Lesotho national football team

The Lesotho national football team, also known as LNFT, represents Lesotho in men's international association football and is governed by the Lesotho Football Association.

History
Following Lesotho's independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, the Lesotho Football Association was created, and later, the Lesotho national football team, which played its first match on 7 August 1970 against Malawi, where Lesotho won 2-1.

Lesotho participated in its first World Cup qualifiers, for the 1974 tournament, drawing 0–0 against Zambia at home before losing 1–6 in the second leg and getting eliminated. Lesotho was also eliminated in the first round of qualifying for the 1974 AFCON, losing 1–5 to Mauritius after a 0–0 draw in the first leg. Lesotho faced Mauritius again in their next attempt to qualify for 1980 AFCON, losing on away goals. In qualifying for the 1982 tournament, Lesotho lost 3–7 on aggregate to Mozambique. Lesotho then faced Guinea in the 1982 World Cup first qualification round, losing 4–2 on aggregate.

Lesotho won their first ever qualification tie during the 1994 AFCON qualifiers, beating Botswana 4–0 on aggregate, with all four goals coming in the second leg in Botswana. With this victory they entered the group stage of qualifying, managing to draw against Kenya (2–2), Zaire (1–1), and Mozambique (1–1) at home, but losing all three away fixtures to finish bottom of the group.

Lesotho withdrew from the 1996 AFCON qualification and was subsequently banned from the next tournament therefore next entered the 2000 AFCON qualifiers, losing in the first round to Mauritius. Lesotho qualified for the 1999 COSAFA Cup after beating Namibia 1–0, but lost to eventual winners Angola 0–1 in the quarter-finals. The following year Lesotho produced their best ever finish at the 2000 COSAFA Cup, only qualifying for the tournament via disciplinary record. They beat Zambia 3–1 on penalties before scoring two late goals against Angola in the semi-finals to win 2–1. In the final they lost 3–0 twice across two legs to Zimbabwe to finish as runners-up.

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

Managers

 * Caretaker manager are listed in italics.


 * April Phumo (1979–1995)
 * Lefa Ramakau (2000–??)
 * Monaheng Monyane (2003–2004)
 * 🇩🇪 Antoine Hey (2004–2006)
 * Motheo Mohapi (2006–2007)
 * 🇷🇸 Zaviša Milosavljević (2007–2009)
 * Leslie Notši (2009)
 * Leslie Notši (2011–2013)
 * Adam Siddorn (2013)
 * Seephephe Matete (2014–2015)
 * Moses Maliehe (2015–2019)
 * Mpitsa Marai (2019)
 * Thabo Senong (2019–2021)
 * Leslie Notši (2021–2022)
 * 🇷🇸 Veselin Jelušić (2022–2023)
 * Leslie Notši (2023)
 * 🇷🇸 Veselin Jelušić (2024)
 * Leslie Notsi (2024-present)

Current squad
The following players were selected for the 2024 COSAFA Cup.

Caps and goals correct as of 28 June 2024, after the match against Seychelles.

Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Lesotho squad within the last twelve months.

INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Player records

 * Players in bold are still active with Lesotho.

Head-to-head record
As of 3 July 2024 after match against 

Kit suppliers

 * 🇩🇪 Uhlsport (2000)
 * 🇬🇧 Umbro (2002, 2006)
 * 🇩🇪 Uhlsport (2007)
 * 🇩🇪 Adidas (2008–2011)
 * 🇱🇸 Basutoland Ink (2012–2019)
 * 🇬🇧 Umbro (2019–)