Collin Benjamin (born 3 August 1978) is a Namibian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the head coach of the

Namibia national football team The Namibia national football team represents Namibia in men's international football and is controlled by the Namibia Football Association. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup but have made four appearances in the Africa Cup of ...

. He spent most of his professional career with

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

while representing

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

at international level. Benjamin represented Namibia at the

2008 African Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated with the Confeder ...

, earning 32 caps; he captained the team for several years. Benjamin was known for his speed and was mainly used for wing play as a defender. He was named as the head coach of the Namibia national team in June 2022, succeeding Bobby Samaria. After his 10 years at Hamburg Benjamin ended his playing career in Germany at 1860 Munich, where he then spent time in the club's coaching set-up. Benjamin, who won 41 caps for Namibia and captained his country, said he was up to the "daunting" challenge of coaching the Brave Warriors - but would require "resources to accomplish the task ahead" of him. Namibia began their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a 1–1 draw against Burundi in neutral Johannesburg earlier in June 2022. In 2024, Benjamin led Namibia Brave warriors to its first victory record and reaching round of 16 after 26 years in the AFCON 2023 Cup of Nation in the Ivory Coast.

Honours

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German association football, football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five t ...

winner: 2003 Aside from representing Hamburg and 1860 Munich during his active days, Benjamin remains the only Namibian to play in the Uefa Champions League.

Managerial statistics

As of 10 June 2025 Note: win or lose by penalty shoot-out is counted as the draw in time.

References

External links

* 1978 births Living people Footballers from Windhoek Namibian football managers Men's association football midfielders Namibia men's international footballers 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Bucks Buccaneers FC players Hamburger SV players Hamburger SV II players TSV 1860 Munich players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Namibia national football team managers Namibian expatriate men's footballers Namibian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Namibian men's footballers 2023 Africa Cup of Nations managers {{Namibia-footy-bio-stub