Brief History of Football in Zimbabwe

When it comes to football, Zimbabwe has gone through some drastic changes over the years due to the country’s political issues. From playing a World Cup qualifying match as a FIFA member in 1969 to losing touch with global football, Zimbabwe has come a long way to establishing the national team and a present-day league again.

Today, football in Zimbabwe has come to a certain professional level, but it took years of fighting and protesting to reach that state finally.

People from Zimbabwe first heard of football in 1890 when British soldiers arrived at a country at the time known as Southern Rhodesia. The sport has been nurtured thanks to white settlers as it helped them establish their identity in the new environment. However, football soon entered the black communities and was supported by African Welfare Societies to divert black laborers from protests and gambling.

In the beginning, football in Southern Rhodesia existed in the form of private clubs. The notable black clubs were Highlanders FC and Dynamos FC, while white settlers created separate clubs and competed amongst themselves. This was a great base for racial discrimination, especially because black clubs had to share or lease football courts. Although multi-racial competitions took place from time to time, most teams avoided taking part in them as such games caused many political protests.

Nevertheless, football was still more popular in Zimbabwe than any other sport. For example, if a rugby cup final attracted around 6,000 spectators, the football cup final was followed by five times more people.

In 1958, the national team was racially integrated, and African players admitted. What’s more, Dynamos FC’s new lineup took part and won the Austin Cup that was previously reserved only for whites.

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Still, as most clubs that belonged to SRFA remained white, black clubs have become a part of a separate football association known as the Southern Rhodesian African Football Association. On top of that, Zimbabwe was home to some South Asian and mixed-race clubs that were a part of the Southern Rhodesian Soccer Board.

Then, in 1961, the Southern Rhodesia Football Association (SRFA) applied for a FIFA membership. Consequently, all these separate organizations have then come together to form the Football Association of Rhodesia (FAR) that became a FIFA member in 1965. However, racial discrimination was still pretty much alive, with white clubs having a say while private clubs created their own rules.

In 1970, Rhodesia had the first international appearance as an independent country with a national team made of black and white players. The team gave its best to qualify for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico but unfortunately couldn’t manage to beat Australia and was left out of the competition.

Soon after the qualifications for the 1970 World Cup, Rhodesia got excluded from FIFA. Namely, the country was under UN sanctions at the time. Even though FIFA acknowledged teams from independent countries and colonies, the sanctions limited Rhodesia and prevented it from falling into any of the two mentioned categories.

In the following decade, football in Zimbabwe went through a rough patch. Even though the natives represented the majority, racism didn’t disappear. There was even a revolt led by John Madzima, who eventually created the National Football Association of Rhodesia (NFAR) that got support from sponsors. Yet, when Madzima wanted to join FIFA, his application was denied due to the country’s complicated political status.

Finally, in 1979, the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) was formed and took over control of football in Zimbabwe. Today, this organization is in charge of football on both a national and country-based level.

Zimbabwe has been competing in African and international events as an independent state, but it still hasn’t had any major success added to its name. Nevertheless, the strong will and resilience of the African football lovers have helped the country fight off the settlers and create a better environment for nurturing football culture in the future.