Mozambicans are quite passionate about their sports; with a firm focus on soccer and to a lesser extent other sports. There are lots of opportunities for hobbies and recreational activities, but as these can be quite costly at times you will find most Mozambican’s aren’t able to partake. As with most other facets of this beautiful country, the lack infrastructure combined with the poverty levels have had a profound effect on the development of sports and hobbies through the entire land.
As a result of this, many of the most popular sports are those that don’t require much money to play.
Soccer
Soccer, sometimes known as football due to the Portuguese influence, is hugely popular in Mozambique as in other African nations. You will often come across both children and adults having an informal game whenever possible, especially on weekends. The structure for proper club soccer is not as good as in other countries due to infrastructure challenges, but there are still some professional clubs about. There is a lot of exchange between Portugal and Mozambique in soccer terms, with players and teams from each country regularly playing with and against each other.
Athletics
Athletics is a sport that is not a widely practiced as it should be, given the relative ease of getting involved. Mozambican does at times punch above its weight in this field of sport, having won a gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics proving that they can compete at the highest level.
Basketball
Unlike most other southern African nations, Basketball is a very popular sport in Mozambique. While being internationally recognized since 1978, the Mozambican national team has yet to win any notable championships. This of course hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm for the sport and it is still quite widespread.
Capoeira
The martial art sport of Capoeira is starting to take off in Mozambique, with the popularity growing at a rapid pace.
Stadiums
Stadiums and sporting facilities in Mozambique are in short supply, with some world class facilities recently being constructed with foreign investment. The outlying areas tend to have little to no facilities, while the soccer clubs seem to attract all the investment. The newest and best stadium is the Estadio do Zimpeto which was opened in 2011 and is able to seat up to 42,000 people. While being touted as a multi-use stadium, it is almost exclusively used for soccer matches.
Hobbies
The types of hobbies available in Mozambique are generally all of the physical, outdoor variety. The more popular hobbies include:
- Fishing: With a substantial coast line, Mozambique is well known for fishing. This takes the form of both subsistence and recreational fishing. The country is well known for game fishing and is largely unspoiled, making it a firm favorite with both local and international visitors.
- Watersports: Any sort of sport involving the water, whether it is sailing, diving or even just swimming, is quite popular due to the warm weather and water.
- Sand boarding: Being quite an easy sport to learn and not always needing lots of equipment, sand boarding is a relatively new hobby that is starting to become quite popular.
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