Three Pakistani Super League Players Included in Zimbabwe Squad for Matches Against Rwanda and Nigeria

The Zimbabwean national team have called up three PSL stars – Washington Arubi and Terrence Dzvukamanja – both of SuperSport United, and Mamelodi Sundowns left-back Divine Lunga for their upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Lunga’s fitness could be under scrutiny as he has not played a single minute for Sundowns in 2023/24, after being recalled from his loan stint with Golden Arrows last season.

Others called up in the squad include former Orlando Pirates enforcer Marshall Munetsi, who is starring at his club Stade de Reims in France. Another familiar face is former Kaizer Chiefs defender Teenage hadebe, who now plays for Houton Dynamo in the Major League Soccer.

Prince Dube, who had an unsuccessful stint with SuperSport in the past, is also in the squad that was called by the 71-year-old Brazilian international coach Baltermar Brito.

Brito was appointed in September and his side are in the same group as Bafana Bafana in the CAF Zone FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers that are this week.

The Warriors will visit Rwanda on 15 November before hosting the Super Eagles of Nigeria four days later. They will also play against Lesotho, Bafana Bafana and Benin in Group C.  

The last time Zimbabwe played an official match was at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon last year, when they beat Guinea 2-1, before they were banned by FIFA from all football-related due to infighting within the ZIFA.

They were also drawn in the same group as Bafana for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, but it was narrowed to three nations – Morocco and Liberia alongside SA as they couldn’t overturn the ban.

Zimbabwe had lost four of their six World Cup qualifiers through various formats until CAF changed this qualifying format to groups, with the World Cup in 2026 expanded to 48 teams, giving Africa nine automatic spots in the tournament that will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.    

Only the winner of each group of nine will go through and the four best runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the sole CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs. A total of three games will be played to determine the sole representative to make it possible for 10 nations from Africa to qualify for the World Cup.