Hundreds of thousands of Zambian fans welcome the Chipolopolo home

The Zambia national team returned home on Monday following their successful 2012 Africa Cup of Nations campaign, and they were met by around 200,000 people at the Lusaka show grounds who were there to celebrate the Chipolopolo's African title.

Zambia defeated favourites Cote d'Ivoire 8-7 in a penalty shootout at the end of a goalless final on Sunday night to earn the right to be called champions of Africa.

The Afcon victory has seen many Zambian people visiting the burial site of the 1993 squad who passed away in a plane crash off the coast of Gabon. The country's president Michael Sata is expected to lay a wreath at the burial site on Tuesday to honour the victims of that fateful crash.

The Zambian government has decided to reward the Afcon winning squad members with $59,000 (€45,058) each, sports minister Chishimba Kambwili said on Tuesday.

"The government has given each one of you $59,000, and that is beside what the corporate organisations might decide to give. This money is from the government," Kambwili said on national radio.