Football serves as a powerful medium for shaping identities and fostering belonging across local, national, and transnational communities. In Zimba-bwe, Highlanders Football Club (FC), founded in 1926 by descendants of the founding King, Mzilikazi ka Matshobana, represents more than a sports institution; it embodies historical, ethnic, and political narratives that transcend the game. Using the Social Identity Theory, this study examines how Highlanders fosters a sense of belonging and cultural expression, particularly among the Ndebele people, within Zimbabwe’s broader socio-political context. The study employed a qualitative approach where in-depth interviews were carried out with former and current players, administration and supporters of Highlanders FC. Stadium ethnography was also used to explore the matchday mood, songs and expressions of identity and belonging. The study found that for a Highlanders FC supporter, to go to Barbourfields stadium was a renaissance of Historical Resistance and Ethnic Pride. The songs and matchday activities are performed as identity rituals which rekindle collective memories of belonging to the Ndebele State. Collectively, these becoming acts of affirmation and resistance work together to strengthen the sense of Ndebele belonging and identity amongst the supporters of Highlanders FC.
Cite this paper
Sibanda, B. M. (2026). Football, Identity, and Belonging: The Case of Highlanders Football Club and the Ndebele People in Zimbabwe. Open Access Library Journal, 13, e14975. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1114975.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. (2010) Do ‘Zimbabweans’ Ex-ist? Trajectories of Nationalism, National Identity Formation and Crisis in a Postcolonial State. Peter Lang UK. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0353-0253-0
Nhongo, T. and Tshotsho, B. (2022) Joshua Nkomo and the Making of Highlanders Football Club: A His-torical Analysis. Zimbabwean Journal of Historical Studies, 5, 45-60.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. (2009) Nation Building in Zimbabwe and the Challenges of Ndebele Particularism. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 8, 27-56. https://doi.org/10.4314/ajcr.v8i3.39430
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) and Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) (1997) Break-ing the Silence, Building True Peace: A Report on the Disturbances in Matabe-leland and the Midlands, 1980-1988. CCJP & LRF.
Eppel, S. (2004) “Gukurahundi”: The Need for Truth and Reparation. In: Raftopoulos, B. and Savage, T., Eds., Zimbabwe: Injustice and Political Reconciliation, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, 43-62.
Muzondidya, J. (2009) From Buoyancy to Crisis, 1980-1997. In: Raftopoulos, B. and Mlambo, A., Eds., Becoming Zimbabwe. A History from the Pre-Colonial Period to 2008, Weaver Press, 167-200. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvk3gmpr.14
Ncube, L. (2014) The Interface between Football and Ethnic Identity Discourses in Zimbabwe. Critical African Studies, 6, 192-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2014.951153
Guzura, T. and Ndimande, J. (2015) The Politics of Football in Zimbabwe: A Critical Analy-sis of the Dynamos-Highlanders Rivalry. African Journal of History and Culture, 7, 118-125.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S.J. (2013) The Entrapment of Africa within the Global Colonial Matrices of Power. Journal of Developing Societies, 29, 331-353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796x13503195
Giulianotti, R. and Robertson, R. (2007) Recovering the Social: Globalization, Football and Transnationalism. Global Networks, 7, 166-186. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2007.00163.x
Duke, V. and Crolley, L. (2014) Football and Identity in Spain: The Case of Barcelona. In: March, H., Ed., Spain in the Twenty-First Century, Routledge, 145-162.
Alabarces, P. (2021) Football and Patria: Sport, Nationalism and Masculinities. In: Maguire, J., Liston, K. and Falcous, M., Eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization and Sport, Palgrave Macmillan, 123-140.
Ncube, L. (2021) Intersections of Nativism and Football Fandom in Zimbabwean Online Spaces. Sport in Society, 26, 88-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2021.1973433
Turner, J.C. and Reynolds, K.J. (2010) The Story of Social Identity. In: Postmes, T. and Brans-combe, N.R., Eds., Rediscovering Social Identity: Core Sources, Psychology Press, 13-32.
Abrams, D. and Hogg, M.A. (2010) Social Identity and Self-Categorization. In: Dovidio, J.F., Hewstone, M., Glick, P. and Esses, V.M., Eds., The SAGE Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination, SAGE Publications Ltd, 179-193. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446200919.n11
Tajfel, H. (1982) Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Annual Review of Psychology, 33, 1-39. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.33.020182.000245
Hornsey, M.J. (2008) Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory: A Historical Re-view. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 204-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00066.x
Hogg, M.A. (2018) Social Identity Theory. In: Sibley, C.G. and Barlow, F.K., Eds., The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice, Cambridge University Press, 112-132.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J.C. (1979) An Integrative Theory of In-tergroup Conflict. In: Austin, W.G. and Worchel, S., Eds., The Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, Brooks/Cole, 33-47.
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2019) Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11, 589-597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806
Maseko, B. and Siz-iba, L. (2025) Violence, Memory and Resistance in Selected Highlanders FC Supporters’ Songs. Critical Arts, 39, 182-201. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2025.2484446
Ranger, T. (2004) Nationalist Historiography, Patriotic History and the History of the Nation: The Struggle over the Past in Zimbabwe. Journal of Southern African Studies, 30, 215-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305707042000215338
Spivak, G.C. (1988) Can the Subaltern Speak? In: Nel-son, C. and Grossberg, L., Eds., Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, Macmillan Education, 271-313.
Muzondidya, J. (2010) The Zimbabwean Crisis and the Unresolved Conundrum of Race in the Post-Colonial Period. Journal of Developing Societies, 26, 5-38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796x1002600102
Ncube, L. (2017) ‘Highlander Ithimu Yezwe Lonke!’: Intersections of Highlanders FC Fandom and Ndebele Ethnic Nationalism in Zimbabwe. Sport in Society, 21, 1364-1381. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2017.1388788
