Zimbabwe national football team

Southern Rhodesia played their first official match against the England Amateur national football team as part of their tour of South Africa and Rhodesia in June 1929. 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 Oceanic 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 Lourenço 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.[7] 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.[7][8]

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 Jonathan Moyo called "a cheap attempt by the organisers to demoralise our boys".[9]

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.[10] At the time, the team was experiencing its strongest period for many years, qualifying for both the 2017 and 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

On 1 March 2022, Zimbabwe, along with Kenya, was suspended again from international sport due to the interference of the government. Earlier in November 2021, Harare and Nairobi dissolved their federations and were replaced with government-officials. On 31 March, the suspension was made indefinetely and was ratified by FIFA. Suspension is set until Zimbabwe and Kenya meet the demands given by FIFA.

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

2021

Cameroon  v  Zimbabwe

16 January 2020 CHAN	Cameroon	1–0	Zimbabwe	Yaoundé, Cameroon
17:00	Banga 72'	Report		Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Attendance: 0 Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala (DR Congo)

Burkina Faso  v  Zimbabwe

20 January 2020 CHAN	Burkina Faso	3–1	Zimbabwe	Yaoundé, Cameroon
20:00	Sosso 14' Kiendrébéogo 53' Ouedraogo 67'	Report	Jaure 23'	Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Referee: Mahmoud Mohamed (Egypt)

Zimbabwe  v  Mali

24 January 2020 CHAN	Zimbabwe	0–1	Mali	Douala, Cameroon
20:00				Stadium: Japoma Stadium

Botswana  v  Zimbabwe

25 March 2021 AFCONQ	Botswana	0–1	Zimbabwe	Francistown, Botswana
18:00 UTC+2		Report	Chikwende 14'	Stadium: Francistown Stadium Referee: Georges Gatogato (Burundi)

Zimbabwe  v  Zambia

29 March 2021 AFCONQ	Zimbabwe	0–2	Zambia	Harare, Zimbabwe
21:00 UTC+2		Report	Daka 21', 90+2'	Stadium: National Sports Stadium Referee: Molise Retselisitsoe (Lesotho)

Mozambique  v  Zimbabwe

7 July 2021 COSAFA Cup Group B	Mozambique	0–0	Zimbabwe	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
12:00 UTC+2	A. Nhantumbo  52' F. Simbine  65' C. Mathe  79' H. Salas  84'	Report	Q. Amini  27' D. Murimba  72' P. Musaka  82'	Stadium: Wolfson Stadium Referee: Eldrick Adelaide (Seychelles)

Malawi  v  Zimbabwe

9 July 2021 COSAFA Cup Group B	Malawi	2–2	Zimbabwe	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
12:00 UTC+2	K. Muyaba 27' S. Kuwali 50' M. Sulumba  66' C. Chirwa  76'	Report	R. Hachiro  45+1' B. Sarupinda 62' A. Mbeba  72' P. Musaka 79'	Stadium: Wolfson Stadium Referee: Keabetswe Dintwa (Botswana)

Namibia  v  Zimbabwe

11 July 2021 COSAFA Cup Group B	Namibia	2–0	Zimbabwe	Port Elizabeth, South Africa
14:00 UTC+2	D. Fredricks  10' I. Kamberipa  52' Q. Amini 70' (o.g.) A. Iimbondi  76' E. Kambindu 86'	Report	S. Nyahwa  81' Malvin Enos Mkolo  85'	Stadium: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Referee: Audrick Nkole (Zambia)

Senegal  v  Zimbabwe

13 July 2021 COSAFA Cup Group B	Senegal	2–1	Zimbabwe	Port Elizabeth
12:00 UTC+2	A. Ndoye 44' M. Ba 88'	Report	Q. Amini 3' (pen.)	Stadium: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

Zimbabwe  v  South Africa

3 September 2022 World Cup qualification	Zimbabwe	0–0	South Africa	Harare, Zimbabwe
15:00 UTC+2		Report		Stadium: National Sports Stadium Referee: Mahmoud El Banna (Egypt)

Ethiopia  v  Zimbabwe

7 September 2022 World Cup qualification	Ethiopia	1–0	Zimbabwe	Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
19:00 UTC+3	Tamene 90+4' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Bahir Dar Stadium Referee: Bernard Camille (Seychelles)

Ghana  v  Zimbabwe

9 October 2022 World Cup qualification	Ghana	3–1	Zimbabwe	Cape Coast, Ghana
16:00 UTC±0	Kudus 5' Partey 66' A. Ayew 87'	Report	Musona 49' (pen.)	Stadium: Cape Coast Sports Stadium Referee: Pierre Atcho (Gabon)

Zimbabwe  v  Ghana

12 October 2022 World Cup qualification	Zimbabwe	0–1	Ghana	Harare, Zimbabwe
15:00 UTC+2		Report	Partey 31'	Stadium: National Sports Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Amin Omar (Egypt)

South Africa  v  Zimbabwe

11 November 2022 World Cup qualification	South Africa	1–0	Zimbabwe	Johannesburg, South Africa
21:00 UTC+2	Mokoena 26'	Report		Stadium: FNB Stadium Referee: Sadok Selmi (Tunisia)

Zimbabwe  v  Ethiopia

14 November 2022 World Cup qualification	Zimbabwe	1–1	Ethiopia	Harare, Zimbabwe
15:00 UTC+2	Mahachi 38'	Report	Nassir 86'	Stadium: National Sports Stadium Referee: Mohamed Ali Moussa (Niger)

2022

Zimbabwe  v  Sudan

2 January Friendly	Zimbabwe	0–0	Sudan
		Report

Senegal  v  Zimbabwe

10 January 2021 Africa Cup of Nations	Senegal	1–0	Zimbabwe	Bafoussam, Cameroon
	Mané 90+7' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Kouekong Stadium Referee: Mario Escobar (Guatemala)

Malawi  v  Zimbabwe

14 January 2021 Africa Cup of Nations	Malawi	2–1	Zimbabwe	Bafoussam, Cameroon
17:00	Mhango 43', 58'	Report	Wadi 38'	Stadium: Kouekong Stadium Referee: Beida Dahane (Mauritania)

Zimbabwe  v  Guinea

18 January 2021 Africa Cup of Nations	Zimbabwe	2–1	Guinea	Yaoundé, Cameroon
17:00	Musona 26' Mahachi 43'	Report	N. Keïta 49'	Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Referee: Salima Mukansanga (Rwanda)

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

As of 18 January 2022

Players in bold are still active with Zimbabwe.

Note: ^U indicates that a player's statistics are unverified.

COSAFA Cup :

• 6-time champions (2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2017, 2018)
• 3-time runners-up

CECAFA Cup :

• 1-time champion (1985)
• 2-time runners-up (1983, 1987)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zimbabwe national football team.

• Zimbabwe Football Association at CAF online