Ricardo Mannetti

Ricardo Mannetti (born 24 April 1975) is a Namibian retired footballer who now works as a coach. He has managed and coached the Namibia national team.^[2]

Ricardo Mannetti

Personal information
Full name	Ricardo Giovanni Mannetti[1]
Date of birth	(1975-04-24) 24 April 1975 (age 50)
Place of birth	Windhoek, South West Africa
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Civics
1997–2005	Santos
2000–2001	→ Avendale Athletico (loan)	12	(0)
2005–2006	Umtata Bush Bucks
2006–2007	Western Province United
International career
1992–2003	Namibia	63	(1)
Managerial career
2007–2010	Civics
2010	Black Africa
2011–2013	Namibia U20
2013–2015	Namibia
2015–2019	Namibia
2022–2023	African Stars (dir. football)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career club

Nicknamed Bucksy, Mannetti grew up in Windhoek's Bethlehem township and played as a midfielder in South Africa for Santos^[3] and became the first Namibian to win the South African Professional Soccer League in 2001.^[4]

International

He competed for the Namibia national football team from 1992–2003, including the 1998 African Cup of Nations.^[5] He made his debut for the Brave Warriors in an October 1992^[6] World Cup qualification match against Zambia and totaled 1 goal in 63 games for them.^[7]

Managerial career

Before he resigned in June 2015, he competed in the COSAFA Cup and led the Namibian National team to their first international Trophy victory.^[8] He was re-appointed coach in September 2015 after patching things up with the Namibia Football Association.^[9] Mannetti has led the Namibian national team, Brave Warriors to their first-ever 2015 COSAFA Cup triumph in South Africa.^[10] He helped Namibia reach the quarter-finals of the 2018 CHAN Games in Cameroon^[11] and led the team to the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.^[12]

He was director of football for one season at African Stars.^[13]