NAMIBIA

Year of formation: 1990 Affiliation FIFA: 1992 Affiliation CAF: 1992 National Stadium: Independence Stadium, Windhoek (20 000) National Colours: White / White / White

Namibian football has been going through a torrid time over the last years, slipping from the heady heights attained in 1997 and 1999 when they were Cosafa Castle Cup runners-up and in 1998 when they shocked African football by reaching the African Nations Cup finals in Burkina Faso. But in 2008 they broke a run of seven first round exits in the Cosafa Castle Cup – when they lost to Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Swaziland, Angola and Botswana three times – as they progressed to the quarterfinals before losing out to a South African President’s XI.

They also managed to claim their first away win in the competition in 2007 when they beat Lesotho to third place in the group stages in Gaborone. They followed that up in 2008 with away wins against the Comoros Islands and Malawi as the tournament moved to South Africa.

The Brave Warriors were the surprise package of the 1997 edition, finishing second to winners Zambia and in 1998 caused a major upset by knocking out World Cup finalists South Africa at the preliminary round stage. In 1999, they were again in the final, and narrowly lost to Angola in extra-time in the second leg in Windhoek. The team reached a high of 68th place in the FIFA world rankings in 1998 but have dropped right down to 113 as at the start of 2009.

RECORD