Eswatini national football team

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The Eswatini national football team, nicknamed Sihlangu Semnikati (King's Shield),<ref>zana-arts Template:Webarchive</ref> represents Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, in international football and is controlled by the Eswatini Football Association. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations finals. Swaziland's best performance in an international tournament is a semi-final finish in the COSAFA Cup.

On 8 June 2008, they achieved their first win in a World Cup qualifier since 1992, beating 2006 finalists Togo 2–1 on home soil. The team's best recent performance came in 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification where Eswatini finished second in Group L above Guinea and Malawi.

History

Beginnings

The team played its first international match against Malawi, winning 2–0.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For the first decade, the national team only played Malawi and Zambia, failing to register a single win from 1969 until 1984, when they beat Lesotho 3–1 in a friendly at home. Following the Lesotho win, Eswatini entered the 1986 African Cup of Nations qualifiers for the first time, losing 1–8 on aggregate to Zimbabwe. The team then entered the 1987 All-Africa Games qualifiers however they lost 2–9 on aggregate against Malawi.

The first time that Eswatini progressed past the first round of a qualifying competition was for the 1990 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, beating Tanzania 3–1 on penalties after drawing the tie 2–2. In the second round they faced Malawi who knocked them out again, 1–3 after two legs. Eswatini next entered the 1990 SADCC Tournament, advancing past the group stage on goal difference ahead of Malawi, before losing to Zimbabwe on penalties (5–3) in the semi-finals following a 4–4 draw after extra-time. In the 1992 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Eswatini beat Zambia (2–1) during the preliminary group stage but finished in third and failed to progress.

Eswatini entered the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time, but ended up in second place behind Cameroon thereby not advancing to the final round. For the 1998 World Cup first qualification round, Eswatini lost twice to Gabon (0–1 and 0–2) and were eliminated. They failed to make it past the first qualifying round for the inaugural 1997 COSAFA Cup, where they lost 0–4 to Mozambique, and in the 1998 COSAFA Cup where they lost to an own-goal in extra-time against Angola (0–1). Eswatini returned to the 2000 African Cup of Nations qualification matches after missing the previous three tournaments but they fell 2–3 against Madagascar and were eliminated. They managed to qualify for the 1999 COSAFA Cup after beating Mozambique 3–1 in the qualifiers, then beat Zimbabwe in the quarter-finals 4–3 on penalties after drawing 1–1 in regular time, with Bongani Mdluli having scored the equaliser for Eswatini in the 89th minute. In the semi-finals they lost to Namibia on penalties, 2–4.

21st century

Eswatini were eliminated by Angola in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, losing 1–8 on aggregate. They then lost to Kenya in the 2002 African Cup of Nations qualification round 3–5. Their next success in a competition came in the 2002 COSAFA Cup where they qualified ahead of Namibia (2–1) and beat Zimbabwe (2–0) to advance to the semis. There they lost to South Africa (1–4) who would go on to win the tournament. In the 2004 AFCON qualifiers, Eswatini finished third in their group, two points behind Libya and three behind DR Congo therefore missing out on qualification.

In the following tournaments, Eswatini failed to progress past the first qualifying round. They finished bottom of their qualifying groups until 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification where they finished in second on goal-difference ahead of Guinea but were three points off of qualifying, behind Zimbabwe. In the 2018 World Cup qualifying, Eswatini thrashed Djibouti 8–1 over two legs, but were beaten 0–2 by Nigeria to end their hopes of qualification.

Results and fixtures

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

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2024

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2025

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Coaches

Caretakers are listed in italics.

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Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2025 COSAFA Cup to be played 4–15 June 2025.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Caps and goals correct as of 9 June 2025, after the match against Madagascar

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Recent call-ups

The following players were called up for Eswatini in the last 12 months. Template:Nat fs r start Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs break Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs break Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs break Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs r player Template:Nat fs end

Player records

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Players in bold are still active with Eswatini.
Most appearances
Rank Player Caps Goals Career
1 Sabelo Ndzinisa 78 17 2012–present
2 Tony Tsabedze 71 8 2003–2018
3 Sifiso Matse 58 5 2017–present
4 Mxolisi Mthethwa 52 3 1998–2010
5 Lindo Mkhonta 48 1 2018–present
Wonder Nhleko 48 5 2001–2018
Felix Badenhorst 48 15 2008–present
8 Fanelo Mamba 46 6 2018–present
9 Machawe Dlamini 44 1 2011–2019
Sandile Gamedze 44 8 2018–present
Top goalscorers
Rank Player Goals Caps Ratio Career
1 Sabelo Ndzinisa 17 78 {{#expr:17/78 round 2}} 2012–present
2 Felix Badenhorst 15 48 {{#expr:15/48 round 2}} 2008–present
3 Mfanzile Dlamini 9 35 {{#expr:9/35 round 2}} 1998–2009
Siza Dlamini 9 39 {{#expr:9/39 round 2}} 1997–2010
5 Sandile Gamedze 8 44 {{#expr:8/44 round 2}} 2018–present
Tony Tsabedze 8 71 {{#expr:8/71 round 2}} 2003–2018
7 Fanelo Mamba 6 46 {{#expr:6/46 round 2}} 2018–present
8 Wonder Nhleko 5 48 {{#expr:5/48 round 2}} 2001–2018
Sifiso Matse 5 58 {{#expr:5/58 round 2}} 2017–present
10 Sidumo Shongwe 4 8 {{#expr:4/8 round 2}} 2011–2014
Sandile Hlatjwako 4 15 {{#expr:4/15 round 2}} 2014–2017
Junior Magagula 4 24 {{#expr:4/24 round 2}} 2019–present
Philani Mkhontfo 4 28 {{#expr:4/28 round 2}} 2022–present

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip* Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip
1930 to 1966 Part of Template:Flagicon United Kingdom Part of Template:Flagicon United Kingdom
as Template:Fb
1970 to 1978 Not a FIFA member Not a FIFA member
1982 to 1990 Did not enter Did not enter
Template:Flagicon 1994 Did not qualify 3 1 1 1 1 5
Template:Flagicon 1998 2 0 0 2 0 3
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2002 2 0 0 2 1 8
Template:Flagicon 2006 2 0 1 1 1 4
Template:Flagicon 2010 4 1 1 2 2 8
Template:Flagicon 2014 2 0 0 2 2 8
Template:Flagicon 2018 4 2 1 1 8 3
as Template:Fb
Template:Flagicon 2022 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 1 2
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2026 10 0 3 7 6 19
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2030 To be determined To be determined
Template:Flagicon 2034
Total – Template:Tooltip – – – – – – 31 4 8 19 22 60

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record Qualification record
Year Round Position Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip Template:Tooltip
Template:Flagicon 1957 to Template:Flagicon 1968 Part of United Kingdom Part of United Kingdom
Template:Flagicon 1970 to Template:Flagicon 1976 Not affiliated to CAF Not affiliated to CAF
Template:Flagicon 1978 Did not enter Did not enter
Template:Flagicon 1980
Template:Flagicon 1982
Template:Flagicon 1984 Withdrew Withdrew
Template:Flagicon 1986 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 1 8
Template:Flagicon 1988 Did not enter Did not enter
Template:Flagicon 1990 Did not qualify 4 0 3 1 3 5
Template:Flagicon 1992 5 1 2 2 4 9
Template:Flagicon 1994 Did not enter Did not enter
Template:Flagicon 1996 Withdrew Withdrew
Template:Flagicon 1998 Did not enter Did not enter
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2000 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 2 3
Template:Flagicon 2002 2 1 0 1 3 5
Template:Flagicon 2004 6 2 2 2 8 12
Template:Flagicon 2006 2 0 1 1 1 4
Template:Flagicon 2008 6 0 3 3 0 7
Template:Flagicon 2010 4 1 1 2 2 8
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2012 6 0 0 6 2 14
Template:Flagicon 2013 Withdrew Withdrew
Template:Flagicon 2015 Did not qualify 2 0 1 1 1 2
Template:Flagicon 2017 6 2 2 2 6 9
Template:Flagicon 2019 6 0 1 5 2 14
Template:Flagicon 2021 4 0 1 3 1 9
Template:Flagicon 2023 8 2 3 3 8 9
Template:Flagicon 2025 8 1 3 4 7 15
Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon Template:Flagicon 2027 To be determined To be determined
Template:Flagicon 2029
Total – 0/35 – – – – – – 73 10 24 39 51 133

COSAFA Cup

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Year COSAFA Cup record
Result Pld W D L GF GA
1997 First round 1 0 0 1 0 1
1998 Quarter-finals 1 0 0 1 0 1
1999 Semi-finals 3 1 2 0 5 3
2000 Quarter-finals 1 0 0 1 0 2
2001 Quarter-finals 2 0 1 1 1 2
2002 Semi-finals 3 2 0 1 5 5
2003 Semi-finals 2 1 0 1 2 2
2004 Quarter-finals 1 0 0 1 0 5
2005 First round 1 0 0 1 0 3
2006 First round 2 1 0 1 2 1
2007 First round 2 1 1 0 1 0
Template:Flagicon 2008 First round 3 1 2 0 3 2
Template:Flagicon 2009 First round 3 2 0 1 5 2
Template:Flagicon 2013 First round 3 0 1 2 0 4
Template:Flagicon 2015 First round 3 2 1 0 4 1
Template:Flagicon 2016 Third place 6 3 2 1 9 7
Template:Flagicon 2017 Quarter-finals 2 0 0 2 1 3
Template:Flagicon 2018 Quarter-finals 2 0 0 2 0 3
Template:Flagicon 2019 First round 2 0 2 0 4 4
Template:Flagicon 2020 Cancelled
Template:Flagicon 2021 Third place<ref name = "2021 COSAFA 3rd place match"/> 6 2 3 1 8 6
Template:Flagicon 2022 Quarter-finals 4 2 2 0 7 2
Total 21/21 53 18 17 18 57 59

Honours

Regional

References

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Template:Football in Swaziland {{#invoke:navbox|navbox | name = CAF teams | title = National football teams of Africa (CAF) |listclass = hlist |group1 = North Africa (UNAF) |list1 =

|group2 = West Africa (WAFU) |list2 =

|group3 = East Africa (CECAFA) |list3 =

|group4 = Central Africa (UNIFFAC) |list4 =

|group5 = Southern Africa (COSAFA) |list5 =

|group6 = Non-regional Members |list6 =

|below= 1 Regional team, an associate member of CAF but not a member of FIFA

{{#invoke:portal-inline|main|size=tiny|Football in Africa}} }} Template:National sports teams of Eswatini

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