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The principalsports inNamibia arefootball,rugby union,cricket,golf andfishing. Boxing and athletics are also popular. The home stadium for all national teams isIndependence Stadium inWindhoek, whileSam Nujoma Stadium inKatutura is also occasionally used.
Football in Namibia is governed by theNamibia Football Association. TheNamibia Premier League is the main domestic league. TheNamibia national football team has never qualified for theFIFA World Cup, but has won theCOSAFA Cup in 2015 and has twice been runners up in the same. They have qualified for four African Cups of Nations, in1998,2008,2019 and2023 advancing beyond the group stages for the first time in2023.[1]
Rugby union was introduced to Namibia fromSouth Africa in 1916. The main governing body today is theNamibia Rugby Union.
TheNamibian national team are commonly known as theWelwitschias.[2] Namibia has made theWorld Cup on six occasions, in1999,2003,2007,2011,2015,2019 and2023 but has never won a game.[3]
Until independence, players for Namibia were also eligible to represent South Africa with Namibian born Springboks includingJan Ellis and, more recently,Percy Montgomery. Various players pursue their rugby careers in South Africa and in a number of European countries.
The history of cricket in Namibia is closely linked withSouth African cricket. After independence, the newly formed Namibian Cricket Board set about developing the game throughout the country, and also arranged visits from various English county teams andThe Netherlands. They were granted associate membership of theICC in 1992. Namibia played six matches in the 2003 World Cup and lost all of them. However they had a credible match againstEngland where they were ahead of the English under theDuckworth-Lewis method for twelve overs and Jan Berrie Burger almost mastered an upset with 85 off 86 balls.Rudi van Vuuren took 5 wickets, and later went on to feature in the Rugby World Cup for Namibia that same year.
Namibia qualified for the ICC World T20 in UAE and Oman in 2021 where the team won its first ever world cup match against Netherlands followed by victory against Ireland to qualify for Super 12s. The victory against Ireland was the first ever win by Namibia against a Full member in an official international match. In the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, Namibia registered their most famous victory by beating Sri Lanka by 55 runs at Geelong.[4] However, they could not the repeat the feat of the 2021 T20 World cup as they lost their next two matches to Netherlands and UAE.
Former South African all-rounderDavid Wiese is Namibia's most high-profile cricketer and is a regular in various T20 Leagues, most notably inPakistan Super League where he plays forLahore Qalandars. In the recently concluded IPL 2023 Auctions, David Wiese was picked byKolkata Knight Riders.
Cricket in Namibia is mostly played by the white community, with minimal black participation.[5]
The most prominent Namibian athlete, and one of the most prominent people in general, is the former sprinterFrankie Fredericks. He is the firstOlympic medalist from the country, and won four Olympic silver medals in total.[6] He also becameworld champion in1993 and won an additional three silver medal at theWorld Championships, all in the200 metres event. He holds the African record in this event with 19.68 seconds, and held the African record in100 metres until May 2006.[7]
SprintersChristine Mboma andBeatrice Masilingi attended the2020 Tokyo Olympics. Although disallowed from their favourite400 metres event due to naturally hightestosterone levels,[8] they both ran the 200 metres and qualified for the final, the first female Namibian athletes to do so at the Olympics.[9] Christine Mboma won a silver at Tokyo Olympics 2020 in women's 200m.
Other prominent athletes include middle-distance runnerAgnes Samaria and long-distance runnerLuketz Swartbooi, as well as paralympic athletesJohanna Benson,Ananias Shikongo,Johannes Nambala, andReginald Benade.
Namibia waits for its first qualification for theFIBA Africa Championship. Its basketball federation cooperates with the German federation.[10]
There have been several successful Namibian boxers, includingJaphet Uutoni (winner of gold medal at 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 African Boxing championships),Paulus Ambunda (represented his country at the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens),Paulus Moses,Harry Simon andJoseph Jermia (represented his country at the2004 Summer Olympics as well as winning a bronze medal in the 48 kg weight class in the2003 All-Africa Games. In March 2008, Namibia hosted thefinal round of qualifying for the continental tournament ofboxing at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[11] As Japhet Uutoni had already qualified for the 2008 Olympics by winning his class in the first round of qualifiers, 2 other Namibian boxers also qualified (Mujandjae Kasuto andJulius Indongo). In January 2009, Paulus Moses defeatedYusuke Kobori ofJapan to win the WBA lightweight title.[12]
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The most prominent Namibian golfer isTrevor Dodds.
There are 25Golf courses in Namibia [de]:
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The Namibian Equestrian Federation (NAMEF) was founded in 1958 by Mr. E Homan, E. Holtz and I. Voigts. It was originally known as the South West African Horse Society and changed its name to NAMEF after Namibia gainedindependence from theRepublic of South Africa. They are affiliated to the Namibian Sport Commission (NSC), theNamibian National Olympic Committee (NNOC) and the International body Federation Equestrian International (FEI) since 1992, representing the horse sport on a National and International level.[13]
Namibia Equestrian Federation is the official Federation forendurance riding in Namibia. Regular endurance competitions and rides throughout the country are being held under the governance of NAMEF
TheIcestocksport Association of Namibia was founded in 2004. The men's team won the Africa Cup on 7 occasion (2005, 2007, 2009,[14] 2015, 2017,[15][16] 2019, 2022[17][18]). The ladies' team won the Africa Cup in 2013 and 2017.[15] In 2020 the men's team won the silver medal at the World Championship in group B[19] and Bronze in 2022.
Lawn bowls was one of the first sport codes in Namibia to produce a world champion.Douw Calitz was the winner of this title when he emerged victor of the World Champion of Champions tournament in 2003 inMoama, Australia. Some of the major national tournaments include the annual National League, as well as the annual Namibia National Championships. In 2013, Namibia played host to the African States Tournament, a competition featuring seven countries from all over Africa. The National men's side is currently ranked 11th in the world.
The Namibia Sailing Association is the national governing body for the sport of sailing in Namibia, serving at the discretion of the Namibian Sports Commission and recognised by World Sailing.
The following are affiliated members:
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