Zimbabwe national football team

Zimbabwe played their first official match against the England Amateur national football team as part of the latter's tour of South Africa and Rhodesia in June 1929. Zimbabwe 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, who is considered to be Zimbabwe's greatest goalkeeper,^[7]were not selected for the national team for 10 years.^[8] 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.^[8][9]

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".^[10]

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.^[11] 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 indefinitely and was ratified by FIFA. Suspension is set until Zimbabwe and Kenya meet the demands given by FIFA. The team has produced some of the finest footballers the likes of the legendary Peter Ndlovu who played for Zimbabwe 100 times. He featured in the English premier for Coventry City, Birmingham City, Sheffield United and Huddersfield. Peter Ndlovu is well remembered for the hatrick he scored at Anfield against Liverpool, Bruce Grobelaar former Liverpool Goalkeeper, Norman Mapeza former Galatasary defender, Benjan Mwaruwaru former Man city player. Knowledge Musona former Anderletch and Bundesliga player. Khama Billiat former Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs player.

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   Fixture

2025

Mauritius  v  Zimbabwe

4 June 2025 COSAFA Cup	Mauritius	0–0	Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein, South Africa
18:00 UTC+2		Report		Stadium: Free State Stadium Referee: Godfrey Nkhakananga (Malawi)

South Africa  v  Zimbabwe

7 June 2025 COSAFA Cup	South Africa	2–0	Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein, South Africa
15:00 UTC+2	Dlamini 40' (pen.) Okon 78'	Report		Stadium: Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium Referee: Thabang Ketshabile (Botswana)

Mozambique  v  Zimbabwe

10 June 2025 COSAFA Cup	Mozambique	1–3	Zimbabwe	Bloemfontein, South Africa
18:00 UTC+2	Calção 38'	Report	Ngwenya 27', 36' (pen.) Makunike 90+5'	Stadium: Dr. Petrus Molemela Stadium Referee: Godfrey Nkhakananga (Malawi)

Benin  v  Zimbabwe

6 September 2026 World Cup qualification	Benin	1–0	Zimbabwe	Abidjan, Ivory Coast
17:00 UTC+0	Mounié 77'	Report		Stadium: Alassane Ouattara Stadium Attendance: 457 Referee: Lamin Jammeh (Gambia)

Zimbabwe  v  Rwanda

9 September 2026 World Cup qualification	Zimbabwe	0–1	Rwanda	Johannesburg, South Africa
16:00 UTC+2		Report	Mugisha 39'	Stadium: Orlando Stadium Referee: Abdou Abdel Mefire (Cameroon)

Zimbabwe  v  South Africa

10 October 2026 World Cup qualification	Zimbabwe	0–0	South Africa	Durban, South Africa
18:00 UTC+2	Musona  64'	Report	Mbokazi  90+7'	Stadium: Moses Mabhida Stadium Referee: Mustapha Ghorbal (Algeria)

Lesotho  v  Zimbabwe

13 October 2026 World Cup qualification	Lesotho	1–0	Zimbabwe	Polokwane, South Africa
18:00 UTC+2	Kalake 90+3'	Report		Stadium: Peter Mokaba Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Tsegay Mogos Teklu (Eritrea)

Algeria  v  Zimbabwe

13 November Friendly	Algeria	3–1	Zimbabwe	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
19:30 UTC+3	Bounedjah 14' Amoura 41' Hadjam 45+1'	Report	Chirewa 88' (pen.)	Stadium: Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium Referee: Abdullah Dhafer Al Shehri (Saudi Arabia)

Qatar  v  Zimbabwe

17 November Friendly	Qatar	1–2	Zimbabwe	Doha, Qatar
19:30 UTC+3	Gouda 9'	Report	Garananga 24' Antonio 74'	Stadium: Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium Referee: Mohamed Ebrahim Saad (Bahrain)

Egypt  v  Zimbabwe

22 December 2025 AFCON Group B	Egypt	2–1	Zimbabwe	Agadir, Morocco
21:00 UTC+1	Marmoush 64' Salah 90+1'	Report	Dube 20'	Stadium: Adrar Stadium Referee: Issa Sy (Senegal)

Angola  v  Zimbabwe

26 December 2025 AFCON Group B	Angola	1–1	Zimbabwe	Marrakesh, Morocco
13:30 UTC+1	Dala 24'	Report	Musona 45+6'	Stadium: Marrakesh Stadium Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)

Zimbabwe  v  South Africa

29 December 2025 AFCON Group B	Zimbabwe	2–3	South Africa	Marrakesh, Morocco
17:00 UTC+1	Maswanhise 19' Modiba 73' (o.g.)	Report	Moremi 7' Foster 50' Appollis 82' (pen.)	Stadium: Marrakesh Stadium Referee: Mustapha Kech Chaf (Morocco)

2026

Botswana  v  Zimbabwe

28 March 2026 Four Nations Tournament semi-final	Botswana	0–3	Zimbabwe	Francistown, Botswana
18:00 UTC+2		Report	Tshuma 24' Bonne 33' Antonio 45'	Stadium: Obed Itani Chilume Stadium Referee: Chanshi Kasongo (Zambia)

Zambia  v  Zimbabwe

31 March 2026 Four Nations Tournament Final	Zambia	0–1	Zimbabwe	Francistown, Botswana
17:00 UTC+2		Report	Kafunti (o.g.)	Stadium: Obed Itani Chilume Stadium Referee: Moemedi Thabologang(Botswana)

Nigeria  v  Zimbabwe

26 May 2026 Unity Cup	Nigeria	2–0	Zimbabwe	London, England
19:30 UTC+1	Azeez 4', 62'	Report		Stadium: The Valley Referee: John Brooks (England)

Zimbabwe  v  India

30 May 2026 Unity Cup	Zimbabwe	1–0	India	London, England
14:30 UTC+1	Dube 34' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: The Valley Referee: Andrew Madley (England)

Zimbabwe  v  Equatorial Guinea

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	Zimbabwe	v	Equatorial Guinea	TBD, Zimbabwe
TBD				Stadium: TBD

Equatorial Guinea  v  Zimbabwe

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	Equatorial Guinea	v	Zimbabwe	TBD, Equatorial Guinea
TBD				Stadium: TBD

Zimbabwe  v  Sierra Leone

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	Zimbabwe	v	Sierra Leone	TBD, Zimbabwe
TBD				Stadium: TBD

Sierra Leone  v  Zimbabwe

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	Sierra Leone	v	Zimbabwe	TBD, Sierra Leone
TBD				Stadium: TBD

DR Congo  v  Zimbabwe

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	DR Congo	v	Zimbabwe	TBD, DR Congo
TBD				Stadium: TBD

Zimbabwe  v  DR Congo

TBD 2027 AFCON qualification	Zimbabwe	v	DR Congo	TBD, Zimbabwe
TBD				Stadium: TBD

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

As of 29 December 2025^[15][16]

Players in bold are still active with Zimbabwe.