Afcon 2023: Born in Namibia, raised in Manchester, Ryan Nyambe is hungry for more success

Namibia’s win over Tunisia in the Africa Cup Nations was the shock of the tournament so far. Tunisia are ranked 28th in the world, the third highest in Africa. Namibia, from a country of only two million, are ranked 115th.

Namibia hasn’t even had a functioning domestic league for most of the past five years because of a long-running dispute between clubs and the football association. The national team doesn’t play home games in the country, but in neighbouring South Africa, such is the poor state of stadiums.

Yet Namibia, who gained independence from South Africa in 1990, defeated Tunisia 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to an 88th-minute winner in a game they deserved to win. It was their first ever victory in the Cup of Nations in their fourth appearance at the tournament. The "Brave Warriors", as they are known, had lost seven and drawn two of their nine previous Afcon matches.

“It was a surprise to the rest of the world, if you think that Tunisia have played in World Cup finals and they beat France in the last World Cup,” Namibia’s right back Ryan Nyambe told The National from the team hotel in the Ivory Coast, where the tournament is being staged.

“But not to us. We’ve got a good team, a great team spirit. We beat Cameroon during qualification for the tournament. We drew against Ghana a couple of weeks ago in a friendly. And we were the better team against Tunisia.”

Nyambe plays his club football for Derby County in England, the country he has called home since he arrived aged nine.

“I was born in Namibia in a town a 16-hour drive from the capital, Windhoek,” Nyambe explained. “When I was eight my mum moved to Manchester in search of better opportunities for the family. She worked as a carer. She sent us a picture of her in