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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor

ZIMBABWE celebrates 40 years of Independence on Saturday and, while the Warriors are yet to qualify for the World Cup finals, the country’s footballers have made their mark on the global stage.

The closest the Warriors came to booking a place at the World Cup finals was in 1993, when they came within 90 minutes of qualifying for the ’94 tournament in the United States, only to lose 1-3 to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Yaounde.

They have only been to the AFCON finals four times, at an average of once every 10 years, and they have never qualified beyond the opening round group phase of the tournament.

However, the country’s footballers have made an impression, on the global football scene, during the same period and, for a small nation with a small population, their contribution has been significant.

Bruce Grobbelaar, who starred for the Dream Team that came within 90 minutes of qualifying for the ’94 World Cup, is the first African player to win Europe’s biggest inter-club football competition.

Peter Ndlovu, the former Warriors captain, is the first African footballer to play in the English Premiership, and the first African player to score a hattrick at Anfield against Liverpool.

But, it’s Grobbelaar, whose achievements stand out.

He is part of an exclusive club of African players to have won the European Champions Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League.

The club includes Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Naby Keita, Joel Matip, Abedi Pele, Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Geremi, Benni McCarthy, Seydou Keita, Yaya Toure, Samuel Eto’o, McDonald Mariga, Sulley Muntari, Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel, Salomon Kalou, Michael Essien and Achraf Hakimi.

Then known as the European Champions Cup, before its transformation into the UEFA Champions League, the tournament did not produce an African winner for the first 24 years of its existence.

Grobbelaar then blazed a trail by tasting glory in the colours of Liverpool in Rome in 1984.

Although striker Eusebio and midfielder Mario Coluna (both born in Mozambique), and the Angola-born duo midfielder Jose Aguas and forward Santana, were all part of the vintage Benfica side which won two European Champions Cup in 1960 and 1961, they are not considered as part of the African crew of internationals.

The quartet spent all their professional club, and international football careers, as Portuguese players and never represented their countries of birth.

That’s why Liberia’s George Weah is celebrated as the only African player to win the prestigious Ballon d’Or award, given to the best football player in the world each year, even though Eusebio picked the same award in 1965.

Born in Mozambique, Eusebio, known as the Black Pearl, established himself as one of the world’s best footballers in the colours of Benfica and Portugal, scoring 733 goals in 745 professional matches, and winning the European Cup in 1962 and ending on the losing side in the final in 1965, 1966 and 1968.

He was top-scorer in Europe in 1965, 1966 and 1967.

Coluna, who was known as the Sacred Monster, was also born in Ihaca in Mozambique but spent his entire professional football career in Portugal where he played for Benfica and the Portuguese national team, scoring 127 goals in the 525 matches he featured in as a goal-scoring midfielder.

He had a Portuguese father and a Mozambican mother.

Aguas left Luanda as a 20-year-old and became a free-scoring striker for Benfica, where he was nicknamed the Golden Head because of his prowess with his head, winning five Portuguese league titles, the Golden Boot five times and the European Cup twice in 1961 and 1962.

Santana was born in Lobito, Angola, but featured for Benfica and the Portuguese national team.

Grobbelaar’s success story in 1984 with Liverpool, when the Reds beat Roma in the final, is considered the first time an African footballer won the tournament.

He is also considered the first African to lose in the European Champions Cup in 1985.

‘‘First African player to win (or feature) in a European Champion Clubs’ Cup final — Bruce Grobbelaar (Zimbabwe, Liverpool FC, 1983/84,’’ UEFA said five years ago in the celebrations of 60th anniversary of the tournament.

‘‘First African player to lose a European Champion Clubs’ Cup final — Bruce Grobbelaar (Zimbabwe, Liverpool FC, 1984/85).

‘’First African player to score in a European Champion Clubs’ Cup final — Rabah Madjer (Algeria, FC Porto, 1986/87).

And, Grobbelaar, who won six English league titles with Liverpool, three FA Cup medals, three League Cup medals and five Charity Shield medals during 13 years at the Reds where he made 628 appearances, still remembers the events in Rome when his wobbly dance in the penalty shootout was key to victory.

“Going to play Roma in their own stadium was quite an experience,’’ he told UEFA.com. ‘‘When we got changed we were the first team in the tunnel.

“As we were waiting a while, we decided to sing a song, ‘I Don’t Know What It Is But I Love It,’ by Chris Rea, because (Graeme) Souness and Craig Johnston had come from Middlesbrough.

“When you walk out into a stadium like that, playing against the home team in a Cup final, the noise was deafening — unbelievable.

‘‘The game went to penalties after extra time. Bruno Conti comes up so I put my hands on my knees and crossed them over and he ballooned it over.

‘‘That’s when I thought to myself that this might work. Then comes Graziani marching towards goal, needing to score to equalise. I went into the net and pulled it with my teeth. I thought, ’I’m in Rome, the national dish is spaghetti, so I’ll do spaghetti legs.’

‘‘I went right and the ball clipped the bar. Kennedy was jumping up and down, but we were all ecstatic — one of the most magical feelings you could ever feel in your life. We went out for dinner with our wives in a nice big villa overlooking the city. It was absolutely magical.”