Ethiopia coach Sewnet Bishaw has declared they are not in Group C to make up the numbers.

"It’s not by chance that we are at the Africa Cup, it’s by qualification," Coach Sewnet said.

"We will meet any challenge and our aim is to go as far to the final and win. We will fight."

The 1962 champions, who will end a 31-year hiatus from the competition next year, kickoff their Group C campaign against African champions Zambia on January 21 in Nelspruit.

"We are not at all scared of Zambia because we have seen them play," Coach Sewnet said.

"Yes they are defending champions and we respect that but we are not scared of them, we will play eleven against eleven."

Ethiopia has won just one of their last three meetings against Zambia over the last six years.

They beat Zambia 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the 2010Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup in Tanzania on December 7.

The defeat came a year after losing 1-0 to Zambia in a Group A game in Nairobi of the same event.

Zambia also beat Ethiopia by that same margin in the quarterfinals of the 2006 edition of the same event in Addis Ababa on the formers’ way to victory.

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