Botswana national football team

It took part in its first preliminary competition for the 1994 World Cup in the United States, where it faced Niger and Ivory Coast. It managed a 0–0 draw with the latter in Gaborone, and lost its other 3 matches, finishing last in its group.

The next competition it entered was for the 2002 World Cup, where it faced Zambia in a 2-legged tie to decide which team would advance to the group stages. Zambia won both legs of the tie to qualify and knock Botswana out.

After this, Botswana lost 3–0 to Zambia and to second-string sides from South Africa and Zimbabwe at home in Gaborone. A draw with Madagascar which was ranked at 146th in the world at the time, led Botswana FA to sack manager Colwyn Rowe, who lead Botswana to its then-highest ever FIFA ranking of 95th. BFA claimed this move was taken because it feared for his safety from angry fans. Stanley Tshosane was named as his replacement and in his first game in charge, Botswana achieved a 2–1 win away to Mozambique. While achieving a draw with Ivory Coast, Botswana finished bottom of its qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Botswana defied its ranking to become the first team to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, beating Tunisia both at home and away. This coincided with a rise to its highest ever FIFA ranking of 53rd. It did not manage to build upon this upturn in form at the tournament, losing more narrowly to Ghana and Mali and more heavily to Guinea to finish bottom of its group with 0 points.

The truncated qualification format for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations saw Botswana face Mali in a two-legged tie, which Botswana lost 7–1 on aggregate. Botswana failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, finishing third in its group with 7 points behind South Africa and Ethiopia.

In October 2013, BFA sacked Tshosane, citing his "failing to meet the targets set for him". It subsequently appointed Englishman Peter Butler in February 2014.

Beating Burundi and Guinea-Bissau in the knockout rounds, it finished last in its qualifying group for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations with a single point. In its qualifying group for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, it finished third - 7 points behind qualifiers Burkina Faso and Uganda. In the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, it beat Eritrea in the first round and won 2–1 at home against Mali in the first leg of the second round. A 2–0 win for Mali in Bamako meant that Botswana lost on aggregate and failed to make the group stages.

In July 2017, David Bright became manager of the Zebras for the 4th time after BFA chose not to renew Butler's contract. He led the team during qualifiers for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, in which Botswana scored only 1 goal in its 6 Group I matches.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2022

Angola  v  Botswana

17 November Friendly	Angola	1–0	Botswana	Johannesburg, South Africa
	Jô Paciencia 42'			Stadium: Dobsonville Stadium

2023

Equatorial Guinea  v  Botswana

24 March 2023 AFCON qualification	Equatorial Guinea	2–0	Botswana	Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
20:00 UTC+1	Coco 20' Bikoro 66'	Report		Stadium: Estadio de Malabo Referee: Adalbert Diouf (Senegal)

Botswana  v  Equatorial Guinea

28 March 2023 AFCON qualification	Botswana	2–3	Equatorial Guinea	Francistown, Botswana
15:00 UTC+2	Elias 28' Seakanyeng 66' (pen.)	Report	Nsue 13' Ditsele 40' (o.g.) Salvador 51'	Stadium: Francistown Stadium Referee: Mohamed Diraneh Guedi (Djibouti)

Botswana  v  Libya

17 June 2023 AFCON qualification	Botswana	1–0	Libya	Francistown, Botswana
18:00 UTC+2	Mohutsiwa 45'	Report		Stadium: Francistown Stadium Referee: Samuel Uwikunda (Rwanda)

Eswatini  v  Botswana

5 July 2023 COSAFA Cup	Eswatini	0–1	Botswana	Durban
15:00		Report	Ditsele 23'	Stadium: King Zwelithini Stadium

South Africa  v  Botswana

8 July 2023 COSAFA Cup	South Africa	2–1	Botswana	Durban
15:00	Rayners 66' (pen.) Mogaila 68'	Report	Kgamanyane 63'	Stadium: King Zwelithini Stadium

Namibia  v  Botswana

11 July 2023 COSAFA Cup	Namibia	0–0	Botswana	Durban
18:00		Report		Stadium: Chatsworth Stadium

Tunisia  v  Botswana

7 September 2023 AFCON qualification	Tunisia	3–0	Botswana	Radès, Tunisia
20:00 UTC+1	Velaphi 60' (o.g.) Msakni 82', 90+3'	Report		Stadium: Stade Hammadi Agrebi Referee: Issa Sy (Senegal)

Botswana  v  Zimbabwe

30 September Friendly

Botswana

1–1

Zimbabwe

Botswana  v  Eswatini

16 October Friendly

Botswana

2–1

Eswatini

Botswana  v  Mozambique

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Botswana

v

Mozambique

Botswana  v  Guinea

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Botswana

v

Guinea

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

As of 11 July 2023[4]

Players in bold are still active with Botswana.

As of 18 November 2019 after match against  Algeria[5]

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Angola	12	1	6	5	5	13	−8
Burkina Faso	6	2	1	3	3	7	−4
Burundi	4	2	1	1	2	1	+1
Central African Republic	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1
Cameroon	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Chad	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2
China	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5
Comoros	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
DR Congo	5	0	3	2	0	4	−4
Egypt	6	0	2	4	1	7	−6
Equatorial Guinea	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Eritrea	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
Ethiopia	4	2	0	2	7	4	+3
Gabon	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Ghana	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1
Guinea	5	0	0	5	2	18	−16
Guinea-Bissau	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2
Iran	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Iraq	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Ivory Coast	4	0	2	2	1	11	−10
Kenya	7	3	0	4	7	10	−3
Lesotho	30	14	11	5	35	23	+12
Liberia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Libya	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1
Madagascar	6	2	1	3	4	5	−1
Malawi	25	5	8	12	21	47	−26
Mali	7	1	0	6	5	19	−14
Mauritania	4	1	0	3	3	8	−5
Mauritius	3	1	1	1	6	1	+5
Morocco	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2
Mozambique	21	4	4	13	15	31	−16
Namibia	19	7	10	2	19	18	+1
New Zealand	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Niger	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2
Nigeria	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Senegal	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5
Seychelles	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6
South Africa	15	0	5	10	8	25	−17
South Sudan	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Swaziland	23	12	6	5	36	21	+15
Sweden	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Tanzania	5	1	2	2	7	9	−2
Togo	2	1	0	1	2	2	0
Trinidad and Tobago	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Tunisia	6	2	1	3	5	9	−4
Uganda	5	0	2	3	2	7	−5
Zambia	22	3	6	13	8	34	−26
Zimbabwe	17	4	4	9	8	21	−13
Total	303	80	82	141	245	388	−143

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Botswana national football team.

• Botswana FA site
• Botswana at CAF
• Botswana at FIFA