Lesotho national football team

Lesotho
Nickname(s)	Likuena (Crocodiles)
Association	Lesotho Football Association
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	COSAFA ; (Southern Africa)
Head coach	Thabo Senong
Most caps	Bushi Moletsane (53)
Top scorer	Refiloe Potse (9)
Home stadium	Setsoto Stadium
FIFA code	LES
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	143 (10 December 2020)
Highest	105 (August 2014)
Lowest	185 (August 2011)
First international
	Lesotho 2–1 Malawi ; (Malawi; 8 August 1970)
Biggest win
	Lesotho 5–0 Swaziland ; (Maseru, Lesotho; 14 April 2006)
Biggest defeat
	Zambia 9–0 Lesotho ; (Botswana; 8 August 1988)

The Lesotho national football team represents Lesotho in men's international football and is governed by the Lesotho Football Association. The team's nickname is (Likuena) Crocodiles. The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals and the Africa Cup of Nations finals in history. The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

History

The team played their first international match in 1970, a 2–1 victory against Malawi. They have not qualified for a FIFA World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations yet.

Their highest position in the FIFA World Ranking was 105th in August 2014.

Their biggest ever win was 5–0 against Swaziland in April 2006.

From 2004 to 2006, the German Antoine Hey coached the national side. The ambitious goal was the qualification for the 2010 World Cup in neighbouring South Africa. However, after one and a half years, Hey was dismissed for failing. The successor was the Serb Zavisa Milosavljevic, who was also dismissed in September 2009 and was replaced by Lesotho native Leslie Notši, who was previously the assistant coach of the national team. In 2014 Seephephe "Mochini" Matete trained the team, a former international. Moses Maliehe became the coach in 2016.

The biggest success of the national team was reaching the final of the 2000 COSAFA Cup. In 2005 the under-20 national team qualified for the 2005 African Youth Championship. They finished third place of Group B, with a win and two losses.

The nickname of the national team is Likuena (Sesotho for "the crocodiles").

Achievements

COSAFA Cup :

Runners-up: 2000

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1970	Part of United Kingdom								Part of United Kingdom
1974	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	1	6
1978	Did not enter								Did not enter
1982	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	2	4
1986	Withdrew								Withdrew
1990	Withdrew								Withdrew
1994	Did not enter								Did not enter
1998	Did not enter								Did not enter
2002	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	0	3
2006									2	0	1	1	1	4
2010									6	0	0	6	2	16
2014									8	2	3	3	7	17
2018									2	0	2	0	1	1
2022									2	0	2	0	1	1
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/22							26	2	10	14	15	55

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957 to 1963	Part of United Kingdom
1965 to 1972	Did not enter
1974	Did not qualify
1976	Withdrew
1978	Did not enter
1980 to 1982	Did not qualify
1984	Withdrew
1986	Did not enter
1988	Withdrew
1990 to 1992	Did not enter
1994	Did not qualify
1996	Withdrew during qualifying
1998	Banned for withdrawing in 1996
2000 to 2010	Did not qualify
2012	Did not enter
2013 to 2019	Did not qualify
2021	To be determined
2023	To be determined
2025	To be determined
Total		0/32

COSAFA Cup

COSAFA Cup record
Year	Rank	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1997	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1998	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1999	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2003	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2004	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2007	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2009	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2017	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2018	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0/19	-	-	-	-	-	-

Recent results and fixtures

2019

13 November 2019 2021 AFCONQ	Sierra Leone	1–1	Lesotho	Freetown, Sierra Leone
16:00 UTC±0	Quee 72'		Thabantso 90'	Stadium: National Stadium Attendance: 0

17 November 2019 2021 AFCONQ	Lesotho	2–4	Nigeria	Maseru, Lesotho
18:00 UTC+2	Masoabi 11' Awaziem 90' (o.g.)		Iwobi 26' Chukwueze 38' Osimhen 75', 85'	Stadium: Setsoto Stadium

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia on 4 and 8 September 2019.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Likano Mphuthing	22 December 1998	12	0	Lesotho Defence Force
16	GK	Lichaba Thabiso	16 June 1995	3	0	Bantu

2	DF	Motlomelo Mkhwanazi	5 November 1994	9	0	Bantu
3	DF	Basia Makepe	4 March 1991	37	1	Lesotho Mounted Police Service
4	DF	Rethabile Rasethuntsa	22 November 1994	2	0	Linare
14	DF	Rethabile Mokokoana	6 April 1998	0	0	Free agent
19	DF	Nkau Lerotholi	27 September 1990	54	2	Matlama

5	MF	Tshwarelo Bereng	30 October 1990	10	1	Black Leopards
6	MF	Lisema Lebokollane	24 February 1993	2	0	Matlama
7	MF	Hlompho Kalake	2 September 1994	42	2	Bantu
10	MF	Lehlohonolo Fothoane	23 February 1997	7	1	Bantu
11	MF	Tsoanelo Koetle	22 November 1992	48	2	Lioli
12	MF	Neo Mokhachane	22 September 1996	0	0	Bantu

8	FW	Tsepo Toloane	15 July 1997	13	0	Lesotho Defence Force
9	FW	Sera Motebang	1 May 1995	27	7	Bloemfontein Celtic
13	FW	Masoabi Nkoto	14 January 1992	18	1	Lioli
15	FW	Jane Thabantso	22 January 1996	46	5	Matlama
17	FW	Tsepo Seturumane	6 July 1992	32	8	Lioli
18	FW	Tumelo Khutlang	23 October 1995	28	2	Black Leopards

Managers

Kit Suppliers

Uhlsport (2000)
Umbro (2002 & 2006)
Uhlsport (2007)
Adidas (2008–2011)
Basutoland Ink (2012–2019)
Umbro (2019-)

International matches record

As of 17 November 2019 after match against Nigeria^[3]

Positive Record Neutral Record Negative Record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	2	0	0	2	1	9	−8
Angola	8	1	1	6	4	16	−12
Botswana	30	5	11	14	23	35	−12
Burkina Faso	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
Burundi	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1
Cameroon	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1
Cape Verde	2	0	2	0	1	1	0
Comoros	5	2	2	1	3	3	0
DR Congo	7	0	4	3	4	17	−13
Ethiopia	4	0	2	2	3	5	−2
Gabon	4	0	1	3	3	10	−7
Gambia	2	1	0	1	1	6	−5
Ghana	7	0	1	6	7	23	−16
Guinea	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2
Kenya	8	1	4	3	6	10	−4
Laos	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Liberia	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1
Libya	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5
Madagascar	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1
Malawi	20	3	4	13	12	43	−31
Malaysia	1	0	0	1	0	5	−5
Mauritius	14	6	3	5	23	22	+1
Mozambique	22	3	7	12	9	31	−22
Myanmar	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Namibia	11	3	4	4	12	12	0
Niger	2	1	0	1	3	3	0
Nigeria	3	0	0	3	2	7	−5
São Tomé and Príncipe	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1
Senegal	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
Seychelles	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1
Sierra Leone	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
South Africa	13	2	4	7	10	22	−12
Sudan	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2
Swaziland	40	12	13	15	41	46	−5
Tanzania	5	2	2	1	4	5	−1
Uganda	5	0	2	3	0	8	−8
Zambia	14	0	6	8	7	36	−29
Zimbabwe	24	2	7	15	23	54	−31
Total	279	51	85	143	224	464	−240

References

^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
^ "World Football Elo Ratings: Lesotho". Elo Ratings. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-2] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.

[3] "World Football Elo Ratings: Lesotho". Elo Ratings. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[1]

[3]