27 May 2023 , time = 15:00

CAT The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

( UTC+02:00) , team2 = Maestro United Zambia , score = v , report = https://kalemba.news/sports/2023/05/27/fc-muza-players-fans-helpless-hopeless-as-forest-wins-absa-cup-final/ , penaltyscore = , team1 = Forest Rangers , goals2 = , goals1 = {{ubl, {{goal, 15 Chanda Chileshe{{own goal, {{goal, 62 Quadri Kola , penalties1 = , penalties2 = , stadium =

Woodlands Stadium Woodlands Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Woodlands, Singapore. It is the main home ground of S.League side, Woodlands Wellington, and used mostly for football matches for both the S.League and Singapore National Football Leag ...

, attendance = 10,000 , referee =

Amin Omer Amin may refer to: People * Amin (name), a masculine given name and also a surname * Al-Amin, sixth Abbasid caliph, who ruled from 809 to 813 * Amin (Qing dynasty), Imperial Prince of the Qing Dynasty * Idi Amin (c. 1925–2003), military ruler ...

, event = , round = , score1 = 2 , score2 = 0 , location = Lusaka , motm = Moro Amenu

References

ABSA Cup final 2023 in Zambian sport 2022–23 in Zambian football Football competitions in Zambia