Football in Lesotho

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Roma Rovers first division game in Roma (1990)

Football in Lesotho is the most popular sport for men in the country in southern Africa . Women's football also takes place.

Association

Association logo

The national football association of Lesotho was founded in 1932 and renamed the " Lesotho Football Association " (LEFA) in 1992. In 1964, LEFA joined FIFA and the African continental association CAF . The current president is the lawyer Salemane Phafane .

Men's soccer

National team

The Lesotho national team played their first international match in 1971. So far she has not been able to qualify for a soccer world championship or an African championship.

Her highest ranking in the FIFA world rankings was 120th in August 2003. She is currently 145th (as of January 2018) .

From 2004 to 2006 the German Antoine Hey was the coach of the selection. The ambitious goal was to qualify for the 2010 soccer World Cup in neighboring South Africa ; however, after a year and a half, Hey was fired for failure. He was succeeded by the Serbian Zaviza Milosavljenic, who was also released in September 2009. He was succeeded by the local Leslie Notši, who was previously the assistant coach of the national team. In 2016, Seephephe Matete, a former national player, trained the team.

The greatest success was reaching the finals in the regional competition of the COSAFA Cup 2000. In 2004, with the U-20 selection, a national team qualified for a continental championship for the first time.

The national team's nickname is Likuena ( Sesotho for "the crocodiles").

Club soccer

The Lesotho Premier League was founded in 1970 as the highest national league. It usually bears the names of sponsors, for example Vodacom Premier League in 2013/14 . Most of the clubs come from the capital Maseru . Some clubs are assigned to institutions such as the army , police and judiciary. The annual highlight is the cup matches for the independence celebrations on October 4th, in which four teams take part. The 14 clubs of the Lesotho Premier League play a round with home and away legs.

Record champions are Matlama FC from Maseru as well as Lesotho Defense Force and its predecessors from Maseru with ten titles each (including a title from Matlama from 1969). Lesotho Prisons Service / Lesotho Correctional Services won six championships, Lioli FC won five titles and Arsenal FC , Linare FC , Maseru United / Maseru Brothers and Bantu FC each won three titles. This makes Lioli FC the most successful club in the country that does not come from Maseru.

Women's soccer

The women's national soccer team is ranked 111th in the FIFA rankings (as of January 2018) . She was trained by Tjamela Tjamela in 2016. The top national league is the Lesotho Women's Super League.

Stadiums and places

In the 1980s, the National Stadium was built in the capital Maseru . The project was originally directed and financed by North Korea . Under pressure from the South African government, the North Koreans had to leave the country. The stadium was completed under a different direction. In 2002 the new Setsoto Stadium was inaugurated by FIFA President Sepp Blatter . Setsoto is the Sesotho word for "the wonderful" or "the amazement". After a renovation, the stadium can hold 13,900 spectators. At the same time, the Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena was built in Maseru as a “technical center” , which has a football school and two saunas, among other things. The costs for the Sports Arena were around 800,000 US dollars, of which FIFA took over 400,000 US dollars as part of the Goal project.

Other football pitches in Lesotho are often very easy. So there are no grandstands there.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ LEFA FIFA website , accessed on January 17, 2018
  2. ↑ FIFA side of the leather fiber, message to coaching change (English), accessed 5 July 2010
  3. ↑ LEFA FIFA website , accessed on January 17, 2018
  4. ↑ Description of the project at fifa.com (English), accessed on July 10, 2016