Lesotho Football Association

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lesotho Football Association
COSAFA affiliation
1997
PresidentSalemane Phafane[2]
Websitehttp://lesothofootball.com/

The Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) is the governing body of association football in Lesotho, a landlocked country in Southern Africa.[3] It was formed in 1932 and it is based in the city of Maseru.[4] The board helps run the Lesotho national football team as well as domestic competitions such as the Lesotho Premier League, the Lesotho Independence Cup and the Vodacom Soccer Spectacular.[3]

History

Despite been formed in 1932, the Lesotho Football Association did not gain membership of

Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) which acts as an association of football associations for Southern African countries.[7] Lesotho joined COSAFA in 1997 which is the year COSAFA was formed.[7] COSAFA organises the COSAFA Cup, a competition Lesotho has finished runner-up in once.[8]

LEFA runs the Lesotho national football team, whose first international match was a 2–1 win against Malawi in 1970.[9] The Lesotho national team has never qualified for an Africa Cup of Nations or a World Cup but they have competed in multiple COSAFA Cups with the first being the 1999 edition.[10][11] The national team reached the final of the 2000 COSAFA Cup but lost 6–0 on aggregate to Zimbabwe.[12] LEFA also helps in the running of the Lesotho women's national football team.[3][13] They played their first international match in 1998 and have since competed in the COSAFA Women's Championship on two occasions.[14][15] In Lesotho, the Lesotho Premier League is the top domestic football league.[3] The winner of the league qualifies for the CAF Champions League.[16] As of October 2016 the president of LEFA is Salemane Phafane.[3] In February 2022, Lesotho Football Association appointed former Angola and Botswana boss Veselin Jelusic as their new coach.[17]

References

  1. Ethiopian Herald
    . 30 November 1963.
  2. ^ "Advocate Phafane re-elected LeFA President - Lesotho Football Association". 11 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Lesotho Football Association". FIFA. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Asociaciones D – J (Djibouti – Lesotho)" (in Spanish). El-Area. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  5. Ethiopian Herald
    . 30 November 1963.
  6. ^ "Confederation of African Football". Confederation of African Football]. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  7. ^ .
  8. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
    .
  9. ^ "Lesotho – Matches". FIFA. Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  10. ^ "COSAFA Cup 1999". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  11. ^ "International Friendly Games - LEFA". azscore.ng. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  12. ^ "COSAFA Cup 2000". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  13. ^ Thuseho, Leemisa (2022-04-20). "Lesotho: Lefa Invests in Women's Football". allAfrica.com. Retrieved 2022-12-14.
  14. ^ "Lesotho Women – Matches". FIFA. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  15. ^ "COSAFA Women Tournaments". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  16. ^ "CAF 5-Year Ranking". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  17. ^ "Lesotho appoint Serbian Jelusic as coach". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-12-14.