Zanzibar national football team Facts for Kids

This page is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Zanzibar women's national football team.

Quick facts for kids
Zanzibar

Association

Zanzibar Football Federation

Confederation

CAF (Africa)

Sub-confederation

CECAFA
(Central & East Africa)

Head coach

Hababuu Ali Omar

Most caps

Suleiman Selembe (32)

Top scorer

Abdallah Juma Ally (9)

Home stadium

Amaan Stadium

FIFA code

ZAN

First colours

Second colours

Elo ranking

Current

112

5 (3 March 2019)

Highest

90 (1947)

Lowest

171 (November 1992)

First international

Tanganyika 3–1 Zanzibar

(Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika; 18 September 1947)

Biggest win

Unofficial

Zanzibar 6–0 Raetia

(Arbil, Iraq; 4 June 2012)
Official

Zanzibar 4–0 Burundi

(Mumias, Kenya; 29 November 2009)

Biggest defeat

Kenya 10–0 Zanzibar

(Nairobi, Kenya; 4 October 1961)

VIVA World Cup

Appearances

1 (first in 2012)

Best result

Third place (2012)

CECAFA Cup

Appearances

58 (first in 1947)

Best result

Champions (1995)

FIFI Wild Cup/ELF Cup

Appearances

2 (first in 2006)

Best result

FIFI Wild Cup: Runners-up
(2006)
ELF Cup: Fourth place
(2006)

The Zanzibar national football team represents Zanzibar in international football and is controlled by the Zanzibar Football Federation.

History
Results and fixtures
Coaching history
Notable players
Records
- Most appearances
- Top goalscorers
Competition records
Honours
- Regional
- Non-FIFA competitions
See also

History

Zanzibar is not a member of FIFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. The island is part of the nation of Tanzania, which holds FIFA recognition at the international level. Prior to the union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika in 1964, Zanzibar was a fully independent member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), but never qualified for the African Nations Cup.

Zanzibar was a provisional member of the N.F.-Board. The team placed second in the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup tournament, losing 4–1 on penalties to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the final. For that tournament, they were coached by the German comedian Oliver Pocher.

Their U-20 team also played in the 2006 ELF Cup, finishing fourth of eight, winning one game (1–0 against Kyrgyzstan's national football team) and drawing twice (against Gagauzia and Greenland) before losing 5–0 to Northern Cyprus in the semifinal. They regularly play in the CECAFA Cup, which includes national teams from Central and East Africa, and in 1995 they became champions, winning the final match 1–0 against the host nation, Uganda.

In March 2017, Zanzibar were admitted to CAF, becoming its 55th member, only for their membership to be rescinded four months later, with CAF president Ahmad Ahmad claiming the region should never have been admitted as it is not a sovereign nation.

Results and fixtures

Friendly 27 December 2023	Tanzania	0–0	Zanzibar

Coaching history

Gheorghe Dungu (1972–1974)
Oliver Pocher (2005–2006)
Abdel-Fattah Abbas (2006–2008)
Souleymane Sané (2008–2011)
Stewart Hall (2010)
Hemed "Morocco" Suleiman (2017–2021)
Hababuu Ali Omar (2021–present)

Notable players

Ally Badru – played for El Qanah and Al Bashaer

Records

Players in bold are still active with Zanzibar.

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Suleiman Selembe	32	5	2009–present
2	Aggrey Morris	30	6	2004–2012
3	Nadir Haroub	28	1	2005–2015
4	Abdulghani Gulam Abdallah	18	1	2009–2012
4	Khamis Mcha Khamis	18	5	2007–2015
6	Ally Mwadini	17	0	2009–2015
7	Soud Abdallah Juma	14	1	2002–2007
7	Abdi Kassim	14	2	2002–2010
9	Abdallah Juma Ally	13	9	2002–2007
10	Issa Haidar Dau	11	0	2015–present
	Mwinyi Mngwali	11	0	2015–present
	Waziri Omar	11	0	2009–2013
	Nassor Said	11	0	2009–2013
	Mudathir Yahya	11	1	2015–present

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Abdallah Juma Ally	9	13	0.69	2002–2007
2	Aggrey Morris	6	30	0.2	2004–2012
3	Khamis Mcha Khamis	5	18	0.28	2007–2015
3	Suleiman Selembe	5	32	0.16	2009–present
5	Alek Mohammed	2	1	2	2006
	Ali Shiboli	2	2	1	2010
	Kassim Suleiman Khamis	2	3	0.67	2017–present
	Ahmed Ali Mkweche	2	4	0.5	2005–2007
	Khamis Mussa Makame	2	7	0.29	2017–present
	Salum Ussi	2	7	0.29	2002–2006
	Mohammed Juma	2	8	0.25	2017–present
	Abdulaziz Makame	2	9	0.22	2017–present
	Abdi Kassim	2	14	0.14	2002–2010

Competition records

CECAFA Cup

Zanzibar competed in the Gossage Cup from 1949 to 1967, when the competition was renamed to the East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup:

Gossage Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1947	Fourth Place	4th	1	0	0	1	1	3
1948	Third Place	3rd	1	0	0	1	1	3
1949	Fourth Place	4th	1	0	0	1	2	3
1950	Fourth Place	4th	1	0	0	1	0	4
1951	Third Place	3rd	1	0	0	1	0	1
1952	Third Place	3rd	2	1	0	1	4	8
1953	Third Place	3rd	1	0	0	1	1	5
1954	Fourth Place	4th	1	0	0	1	0	5
1955	Third Place	3rd	1	0	0	1	-	-
1956	Third Place	3rd	2	1	0	1	5	7
1957	Third Place	3rd	2	0	1	1	4	8
1958	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	1	2	3	8
1959	Runners-Up	2nd	3	1	1	1	3	7
1960	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	3	11
1961	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	1	15
1962	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	0	19
1963	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	1	5
1964	Fourth Place	4th	3	1	0	2	5	10
1965	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	2	12
1966	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	1	2	1	7
Total	Runners-up	20/37	41	4	4	33	37	141

East and Central African Senior Challenge Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1967	Third Place	3rd	3	1	0	2	3	8
1968	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	0	8
1969	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	0	3	1	12
1970	Third Place	3rd	3	1	0	2	4	5
1971	Fourth Place	4th	3	0	1	2	2	8
Total	Third place	5/5	15	2	1	12	10	41

CECAFA Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1973	Group stage	5th	2	0	0	2	0	6
1974	Third place	3rd	2	1	0	1	3	3
1975	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	1	7
1976	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	1	4
1977	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	1	4
1978	Did not enter
1979	Fourth place	4th	4	0	2	2	3	8
1980	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	2	5
1981	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	3	9
1982	Fourth place	4th	4	1	1	2	3	8
1983	Group stage	8th	3	0	1	2	3	6
1984	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	1	4
1985	Did not enter
1987	Fourth slace	4th	5	1	2	2	2	3
1988	Group stage	7th	3	1	0	2	1	3
1989	Group stage	6th	3	0	2	1	0	1
1990	Fourth place	4th	5	1	1	3	3	5
1991	Group stage	7th	3	0	0	3	4	7
1992	Group stage	8th	4	1	0	3	2	14
1994	Did not enter
1995	Champions	1st	5	3	1	1	5	4
1996	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	3	3
1999	Group stage	10th	2	0	1	1	1	3
2000	Did not enter
2001	Group stage	10th	2	0	0	2	0	8
2002	Group stage	7th	4	1	1	2	1	3
2003	Group stage	5th	2	0	1	1	2	6
2004	Group stage	7th	4	1	0	3	7	11
2005	Third place	3rd	6	3	2	1	7	6
2006	Group stage	9th	2	0	1	1	0	4
2007	Quarter-finals	7th	3	1	2	0	5	3
2008	Group stage	8th	4	1	1	2	3	5
2009	Third place	3rd	6	2	2	2	6	3
2010	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	2	1	4	3
2011	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	1	2	5	4
2012	Third place	3rd	6	1	4	1	5	6
2013	Group stage	9th	3	1	0	2	3	6
2015	Group stage	10th	3	1	0	2	3	6
2017	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	2	1	9	6
2019	Group stage	8th	3	0	1	2	1	3
Total	1 title	36/40	124	29	32	63	100	184

Africa Cup of Nations

In March 2017, Zanzibar were admitted to the Confederation of African Football, becoming eligible for the Africa Cup of Nations. The invitation was rescinded in July when FIFA rules forbade two teams from one nation.

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
African Cup of Nations
1957–1963	Did not enter
1965–2023	Ineligible

Non-FIFA tournaments

World tournaments

World tournaments record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
FIFI Wild Cup and ELF Cup
2006	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	1	1	7	6
2006	Fourth place	4th	5	1	3	1	5	9
VIVA World Cup
2006	Did not enter
2008
2009
2010
2012	Third Place	3rd	4	3	0	1	16	4
CONIFA World Football Cup
2014	Withdrew
2016	Did not enter
2018	Did not enter
Total	Third Place	3/10	13	6	4	3	28	19