The Swaziland national football team played their first international match against Malawi in 1968, the same year that the team was founded. Swaziland affiliated to the Confederation of African Football in 1976 and then to FIFA in 1978.
The national team’s home stadium was built the year that the team was created and is still used today. It holds 20,000 people when at capacity and can be found in Lobamba, the capital of the country.
Swaziland itself is a small country in the south-east of Africa. It is a mixture of mountains and lowlands, the majority of the population are employed in the farming industry. The land that Swaziland occupies has been inhabited since pre-history. Ancient rock paintings have been discovered there that date back 27,000 years.
From the 19th century until 1968, Swaziland was ruled by the United Kingdom. The independence of that year saw the national football team created and entered into international matches for the first time.
Swaziland has entered qualifying for the African Cup of Nations off and on since 1986. In the five times the team has fully entered the competition, it has never progressed to the tournament proper.
Swaziland first entered a world cup in the 1994 tournament, and have attempted to qualify for every subsequent competition. Despite this, they have never made it beyond qualification.
Ranked 173rd by FIFA, Swaziland should have no fears about dropping down the rankings due to their regular matches.
World cup 2018
Fixtures to be announced.
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