Zimbabwe

Home; 2006/08

The Republic of Zimbabwe lies to south of the African continent, sharing a border with South Africa.  It has had a long and often difficult history, from tribal disputes over land, through colonisation, civil war and probably most infamously, the Megabe regime.  Before Europeans arrived, Zimbabwe took the form of a series impressive trade-based states and kingdoms.  With greater European exploration, the tribes began to evolve into more militaristic groups.  After colonisation, these groups remained armed and staged several revolts against the occupying British administration before being subdued.  Many lost their land to European settlers, who were given land as reward for settling in the area.

The Zimbabwe footballers, nicknamed The Warriors, have never seen massive success at continental or World Cup level.   As with many African sides, success on the field at senior level is usually found in the regional tournaments. They won one CECAFA Cup (for Eastern African teams, and were twice runners-up in the mid 80s.  Their second run of success came in the 00s, where they won four COSAFA Cups  (Southern Africa) between 2000 and 2009 and have since added two more at the time of writing. The mid 00s also saw the team finally make the breakthrough in the African Cup of Nations.  Their first appearance was in the Tunisia-hosted 2004 edition, where they beat Algeria in their final group game. In 2006 in Egypt, the team again won their final group game to go home with three points. This shirt was worn during that championships and the team wore it for two years afterwards.

Peter Ndlovu is the nation’s most celebrated player, and the top scorer with 38 international goals. He also enjoyed a stellar club career that took in high-scoring stints in both England, where he was the first African player to play in the Premier League, and South Africa.  At the 2004 ACN, he finished the tournament with an impressive three goals from three games (his brother Adam also found the net on one occasion).   The two brothers had played a starring role in getting the team to that first appearance, scoring seven of the team’s total of eight goals in qualifying (Peter with five, Adam with two).  Off the field, Peter is reputed to have covered the cost of several away games for Zimbabwe. Sadly, Adam was killed in a road accident in 2012 when a tyre blew on a car he was driving and left the road.  Peter was his passenger, and was seriously injured.  Thankfully, Peter made a full recovery and went on to spend a period as assistant manager of the national team.  Aside from those two, Benjani and Bruce Grobbelaar are two more famous Zimbabwean national players.