The national game of Namibia is Rugby. It was declared as the national sport in 2018. Football is another very popular sport, played at the top level in the Namibia Premier Football League. Their main governing body for football is known as the Namibia Football Association. The national football team, the Brave Warriors, have been part of the COSAFA Cup since 1998 and won it in 2015, but they have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Spectator sports are very popular in the country and some of the examples of those sports are boxing, rugby and golf.

Namibia have reached the Africa Cup of Nations four times, in 1998, 2008, 2019 and 2023. The 2023 finals in Ivory Coast were much their best: the Brave Warriors came through the group and reached the round of 16 for the first time, where Angola beat them 3–0. They did not qualify for the 2025 tournament in Morocco.

Boxing is also one of the most watched spectator sports in Namibia and this country can proudly say that they have many title-holders in this sport. Paulus Moses took the WBA lightweight title in 2009, and Julius Indongo went further still, holding the IBF, IBO and WBA light-welterweight belts at the same time in 2017 before losing them to Terence Crawford.

Rugby is also quite popular in the country. The national team is called the “Welwitschias”, named after the country’s national plant, and they won the IRB Nations Cup for the first time in 2010. They played at seven consecutive Rugby World Cups between 1999 and 2023, an impressive run for a country of Namibia’s size, although they have yet to win a match at the tournament. That run has now ended: beaten by Zimbabwe in the Rugby Africa Cup final in July 2025, they then fell short at the Final Qualification Tournament in Dubai that November, and so will miss the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Cricket has grown steadily. Namibia played at the 2003 Cricket World Cup and have since appeared at four men's T20 World Cups. Their best run came in 2021, when wins over the Netherlands and Ireland carried them into the Super 12 stage, and they beat Sri Lanka at the following tournament in 2022. In 2027 they will co-host the Cricket World Cup alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Golf is also very popular in Namibia, which has around 25 courses. A popular one is the Rossmund Desert Golf Course in Swakopmund, and the most successful golfer from Namibia is Trevor Dodds.

Considering the fact that Namibia has a relatively small population of around 3 million, they have performed quite well in the biggest sporting event in the world, the Olympic Games. Frank "Frankie" Fredericks took home four silver medals in Track and Field, two in 1992 and then again in 1996. Sprinter Christine Mboma added a fifth at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, taking silver in the women's 200m. A first Olympic gold still eludes the country.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Namibia. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Namibia

Namibia Sporting Success

  • Five Olympic silver medals – four for Frankie Fredericks in 1992 and 1996, and one for Christine Mboma in 2021.
  • Reached the round of 16 at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2023.
  • COSAFA Cup winners in 2015.
  • Seven consecutive Rugby World Cup appearances, from 1999 to 2023.
  • Winners of the IRB Nations Cup in 2010.
  • Reached the Super 12 stage of the men's T20 World Cup in 2021, beating the Netherlands and Ireland along the way.

Great athletes from Namibia

  • Frankie Fredericks (sprinter, athletics)
  • Christine Mboma (sprinter, athletics)
  • Julius Indongo (boxing)
  • Paulus Moses (boxing)
  • Japhet Uutoni (boxing)
  • Trevor Dodds (golf)
  • Rudie van Vuuren (rugby, cricket)
  • David Wiese (cricket)

Namibia Sports trivia

  • Until it gained independence from South Africa in 1990, players for Namibia were often eligible to represent South Africa in world sporting events.
  • Namibia have won five Olympic medals, all of them silver. Frankie Fredericks won four of them, and Christine Mboma became the country's first female Olympic medallist in Tokyo, 25 years after Fredericks' last.
  • Namibian Rudie van Vuuren appeared in both the cricket and rugby union World Cups in 2003.
  • Namibia played at seven Rugby World Cups in a row without ever winning a match.

Namibia at major events

Past sporting events hosted in Namibia

  • The men's and women's Hockey Junior Africa Cup, Windhoek, April 2025 – the Namibian men finished runners-up to South Africa.
  • The 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off, hosted in Windhoek.

Upcoming sporting events in Namibia

Annual sporting events held in Namibia

  • The Nedbank Desert Dash, a single-stage mountain bike race of around 369km from Windhoek to Swakopmund, held each December.

Sporting Facilities in Namibia

  • Independence Stadium in Windhoek (the home stadium for all national teams)
  • Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura
  • Rossmund Desert Golf Course