Zimbabwe national football team

Zimbabwe
Nickname(s) The Warriors
Association Zimbabwe Football Association
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation COSAFA
(Southern Africa)
Head coach Callisto Pasuwa
Captain Willard Katsande
Most caps John Phiri
Top scorer Peter Ndlovu (at least 38)
Home stadium National Sports Stadium
FIFA code ZIM
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 102 Increase 8 (24 November 2016)
Highest 40 (April 1995)
Lowest 131 (October 2009, February–March 2016)
Elo ranking
Current 113
Highest 54 (Sept 1993 or April 1995)
Lowest 11 (May 2011)
First international
Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia 0–4 England XI England
(Salisbury, Rhodesia; 26 June 1929)
Biggest win
 Botswana 0–7 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe
(Gaborone, Botswana; 26 August 1990)
Biggest defeat
 South Africa 7–0 Rhodesia Rhodesia
(South Africa; 9 April 1977)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances 2 (first in 2004)
Best result Group stage, 2004 and 2006

The Zimbabwe national football team is the national team of Zimbabwe and is controlled by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), formally known as the Football Association of Rhodesia. The team were known as the Southern Rhodesia national football team from 1939–1964 when they represented Southern Rhodesia, then the Rhodesia national football team until 1980 representing Rhodesia. They became Zimbabwe in 1980 following the change in the country's status from Zimbabwe Rhodesia. They have never qualified for the World Cup finals, and did not qualify for their first Africa Cup of Nations until 2004.[1]

History

Southern Rhodesia played their first official match against the England Amateur national football team as part of their tour of South Africa and Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia lost their first two matches against England 4–0 and 6–1 respectively.[2] In 1965, following Southern Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence as Rhodesia, FIFA requested that the Football Association of Rhodesia reform to be a multi-racial organisation. Prior to this only white Rhodesians were selected for the national football team but after 1965 the team became multi-racial.[3] In 1969, Rhodesia took part in the Confederation of African Football 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament. This was their first attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Contrary to the team being viewed as the representative team of white Rhodesians, the team was multi-racial including black players.[4] They were drawn against the Australia national football team. Both legs were held in Lourenco Marques, Portuguese Mozambique as the Rhodesian team were unable to get Australian visas. Rhodesia drew the first leg 1–1 but lost the second leg 3–1 thus eliminating Rhodesia from qualification.[4]

In 1980, following the country's reconstitution as Zimbabwe, they played their first FIFA World Cup qualifying match for 11 years against the Cameroon national football team. However they lost 2–1 on aggregate after a 1–0 win in the first leg in Salisbury and a 2–0 loss in the second leg.[5][6] Following this, the country passed a law that people who held British passports would not be permitted to hold a Zimbabwean passport, which mean that players such as goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar were not selected for the national team for 10 years.[1] Following a change in policy that allowed Grobbelaar to play for Zimbabwe, who entered the country on his British passport, Zimbabwe under manager Reinhard Fabisch were one match away from qualifying for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. However, they lost their final qualifying match to Cameroon.[1][7]

In 2004, Zimbabwe qualified for their first Africa Cup of Nations. During their first match against Egypt; their former anthem "Ishe Komborera Africa" was accidentally played instead of "Simudzai Mureza wedu weZimbabwe", an act which Information Minister Johnathan Moyo called ""a cheap attempt by the organisers to demoralise our boys".[8] In 2015, the Zimbabwe national football team were banned from participating in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying due to an unpaid debt to former coach, José Claudinei.[9]

Achievements

COSAFA Cup :
CECAFA Cup :

Competition records

World Cup record

Africa Cup of Nations record

African Nations Championship record

COSAFA Cup record

  • 1997 – Qualifying round
  • 1998 – Second place
  • 1999 – Quarter-finals
  • 2000 Winners
  • 2001 – Second place
  • 2002 – Quarter-finals
  • 2003 Winners
  • 2004 – Semi-finals
  • 2005 Winners
  • 2006 – Semi-finals
  • 2007 – First round
  • 2008 – Quarter-finals
  • 2009 Winners
  • 2010 Cancelled
  • 2013 – Second place
  • 2015 – Group stage
  • 2016 – Group stage

CECAFA Cup record

  • 1981 – Group stage
  • 1982 – Third place
  • 1983 – Second place
  • 1984 – Group stage
  • 1985 Winners
  • 1987 – Second place
  • 1988 – Fourth place
  • 1989 – Group stage
  • 1990 – Group stage
  • 2009 – Quarter-finals
  • 2011 – Quarter-finals

Results and fixtures

2016

Source: Soccerway

2017

Source: Soccerway

Current squad

The following players were in the official 21-man squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea on 4 September 2016.[11]

Caps and goals updated as of 4 September 2016.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Donovan Bernard (1995-07-12) 12 July 1995 Zimbabwe How Mine
1GK Nelson Chadya Zimbabwe Ngezi Platinum
1GK Tatenda Mukuruva (1996-01-04) 4 January 1996 8 0 Zimbabwe Dynamos

2DF Blessing Moyo (1996-04-04) 4 April 1996 9 0 Zimbabwe Dynamos
2DF Costa Nhamoinesu (1986-01-06) 6 January 1986 10 1 Czech Republic Sparta Prague
2DF Godknows Murwira (1993-07-04) 4 July 1993 0 0 Zimbabwe Dynamos
2DF Lawrence Mhlanga (1993-12-20) 20 December 1993 8 2 Zimbabwe Chicken Inn
2DF Onismor Bhasera (1986-01-07) 7 January 1986 21 0 South Africa SuperSport United
2DF Teenage Hadebe (1995-09-17) 17 September 1995 7 1 Zimbabwe Highlanders

3MF Danny Phiri (1989-07-25) 25 July 1989 5 0 South Africa Golden Arrows
3MF Kudakwashe Mahachi (1993-09-29) 29 September 1993 14 2 South Africa Golden Arrows
3MF Marshal Mudehwe (1993-08-17) 17 August 1993 16 2 Zimbabwe Platinum
3MF Marvelous Nakamba (1994-01-19) 19 January 1994 4 0 Netherlands Vitesse
3MF Ronald Chitiyo (1992-06-10) 10 June 1992 14 2 Zimbabwe Harare City
3MF Tafadzwa Kutinyu 4 0 Zimbabwe CAPS United
3MF Willard Katsande (1986-01-15) 15 January 1986 17 2 South Africa Kaizer Chiefs

4FW Cuthbert Malajila (1985-10-03) 3 October 1985 18 8 South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns
4FW Evans Rusike (1990-06-13) 13 June 1990 3 1 South Africa Maritzburg United
4FW Knowledge Musona (1990-06-21) 21 June 1990 37 15 Belgium Oostende
4FW Matthew Rusike (1990-06-28) 28 June 1990 1 0 Sweden Helsingborgs
4FW Nyasha Mushekwi (1987-08-21) 21 August 1987 12 2 China Dalian Yifang
4FW Tendai Ndoro (1985-04-15) 15 April 1985 9 2 South Africa Orlando Pirates

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Zimbabwe squad since June 2016.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Bruce Kangwa (1988-07-24) 24 July 1988 4 0 Zimbabwe Highlanders 2016 COSAFA Cup
DF Elisha Muroiwa (1989-01-28) 28 January 1989 5 1 Zimbabwe Dynamos 2016 COSAFA Cup
DF Farai Madhanhanga 1 0 Zimbabwe Harare City 2016 COSAFA Cup
DF Hardlife Zvirekwi (1987-05-05) 5 May 1987 9 0 Zimbabwe CAPS United 2016 COSAFA Cup
DF Ronald Pfumbidzai (1994-12-25) 25 December 1994 4 1 Zimbabwe CAPS United 2016 COSAFA Cup

MF King Nadolo (1995-12-04) 4 December 1995 1 0 Zimbabwe Highlanders 2016 COSAFA Cup
MF Nqobizitha Masuku (1993-06-17) 17 June 1993 2 0 Zimbabwe Highlanders 2016 COSAFA Cup
MF Raphael Manuvire (1988-09-21) 21 September 1988 2 0 Zimbabwe Harare City 2016 COSAFA Cup

FW Charlton Mashumba (1992-12-12) 12 December 1992 3 0 South Africa Jomo Cosmos 2016 COSAFA Cup
FW Obadiah Tarumbwa (1985-11-25) 25 November 1985 4 3 Zimbabwe Bantu 2016 COSAFA Cup
FW Talent Chawapiwa (1992-06-03) 3 June 1992 6 1 Zimbabwe ZPC Kariba 2016 COSAFA Cup

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hawkey, Ian. "When Peter Ndlovu and Bruce Grobbelaar made Zimbabwe dare to dream". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
  2. "England Matches – Unofficial". Englandfootballonline.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  3. Gilchrist, Paul (2013). The Politics of Sport: Community, Mobility, Identity. Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 1317990994.
  4. 1 2 "When Rhodesia flirted with the World Cup". FIFA.com. 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  5. http://www.11v11.com/teams/cameroon/tab/opposingTeams/opposition/Zimbabwe/
  6. "1982 FIFA World Cup Spain – Matches – Zimbabwe-Cameroon". FIFA.com. 2016-07-23. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  7. "World Cup 1994 Qualifying". Rsssf. 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  8. "Anger over Zimbabwe anthem gaffe". BBC News. 2004-01-26. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  9. "Zimbabwe expelled from 2018 World Cup". BBC Sport. 2015-03-12. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  10. "Zimbabwe expelled from the preliminary competition of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia". FIFA.com. 12 March 2015.
  11. "Strong Zimbabwe squad for Guinea qualifier". COSAFA. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
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