TheEswatini national football team, nicknamedSihlangu Semnikati (King's Shield),[4] representsEswatini, formerly known asSwaziland, in internationalfootball and is controlled by theEswatini Football Association. It has never qualified for theWorld Cup or theAfrica Cup of Nations finals. Swaziland's best performance in an international tournament is a semi-final finish in theCOSAFA Cup.
On 8 June 2008, they achieved their first win in a World Cup qualifier since 1992, beating 2006 finalistsTogo 2–1 on home soil. The team's best recent performance came in2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification where Eswatini finished second in Group L aboveGuinea andMalawi.
The team played its first international match againstMalawi, winning 2–0.[5] For the first decade, the national team only playedMalawi andZambia, failing to register a single win from 1969 until 1984, when they beatLesotho 3–1 in a friendly at home. Following the Lesotho win, Eswatini entered the1986 African Cup of Nations qualifiers for the first time, losing 1–8 on aggregate toZimbabwe. The team then entered the1987 All-Africa Games qualifiers however they lost 2–9 on aggregate againstMalawi.
The first time that Eswatini progressed past the first round of a qualifying competition was for the1990 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, beatingTanzania 3–1 on penalties after drawing the tie 2–2. In the second round they facedMalawi who knocked them out again, 1–3 after two legs. Eswatini next entered the1990 SADCC Tournament, advancing past the group stage on goal difference ahead ofMalawi, before losing toZimbabwe on penalties (5–3) in the semi-finals following a 4–4 draw after extra-time. In the1992 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Eswatini beatZambia (2–1) during the preliminary group stage but finished in third and failed to progress.
Eswatini entered the1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time, but ended up in second place behindCameroon thereby not advancing to the final round. For the1998 World Cup first qualification round, Eswatini lost twice toGabon (0–1 and 0–2) and were eliminated. They failed to make it past the first qualifying round for the inaugural1997 COSAFA Cup, where they lost 0–4 toMozambique, and in the1998 COSAFA Cup where they lost to an own-goal in extra-time againstAngola (0–1). Eswatini returned to the2000 African Cup of Nations qualification matches after missing the previous three tournaments but they fell 2–3 againstMadagascar and were eliminated. They managed to qualify for the1999 COSAFA Cup after beatingMozambique 3–1 in the qualifiers, then beatZimbabwe in the quarter-finals 4–3 on penalties after drawing 1–1 in regular time, withBongani Mdluli having scored the equaliser for Eswatini in the 89th minute. In the semi-finals they lost toNamibia on penalties, 2–4.
In the following tournaments, Eswatini failed to progress past the first qualifying round. They finished bottom of their qualifying groups until2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification where they finished in second on goal-difference ahead ofGuinea but were three points off of qualifying, behindZimbabwe. In the2018 World Cup qualifying, Eswatini thrashedDjibouti 8–1 over two legs, but were beaten 0–2 byNigeria to end their hopes of qualification.