Clint Jones

Namibia

Republic of Namibia

  • Capital: Windhoek / ǀAi-ǁGams / Otjomuise / Windhuk
  • Population: 3,1 million
  • Official Languages: English
  • Recognised National Languages: Afrikaans, German, Khoekhoegowab, Oshiwambo, Otjiherero, RuKwangali, Setswana, siLozi
  • Recognised Regional Languages: !Kung, Gciriku, Thimbukushu
  • Men’s Team Nicknames: Brave Warriors
  • Association: Namibia Football Association (NFA)
  • Top Male Domestic League: Namibia Premiership
  • FIFA Code: NAM

Records

[All stats correct as of March 2026]

  • Best World Cup Result (Men): Not Qualified
  • Best African Cup of Nations Result (Men): Round of 16 (2023)
  • Best African Nations Championship Result (Men): Quarter-Finals (2018)
  • Best COSAFA Cup Result (Men): WINNERS (2015)
  • Highest FIFA Ranking (Men): 68th (November 1998)
  • Lowest FIFA Ranking (Men): 167th (July 2006)
  • Most Capped Players: Denzil Haoseb & Deon Hotto – 84 caps
  • Top Overall Scorer: Peter Shalulile – 20 goals

Introduction and Brief History

The Republic of Namibia is a country of approximately 3,1 million inhabitants located on the southwestern coast of the African continent. Even though it is the 34th largest country on Earth in terms of land area, Namibia is the second most sparsely populated in the world (behind Mongolia), and is also the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa. This is partially because Namibia is heavily influenced by the world’s oldest desert, the Namib Desert (from which the country takes its name), which runs along the western edge of the country and spectacularly collides against Namibia’s Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Due to its position, Namibia shares several land borders: Angola to the north, Zambia to the northeast (via the Caprivi Strip panhandle), Botswana to the east, and South Africa to the south. Whilst a potential border with Zimbabwe (again via the Caprivi Strip) on the Zambesi River is only separated by 150 metres. In terms of its economy, Namibia is in the top ten producers of diamonds and is also the fourth-largest producer of uranium in the world. The agricultural sector still accounts for half of the nation’s workforce, although the financial and services sectors have expanded in recent years, especially in the capital of Windhoek. Finally, due to its unique geography and abundance of wildlife, Namibia is becoming an increasingly popular destination for tourists, especially from Germany. So much so, it contributes up to nearly 15% of the state’s annual GDP, and employs nearly 20% of the Namibian workforce.

The history of international football within Namibia is relatively recent in comparison with other African countries. For the vast majority of the 20th century, the country was known as ‘South West Africa’ and was a territory under South African administration. A South West African Football Association (SWAFA) was founded in 1976 to organise football in the territory, but it wouldn’t be until 1989 when it played its first officially recognised international game, a 0-1 defeat to neighbouring Angola. Finally, in 1990, when the country gained its long-awaited independence, the current Namibia Football Association (NFA) was founded to replace the SWAFA, and they subsequently joined CAF and FIFA as full members two years later in time to compete in the qualification phase for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Although Namibia may possess a short international history, it has qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on four occasions. Its debut appearance came in the 1998 edition, just eight years as an independent country. They concluded their qualifying campaign above both Gabon and Kenya to progress to the finals as group runners-up behind Cameroon. The Brave Warriors were drawn into a difficult group alongside Côte d’Ivoire, the defending champions South Africa, and neighbours Angola, but gave a great account of themselves in their inaugural continental tournament. In their first game, they fought back from 0-3 down against Les Éléphants to level the scores, but conceded a late winner to be on the wrong side of a 4-3 scoreline. In their second group game, Namibia earned the first point of their AFCON history against Angola, but again conceded late to ensure a 3-3 draw. Sadly, their dreams of progressing to the knockouts were over after just 21 minutes of the game had been played when Benni McCarthy scored four goals in 13 minutes to confirm a 4-1 victory and condemn Namibia to finish bottom of the group, albeit having scored seven goals from their three group games.

Group C of the 1998 AFCON – Namibia’s tournament debut, just eight years after their debut.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]

Despite their promising debut in the 1998 AFCON, Namibia would have to wait another ten years before making their second AFCON appearance, this time topping a qualifying group of DR Congo, Libya, and Ethiopia to reach the tournament being held in Ghana. Namibia was drawn in a group alongside the hosts, Guinea, and Morocco, and finished bottom of the group with a single point again. Their sole point came in a 1-1 draw with Guinea in their final group game, albeit this time with a -5 goal difference from their three group games. A further wait of eleven years would take place before Namibia attended their third AFCON, qualifying for the 2019 edition, narrowly qualifying ahead of Mozambique on head-to-head results in a tightly-contested group, but sadly, this tournament was their worst performing. Although considering they were competing in the ‘group of death’ alongside Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa, it’s perhaps no surprise that they finished bottom of the group once more with three losses and just one goal scored.

Group A of the 2008 AFCON – Namibia make their second appearance in the tournament, ten years after their debut.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]
Group D of the 2019 AFCON – Namibia’s third AFCON appearance, in the “group of death”.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]

Thankfully, Brave Warriors supporters didn’t have to wait 12 years for their fourth (and most recent) AFCON as they secured a spot in the 2023 tournament, and it proved to be their most successful campaign so far. They were again placed in a group with South Africa, but also drawn alongside Mali and Tunisia. In their opening game, they managed to grind out their first AFCON victory when an 88th-minute winner from Deon Hotto was enough to beat top seeds Tunisia, before a goalless draw with Mali in their final group game was enough for them to end the group phase with four points and advance to the knockout stage for the first time in their history as one of the best-performing third-place teams. Unfortunately, they were unable to progress to the quarter-finals as they were comprehensively beaten 0-3 by Angola, the competitive history between the two neighbours being added to.

Group E of the 2023 AFCON – Namibia achieved their first win in the tournament and progressed to the knockout stage for the first time.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]

In recent times, Namibia has been one of the stronger-performing teams within the COSAFA (Southern Africa) region of African football. Namibia won a COSAFA Cup in 2015, overcoming Zambia on penalties in the quarters, Madagascar 3-2 in the semis, and then Mozambique 2-0 in the final to lift their first and (to date) sole piece of silverware. They progressed to the quarter-finals of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN), and as mentioned previously, they have qualified for two of the last four AFCONs. The Brave Warriors have also reached the finals of both the 2022 and 2024 COSAFA Cup, albeit losing to Zambia and Angola (them again) respectively.

Namibia can be very disappointed in their 2025 AFCON qualification attempt, as despite being the second seed in the four-team group, and with the top two teams advancing to the finals, they finished bottom of the group. They accumulated just two goalless draws with Cameroon and Kenya in their final two games to complete an underwhelming schedule. Whereas, they can be overall prouder of their performance when attempting to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Although Tunisia were clear group winners (by a margin of 13 points) and booked their place at the World Cup held in North America, Namibia just finished in second position in the six-team group. They started off positively, accumulating 12 points from their first six games and staying undefeated. Alas, a drastic drop in form in the September and October 2025 international breaks meant they just added a further three points to their points tally from the final four group fixtures. They still maintained their possession of the second spot in the group, but edged ahead of third-placed Liberia by just goal difference after conceding just one fewer goal in total.

Namibia finished in second position in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group, but could have challenged Tunisia more strongly for the spot had they maintained their earlier form.
[IMAGE: Wikipedia]

Questions to Footy Namibia

To answer questions about the Brave Warriors and the current status of the men’s national team, we interviewed the excellent Footy Namibia. Footy Namibia is a Namibia-based, English-language website that maintains accounts on multiple social media platforms and regularly reports on the latest news from the Namibian national teams, the domestic pyramid, and Namibian players competing worldwide. To find out more about Footy Namibia, they can be found at the social media links below:

Q. Firstly, who would you say is Namibia’s best-ever player? Additionally, who is their best coach or manager of all time, and what are the reasons behind your choices?

Ricardo Mannetti

Player: Peter Shalulile, Namibia’s national all-time leading top scorer. No Namibian player has earned more individual accolades or trophies than him.

Coach: Ricardo Mannetti, as he won us our only trophy (COSAFA Cup 2015).

Q. Who could be regarded as a ‘cult hero’ in terms of the Namibian national team both in the past and present?

Collin Benjamin

Past: Collin Benjamin (now the current national team coach)

Present: Peter Shalulile

Q. Of the current team, who would you say is the best player in the national side?

Peter Shalulile

Peter Shalulile is still our best player in the current national team.

Q. Are there any Namibian players whom you think we should be focusing on for the future? Who would you say is the most exciting up-and-coming talent from the country?

19-year-old Michael “Bwebwe” Jonas. He’s currently playing locally in Namibia for Eeshoke Chula Chula FC, and is the best player in the league, topping the league goal charts. He already has earned one national team cap and is expected to have a very bright future.

Q. How would you describe the current state or performance of the national team?

We are currently going through a difficult stage, and we have been losing a lot lately to smaller nations. We also missed out on the 2025 AFCON and 2026 World Cup qualification.

Q. Looking at Namibia’s international history, what do you believe has been the best game, result, or performance for the national team?

The best game or performance was during the 2023 AFCON. We drew with Cameroon away (1-1) and beat them at ‘home’ (2-1) to qualify for AFCON 2023, and then beat Tunisia 1-0 in the AFCON group to advance to the knockout stage for the first time in our history.

Q. Likewise, is there a performance or result that is regarded as the team’s lowest point?

Losing the COSAFA Cup final 5-0 to Angola in 2024 was horrible. The fact that it was a final made it even worse.

Q. What are the best and worst things about being a supporter of the Namibian national team?

Currently, we don’t have a FIFA-accredited stadium within the country that can host international games. As a result, for the past five years, we have had to watch our team on TV since they have been playing their ‘home’ games in countries with FIFA-accredited stadiums, mostly in neighbouring South Africa. Therefore, the teams haven’t had the benefit of having a home advantage and support during that time period.

Q. What has been your favourite or most iconic shirt that the national team has worn?

The kit we wore in 1998.

Q. Finally, what are your hopes for the future of the Namibian national team?

Hopefully, once our stadium renovations are completed, the team can return home and qualify for major tournaments with the help of the supporters.

A massive thank you to the excellent Footy Namibia for answering our questions on the Brave Warriors. Remember, you can find their excellent account in the links at the top of the blogpage and make sure you follow them to keep up to date with all the news from Namibian football.

If you have any comments, suggestions, reactions, or even your own answers to the above questions, please write them in the comments box below. Likewise, you can either email us at the94thmin@gmail.com or send a message at @The94thMin on Twitter/X.

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