Bobby Samaria (born 21 February 1970) is a Namibian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player.

Playing career

Born in Grootfontein, Samaria began his career in the youth ranks of Chief Santos. At the age of 17, Samaria made his senior footballing debut for

Eleven Arrows The Eleven Arrows are a professional Namibian football club from Walvis Bay. They play in the country's highest division, the Namibia Premier League. Achievements *Namibia Premier League: 1 ::1991 *NFA-Cup: 1 ::2011 Performance in CAF competit ...

. After four years at Eleven Arrows, Samaria joined

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

-based side Black Africa, winning the Player of the Year award in 1993. Internationally, Samaria made eleven appearances for

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, scoring once in a 2–1 win against

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

on 1 August 1998.

Managerial career

Following his retirement from football, Samaria took up the managerial role at former club Black Africa. On 27 February 2006, Samaria resigned from the club, whilst still managing the Namibia under-20 side. In 2008, Samaria was appointed manager of

African Stars The African Stars Football Club are a professional Namibian football club from Windhoek. They play in the country's highest division, the Namibia Premier League. Achievements *Namibia Premier League: ::Champions:(5) 1994, 2008–09, 2009–10, ...

. Samaria helped African Stars to win the 2008–09 and 2009–10 editions of the Namibia Premier League, as well as the 2010

Namibia FA Cup The Namibia FA Cup (''Namibia Football Association Cup''), officially Bidvest Namibia Cup, is an association football tournament for Namibian club Previous Champions *1990: Black Africa F.C. (Windhoek) *1991: Chief Santos (Tsumeb) *1992: Liverpool ...

. In 2012, Samaria joined

United Africa Tigers The United Africa Tigers are a Namibian football club. They are based in the Namibian capital Windhoek, and play in the country's top league, the Namibia Premier League. In the 1990s, they were sponsored by Mukorob Pelagic and referred to as th ...

, winning the Namibia Super Cup, before returning to African Stars in 2015. In 2018, African Stars achieved the double of the Namibia Premier League and Namibia Super Cup. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Samaria left the club, with former Namibian international

Robert Nauseb Robert Cosmo Nauseb (born 23 August 1974 in Otjiwarongo) is a Namibian football midfielder who last played for Ikapa Sporting in South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmos ...

replacing him. In December 2018, following Nauseb's sacking, Samaria was re-appointed by African Stars. In 2019, Samaria was appointed by Namibia to manage the country during the

2020 African Nations Championship qualification The 2020 African Nations Championship qualification was a men's football competition which decided the participating teams of the 2020 African Nations Championship. Only national team players who were playing in their country's own domestic league ...

Career statistics

:''Score and result list Namibia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Samaria goal.''

References

Living people 1970 births Namibian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Namibia men's international footballers Eleven Arrows F.C. players Black Africa S.C. players Namibian football managers Namibia national football team managers Sportspeople from Otjozondjupa Region {{Malawi-footy-bio-stub