Football in Mozambique

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Logo of the Mozambican Football Association, the Federação Moçambicana de Futebol (FMF)

Football isone of the most popular sportsin the African state of Mozambique .

history

From the time the Portuguese increased their presence in the country after Vasco da Gama's arrival in 1498 until Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975, the country was a Portuguese colony . To this day, football in Mozambique has been shaped by its Portuguese origins and relationships, for example by partly former, partly still current branch clubs of the Portuguese clubs Sporting Lisbon and Benfica Lisbon . Many Mozambican footballers also play in Portugal . The most famous example is likely to be Eusébio . He began his football career in 1957 with the Sporting Clube de Lourenço Marques, which was founded on May 20, 1920 in the capital of Mozambique as the sixth branch club of Sporting Lisbon. From 1960 Eusébio then played for Benfica Lisbon, where he was Portuguese champion eleven times and in 1962 won the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League ). He was named Europe's Footballer of the Year in 1965 and was the top scorer of the 1966 World Cup .

Regular championships have been played in Mozambique since 1922, initially only as the district championship of Lourenço Marques (today Maputo ), from 1956 as the national championship of the Portuguese overseas province of Mozambique.

In 1975 Mozambique gained independence from Portugal and in 1976 the national football association of the Republic of Mozambique, the Federação Moçambicana de Futebol (FMF), was founded. Since then, the FMF has been organizing the country's soccer leagues and is responsible for the national soccer teams.

Club soccer

Derby in Beira : Newcomer Têxtil Punguè receives the Ferroviário in the Estádio Chiveve

Since 1976, the FMF has organized the country's top division, the Campeonato Moçambicano de Futebol , better known as Moçambola . The record champions are the Clube Ferroviário de Maputo, founded in 1924, and the CD Costa do Sol, which has been in existence since 1955, with nine titles each . In 2014, the Liga Muçulmana became national champions for the fourth time in five years .

The three last-placed clubs des Moçambolas relegated to the second division, the single-track Segunda Divisão with 21 clubs. This second division is followed by the eleven top leagues of the football associations of the eleven Mozambican provinces .

The national cup of the FMF, the Taça de Moçambique , has been played since 1978. The first winner was CD Maxaquene , who won the trophy nine times (as of December 2014). However, the CD Costa do Sol is also the record champion in the cup competition, with 11 trophies won. The last time Clube Ferroviário da Beira won the trophy was in 2013 and 2014 .

Clubs from Mozambique have often played in the CAF Champions League and in the African Cup Winners' Cup . So far, however, none of the clubs has won a title there (as of January 2015).

National team of men

The selection of Mozambique as a guest of the Tunisian national team, on June 6th, 2009 in the Stade de Radès

The Mozambican national football team has participated in FIFA tournaments since joining the FMF in 1980 . So far, she has not yet qualified for a world championship.

At the African Cup of Mozambique took part four times, in 1986, 1996, 1998 and 2010. His selection difference in all four tournaments already out in the first round.

Mozambique was able to qualify for the African Nations Cup in 2014 for the first time, but was eliminated in the preliminary round.

At the Nations Cup of Southern Africa, the COSAFA Cup , Mozambique has taken part in every edition so far. His selection achieved the best placement with second place in 2009 (as of 2014).

Mozambique and its national team also took part in every edition of the soccer tournaments as part of Jogos da Lusofonia , the “Games of the Lusophone World”. In 2017 it will host the games itself.

In December 2014 Mozambique was ranked 98th in the FIFA world rankings . The selection reached its highest FIFA ranking in November 1997 with 66th place, the worst in July 2005 with 134th place.

Women's soccer

The Mozambican national soccer team for women took part in the first women's African championship in 1998 , but was eliminated in the preliminary round. Since then, the selection of Mozambique has not survived a qualifying round and has therefore not been able to participate in any other African championships (status: 2014).

In December 2014, Mozambique was ranked 133rd in the FIFA Women's World Ranking .

Felizarda Lemos caused a stir in 2013. She became known as the first female coach of a male soccer team when she took over the first team of the Zixaxa club in the capital Maputo. She reported a lot of encouragement from the players and fans, but she also experienced misogynistic discrimination on the part of her coaching colleagues.

Web links

Commons : Soccer in Mozambique  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of Mozambique on the FIFA website, accessed on January 3, 2015
  2. ↑ World ranking of women's national teams on the FIFA website, accessed on 3 January 2015
  3. ↑ Article from April 18, 2013 about the female trainer of the men's club Zixaxa from Maputo , website of Deutsche Welle África (port.), Accessed on January 4, 2014