Namibia national football team

The Namibia national football team represents Namibia in men's international football and is controlled by the Namibia Football Association.[2] They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cups but have made three appearances in the Africa Cup of Nations. The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Namibia

Nickname(s)	Brave Warriors
Association	Namibia Football Association
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	COSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coach	Bobby Samaria
Captain	Petrus Shitembi
Most caps	Johannes Hindjou (69)
Top scorer	Rudolf Bester (13)
Home stadium	Independence Stadium
FIFA code	NAM
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	119 (10 December 2020)[1]
Highest	68 (November 1998)
Lowest	167 (July 2006)
First international
South-West Africa 0–1 Angola  (Namibia; May 16, 1989)
Biggest win
Namibia 8–2 Benin  (Windhoek, Namibia; 15 July 2000) Namibia 6–0 Botswana  (Windhoek, Namibia; 25 August 1996)
Biggest defeat
Egypt 7–1 Namibia (Cairo, Egypt; 8 November 1996)  Egypt 8–2 Namibia (Alexandria, Egypt; 13 July 2001)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	3 (first in 1998)
Best result	Group stage (1998, 2008, 2019)

History

Namibia played its first international under the name South-West Africa on 16 May 1989 at home against neighbouring Angola and lost 1–0. On 23 March 1990, only two days after gaining independence from South Africa, they hosted neighbour Zimbabwe and lost 5–1. On 7 June, they lost a home friendly 2–1 to Mauritius. Namibia's next contests were played in Lesotho, where they lost 2–0 to their hosts on 1 August 1992, but gained their first ever draw in a 2–2 tie against the same opposition the very next day. Namibia's first win came on 1 July 1994 in a 1–0 victory away over Botswana in a friendly. On 17 May 1998, Namibia played their first match outside of Africa and against non-African opposition, losing 2–1 in a friendly in France against Saudi Arabia.[3]

Namibia has made three appearances in the African Cup of Nations, going out in the first round in all three competitions. In 1998, Namibia lost to Ivory Coast 4–3 and drew Angola 3–3 before losing to South Africa 4–1. In 2008, Namibia lost to Morocco 5–1 and to Ghana 1–0 but drew Guinea 1–1 in their last match. In 2019, they lost all their group games scoring only a single goal. They lost to Morocco 1–0, and suffered the same loss to South Africa before losing to Ivory Coast 4–1.

The most capped player of the Brave Warriors is retired midfielder Johannes Hindjou with 69 caps and Rudolf Bester is the all-time top goalscorer with 13 goals.[4]

Honours

COSAFA Cup

• Winners: 2015
• Runners-up: 1997, 1999

Competitive record

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1990	Did not enter									Did not enter
1994	Did not qualify									4	0	0	4	0	12
1998										8	2	2	4	9	18
2002										10	1	3	6	7	27
2006										2	0	1	1	1	4
2010										6	2	0	4	7	12
2014										8	3	2	3	10	4
2018										4	1	1	2	3	5
2022	To be determined
2026	To be determined
Total	-	0/21	-	-	-	-	-	-		42	9	9	24	37	82

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations record
Host nation(s) / Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957 to 1990	Part of  South Africa
1992 to 1994	Did not enter
1996	Did not qualify
1998	Group stage	14	3	0	1	2	7	11
2000	Did not qualify
2002
2004
2006
2008	Group stage	10	3	0	1	2	2	7
2010	Did not qualify
2012
2013
2015
2017
2019	Group stage	23rd	3	0	0	3	1	6
2021	To be determined
2023	To be determined
Total	Group stage	3/32	9	0	2	7	10	24

African Nations Championship record

African Nations Championship
Appearances: 2
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2009	Did not qualify
2011
2014
2016
2018	Quarter-finals	7th	4	2	1	1	3	3
2020	Group stage	15th	3	0	1	2	0	4
2022	To be determined
Total	Quarter-finals	2/5	7	2	2	3	3	7

COSAFA Cup

COSAFA Cup Record
Year	Rank	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1997	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1998	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1999	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2003	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2004	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2007	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2009	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2017	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2018	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0/19	-	-	-	-	-	-

Head-to-head record against other nations

Updated on 17 November 2019 after match against  Guinea[5]

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	4	0	0	4	0	7	−7
Angola	13	0	6	7	9	19	−10
Benin	2	1	0	1	8	4	+4
Botswana	19	2	10	7	18	19	−1
Burkina Faso	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9
Burundi	2	1	0	1	4	4	0
Chad	3	2	0	1	4	4	0
Cameroon	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5
Comoros	5	3	1	1	8	2	+6
Congo	4	1	0	3	1	7	−6
Djibouti	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4
DR Congo	3	1	1	1	7	4	+3
Egypt	6	0	1	5	6	23	−17
Eritrea	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3
Ethiopia	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2
Gabon	2	0	2	0	2	2	0
Gambia	4	2	1	1	5	5	0
Ghana	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2
Guinea	8	0	2	6	2	15	−13
Guinea-Bissau	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1
India	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Ivory Coast	6	2	1	3	8	13	−5
Kenya	6	4	0	2	5	3	+2
Lebanon	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Lesotho	11	4	4	3	12	12	0
Liberia	1	1	2	1	2	2	0
Libya	2	1	0	1	2	2	0
Madagascar	7	3	1	3	9	10	−1
Malawi	15	8	3	4	20	15	+5
Mali	4	1	1	2	3	5	−2
Mauritius	4	2	0	2	5	4	+1
Morocco	7	0	1	6	2	15	−13
Mozambique	17	9	5	3	24	13	+11
Niger	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1
Nigeria	4	0	1	3	1	8	−7
Rwanda	4	0	3	1	3	6	−3
Saudi Arabia	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2
Senegal	5	0	0	5	1	16	−15
Seychelles	6	3	3	0	12	4	+8
South Africa	9	1	2	6	8	17	−9
Eswatini	8	1	4	3	7	9	−2
Tanzania	3	0	2	1	1	3	−2
Tunisia	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7
Zambia	20	2	10	8	11	26	−15
Zimbabwe	12	6	0	6	23	25	−2
Total	253	67	69	117	252	362	−110

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss

2019

9 November 2019 Friendly	Namibia	0–2	Zambia	Katutura, Namibia
				Stadium: Sam Nujoma Stadium

13 November 2019 2021 AFCONQ	Namibia	2–1	Chad	Windhoek, Namibia
18:00 UTC+2	Adoassou  66' (o.g.) Katjiukua  77'		N'Douassel  68'	Stadium: Sam Nujoma Stadium

17 November 2019 2021 AFCONQ	Guinea	2–0	Namibia	Conakry, Guinea
16:00 UTC±0	Sylla  42' Kanté  70'			Stadium: Stade du 28 Septembre

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for a friendly against South Africa on 10 October 2020.

Caps and goals as of 11 October 2020 after the game against South Africa.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Virgil Vries	29 March 1989	35	0	Moroka Swallows F.C.
	GK	Lloyd Kazapua	25 March 1989	22	0	Baroka FC
	GK	Ratanda Mbazuvara	15 August 1989	4	0	African Stars
	DF	Denzil Haoseb	25 February 1991	63	0	Highlands Park
	DF	Larry Horaeb	12 November 1991	56	0	Tura Magic
	DF	Ananias Gebhardt	8 September 1988	43	2	Baroka FC
	DF	Chris Katjiukua	25 October 1986	36	2	Black Leopards
	DF	Riaan Hanamub	8 February 1995	25	0	Chippa United F.C.
	DF	Vitapi Ngaruka	16 October 1995	13	1	Black Africa
	DF	Kleopas Nuukushu	1 February 1990	0	0	Eleven Arrows
	MF	Dynamo Fredericks	4 April 1992	29	1	Black Africa
	MF	Emilio Martin	15 August 1990	17	0	Black Africa
	MF	Joslin Kamatuka	22 July 1991	14	2	Unattached
	MF	Marcel Papama	28 April 1996	14	0	African Stars
	MF	Immanuel Heita	20 April 1992	12	0	Black Africa
	MF	Alfeus Handura	1 August 1993	3	0	African Stars
	MF	Gustav Isaak	8 March 1989	2	0	African Stars
	MF	Llewelyn Stanley	15 June 1993	6	0	United Africa Tigers
	FW	Peter Shalulile	23 March 1993	36	8	Mamelodi Sundowns
	FW	Absalom Iimbondi	11 October 1991	34	4	United Africa Tigers
	FW	Isaskar Gurirab	3 January 1998	8	2	Life Fighters
	FW	Elmo Kambindu	26 May 1993	7	3	Mighty Gunners
	FW	Salomon Omseb	Unknown	0	0	Tura Magic

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Namibia in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Edward Maova	5 September 1994	6	0	Royal Eagles F.C.	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
DF	Teberius Lombard	24 May 1991	21	0	Zanaco	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
DF	Benjamin Nenkavu	14 June 1993	13	2	Buildcon	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
DF	Ivan Kamberipa	3 February 1994	8	0	African Stars	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
DF	Ryan Nyambe	3 December 1997	6	0	Blackburn Rovers	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
MF	Petrus Shitembi	11 May 1992	65	4	Terengganu FC	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
MF	Deon Hotto	29 October 1990	50	10	Bidvest Wits	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
MF	Wangu Gome	13 February 1993	33	0	Alashkert	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
FW	Benson Shilongo	18 May 1992	30	9	Ismaily SC	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
FW	Panduleni Nekundi	14 September 1988	9	2	African Stars	v.  Guinea, 17 November 2019
^DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. ^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^RET Player has retired from international football. ^SUS Suspended from the national team.

Previous squads

Africa Cup of Nations Squads

• 1998 Africa Cup of Nations squad
• 2008 Africa Cup of Nations squad
• 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squad

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
2. "Namibian football on the rise – ESPN FC". Soccernet.espn.go.com. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
3. "Namibia International Matches". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
4. "Senior Men (Brave Warriors)". nfa.org.na. Namibia Football Association. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
5. "World Football Elo Ratings: Namibia". Elo Ratings. Retrieved 24 October 2018.

External sources

• Namibia at FIFA.com
• Namibia Football Association official website