Bundesliga at AFCON | Zimbabwe and Mozambique previews | OneFootball

The next edition of our Get German Football News “Bundesliga at AFCON” preview sections takes a look at two countries one might not even think have German professional footballing representation: Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Down the Bantu coast we head to examine these two bordering nations. With Egypt’s Omar Marmoush now off plying his trade on the Isle, Zimbabwe remain Germany’s lone representative in Group B. Angola’s Sable Antelopes and South Africa’s Bafana don’t have a German profile on the roster.

The Mozambican Mambas find themselves in the more crowded Group F set that all include’s Pierre Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabonese Panthers, Germany World Cup group-mates Cote d’ivoire, and the adopted team of many Germans (for historical reasons) Cameroon. In both cases here, we’re examining the lowest ranked teams in the group. Naturally, that doesn’t mean we won’t necessarily witness a sensation. Every 24-nation AFCON since the field was expanded in 2019 has supplied wonderful cinderella stories. 

Zimbabwe: “The Warriors”

The political situation in this country never rendered it easy for neutrals to root for it. The Hitler-mustachioed tyrannical reign on Robert Mugabe left few interested in touching Zimbabwe for years. From a human rights perspective, matters remain troubled even after the 2017 coup. Some football fans also found themselves disturbed by the fact that (oddly enough) Zimbabwe was often represented by white colonists in international sporting competitions. This somehow transpired despite Mugabe’s endless draconian re-possession policies and essentially just confirmed how hypocritical and corrupt the regime was. 

Germans, as everyone knows, don’t care to separate principled politics from their football. If one wants to be an African football fan, however, one simply has no choice but to do so to a certain extent. As noted in the Morocco section, the AFCON has been repeatedly moved for distasteful political reasons. Coups (as in the case of Angola and Burkina Faso) routinely take place in the middle of the tournament. There have been fatal stadium crushes and horrible instances of domestic terrorism claiming lives of teams and fans. Tragedy doesn’t pause merely because football is being played.

What can one say? Life never has been a fairy tale. There’s also what’s known as “the eternal footballing paradox”. Football can be both totally trivial and immensely important at the same time. The presence of the joyful and beautiful global game amid all the misery and suffering in the world remains absolutely necessary for so many passing through life’s sad vale of tears. Those of us who have had the great privilege of attending live football matches in Africa and the AFCON know this. The colors, songs, dances, and celebration serve to distract from the suffering for a little while.

Sometimes, one must insist on enjoying life!  Zimbabwe served their 2023 suspension and are back. With that firmly in mind, the author did promise awesome Zimbabwean footballing names in a previous installment. We’ll now get to that. Many of the actual dynamite names from the 2017, 2019, and 2021 tournament squads are back! Knowledge Musona, Marvelous Nakamba, Godknows Murira, Divine Lunga, Teenage Hadebe, Prince Dube and Elvis Chipezeze are all still here! The best new addition, by far, is Prosper Padera 

Actual names from previous tourneys:

Temptation Chiwunga, Never Tigere, Talent Chawapiwa, Knox Mutizwa, Hardlife Zvirekwi, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Energy Murambadoro, Gilbert Mushangazhike, Vitalis Takwira, Shacky Tauro.

Magic!

Notes on Zimbabwean Football in Germany

The former Southern Rhodesia obviously maintains stronger British links and, for the most part, those Zimbabwean footballers who left to play abroad mostly worked on the Isle. Legendary skipper Knowledge Musona did play for Hoffenheim for a season and also worked on loan at Augsburg. He still didn’t see all that much action at either station and never scored a Bundesliga goal. Before finally catching on in Belgium, Hoffenheim loaned him back out to his old club Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa. Germans remember this as it wasn’t the type of loan transaction one reads about on a typical day.

Like many of African counties, Zimbabwe have been coached by several German national team trainers. Michael Nees (of Rwandan, Israel, and Kosovo fame) was the most recent one. He actually just got sacked last month. While the author just got finished ranting about how he hates how German coaches routinely screw up African football programs in the previous post, there were actually a couple of good ones in charge here. There was the highly intriguing case of Klaus Dieter Pagels, who went to the country to teach school and promote football before eventually being thrust into the role of national team coach.

Pagels and another German Zimbabwean national team trainer by the name of Reinhard Fabisch were both married to Zimbabwean women and genuinely cared about public work projects in Africa. Fabisch became something of a cult figure as he worked with the national team for six years and sired a son with a Zimbabwean track-and-field athlete of Shona heritage. Fabisch came the closest of any other Zimbabwean head coach to leading the national team to the World Cup, something they still haven’t managed, in 1994. 

That brings us to…

Bundesliga AFCON Representatives, Zimbabwe

Jonah Fabisch, Erzgebirge Aue

After leaving the Zimbabwe appointment in 1996, Fabisch proceeded to trot all over the globe in multiple other national team and club coaching appointments. His son Jonah was born in Nairobi in 2001 during Reinhard’s second stint in charge of the Kenyan national team. Shortly after Fabisch resigned from his job with Benin in 2008, Fabisch unfortunately succumbed to cancer and died at the age of 57. Plenty of glowing eulogies and tributes popped up in the all the African countries in which Fabisch worked. Fabisch’s widow and eight-year-old-son settled down in the Hamburg area after his death. 

Jonah ended up joining the Hamburger SV academy a few years later. By the time he turned 17, he was already playing in the “A-Jugend”. HSV trainers such as Dieter Hecking and Daniel Thioune spotted his talents as a versatile midfielder and had him training with the first team before too long. Jonah nevertheless remained a German fourth division player for the HSV and later the 1. FC Magdeburg reserves until making the switch to 3. Liga outfit Aue ahead of the 2024/25 campaign. Since the turn of the 2025 calendar year, he’s earned five Zimbabwean caps. 

Jonah – thanks to an injury to Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Marshall Munetsi – might end up playing a very important leadership role in this tournament. The now 24-year-old isn’t exactly on course to become a household name in his club career, but can forever be enshrined as a legend just like his father. Zimbabwe have NEVER advanced past the group phase in the five AFCONs at which they’ve participated. If they do, a son who barely got a chance to know his father could resurrect the “Fabisch Boys” moniker his papa once worked tirelessly to create. 

Cool story. 

Sometimes, one has to put politics aside.

Mozambique: “The Mambas”

The “Mambas” return for their second consecutive AFCON. So too does another great story from 2023. Career amateur striker Stanley Ratifo returns! Ratifo captured German intrigue last time around. Ratifo’s spectacular tale involved him traveling from German fifth division side 1. CfR Pforzheim to leading the Mozambican line in front of packed stadiums in Cote d’Ivoire. For south Germans in particular this was kind of funny as the town of Pforzheim (a little like Bielefeld up north) happens to be the butt of jokes whenever parlance calls for an example of a town that’s a bit of a nondescript dump. 

Sadly, Ratifo didn’t do too well in the previous competition and the reputation of Pforzheim ultimately wasn’t enhanced. Like Zimbabwe, Mozambique have never gotten out of the group in five AFCONS. It’s been rather embarrassing for this continental nation to watch oceanic neighbors like Madagascar and Comoros reach the knockout stages whilst they still can’t get past the post. East African coastal nations continue to really struggle on the international. They wait for their generational tale whilst counties literally everywhere else on the continent receive at least one “Cinderella Story”. 

Notes on Mamba Football in Germany

The author racked and racked his footballing memory to try and think of someone besides Ratifo, but it simply wouldn’t surface. The “mind-melt” of attempting to separate Portuguese names can also be as trying as keeping the Malian ones straight. Historically, Mozambique produced plenty of cool names (Tico-Tico, Whiskey, and Dario Khan) in their own right. There still weren’t;t any German professional footballers as far as this chronicler can remember. Yes, there was a forgettable German trainer in charge at one point. No, he didn’t do well. 

Bundesliga AFCON Representatives, Mozambique

Stanley Ratifo, Chemie Leipzig

Now 31-years-of-age, Ratifo is back in his native East Germany and has jumped up from the fifth tier of German football to the fourth. Since the disappointing 2023 AFCON, the Leipzig-native also scored six more goals for country. Ratifo – having gotten the hell out of Pforzheim – might be ready for prime time this year. One problem concerns the fact that the competitive striker field that pushed him out last time (Witi, Clesio, and Geny Catomo) are still around. It remains worth looking in to see what’s going on with this tale.

GGFN | Peter Weis