Zimbabwe has joined the International Surfing Association as a national federation member, becoming the 120th member of the ISA worldwide and the 21st from Africa. It is an unlikely surfing addition on paper. Zimbabwe has no coastline. But that’s precisely what makes the move significant.
The Zimbabwean federation will operate through the Rowing Association of Zimbabwe, an established national sporting body recognized by the Zimbabwe National Olympic Committee. The immediate goal is to send a team to the 2026 ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, with Zimbabwean surfer Marcello Zedde (below) expected to be among the country’s first international representatives.
Zedde and his father, Mario, helped establish a pathway for Zimbabwean surfers to compete under their national flag. Based in South Africa, the pair have trained and competed throughout the region, while other Zimbabwean surfers regularly travel to neighboring Mozambique and South Africa. There is even a river wave on the Zambezi offering a distinctly Zimbabwean version of home-field surfing. But Zimbabwe’s arrival isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of a larger shift in African surfing.
Africa’s Competitive Surfing Footprint Is Growing
South Africa has long been the continent’s competitive powerhouse. It hosted the ISA World Championships in East London in 1978, the first African nation to do so, and later hosted the World Surfing Games and World Junior Surfing Championships in Durban.
Morocco, meanwhile, has emerged as one of Africa’s most compelling competitive surf nations. Its national teams now include established international competitors and a growing crop of young surfers. At the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games, Morocco fielded athletes including Olympic surfer Ramzi Boukhiam and teenage standout Ranya Squalli.
West Africa is developing its own competitive identity, too. Senegal has become an important center for youth development, while national championships and organized surfing programs have expanded across countries including Ghana, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and São Tomé and Príncipe.
The ISA formally recognized the African Surfing Confederation in 2023, creating a continental body designed to coordinate development and competition across the region. At the time, the ISA cited 19 recognized African national federations and had already conducted 10 development programs in eight African countries since 2018.
That development pipeline is increasingly youth-focused. An ISA program in Senegal brought together young men and women from 10 African countries for coaching, judging, tactical and technical training.
Why Zimbabwe’s Inclusion Matters
The timing is particularly important as surfing settles further into its Olympic identity. The qualification system for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics maintains continental pathways for Africa and Oceania through the ISA World Surfing Games. The 2027 World Surfing Games will award direct continental qualification spots, giving athletes from developing surf nations a legitimate route to the Olympics beyond the WSL Championship Tour.
That makes national federation status more than a ceremonial flag. For Zimbabwe, it creates an official pathway for young surfers to represent their country. For Africa, another federation means another potential pipeline of athletes, coaches, judges and administrators. And for international competitive surfing, it pushes the sport farther away from its traditional centers of power.
Surfing has always been defined by its relationship with the ocean. Zimbabwe’s inclusion is a reminder that its future may be defined by something broader: who gets the opportunity to participate once they find a way to the water. And as the road to LA28 begins to take shape, Africa is increasingly becoming part of that conversation.
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