The next competition it entered was for the 2002 World Cup, where it faced Zambia in a 2-legged tie to decide which team would advance to the group stages.

While achieving a draw with Ivory Coast, Botswana finished bottom of its qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

It did not manage to build upon this upturn in form at the tournament, losing more narrowly to Ghana and Mali and more heavily to Guinea to finish bottom of its group with 0 points.

Beating Burundi and Guinea-Bissau in the knockout rounds, it finished last in its qualifying group for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations with a single point.

Botswana made a poor start to their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, with two losses leading many to believe they had little chance of making it to Morocco.

[5] Despite this, they then picked up eight points from a possible twelve on offer, a 1-1 draw away at Egypt in their last match of the campaign sealing qualification for only their second ever Africa Cup of Nations.