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Somalia national football team

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Field	Value
Name	Somalia
Nickname	The Ocean Stars
Badge	Somali Football Federation logo.svg
Badge_size	185px
FIFA Trigramme	SOM
Association	Somali Football Federation (SFF)
(Xiriirka Soomaaliyeed ee Kubbadda Cagta)
Sub-confederation	CECAFA
(Central & East Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Coach	Yusuf Ali Nur
Captain	Abdulsamed Abdullahi
Most caps	Omar Abdulkadir (31)
Top scorer	Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed
Mohamed Ali Abdi Nur (3)
Home Stadium	Mogadishu Stadium
FIFA Rank
FIFA max	65
FIFA max date	April–June 1996
FIFA min	203
FIFA min date	April–May 2019
Elo Rank
Elo max	126
Elo max date	1973
Elo min	205
Elo min date	2015
pattern_la1	_som25h
pattern_b1	_som25h
pattern_ra1	_som25h
pattern_sh1	_som25h
leftarm1	73C2FB
body1	73C2FB
rightarm1	73C2FB
shorts1	73C2FB
socks1	73C2FB
pattern_la2	_som25a
pattern_b2	_som25a
pattern_ra2	_som25a
pattern_sh2	_som25a
leftarm2	FFFFFF
body2	FFFFFF
rightarm2	FFFFFF
shorts2	FFFFFF
socks2	FFFFFF
First game	0–4 Somalia Flag of Italy and the United Kingdom.png
(Mombasa, Kenya; 1958)
Largest win	5–2
(Casablanca, Morocco; 7 August 1985)
Largest loss	14–0
(Jakarta, Indonesia; 14 November 1963)
Regional name	CECAFA Cup
Regional cup apps	26
Regional cup first	1973
Regional cup best	Fifth place (1974, 1977, 1978, 1984, 1994, 2019)
2ndRegional name	Arab Games
2ndRegional cup apps	1
2ndRegional cup first	1985
2ndRegional cup best	Group stage (1985)
pattern_la3	_som25t	pattern_b3=_som25t	pattern_ra3=_som25t	pattern_sh3=_som25t	socks3=ffffff	shorts3=ffffff	rightarm3=ffffff	body3=ffffff	leftarm3=ffffff

Note

the men's team

(Xiriirka Soomaaliyeed ee Kubbadda Cagta) | Sub-confederation = CECAFA (Central & East Africa) Mohamed Ali Abdi Nur (3) (Mombasa, Kenya; 1958) (Casablanca, Morocco; 7 August 1985) (Jakarta, Indonesia; 14 November 1963) The Somalia national football team () represents Somalia in international football and is controlled by the Somali Football Federation (SFF), a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Somalia's first national team captain was Mohamed Shangole, while its longest serving captain has been Hasan Babay.

History

The first Somali football teams were established in the 1940s. The competitions were basic in structure and were associated with the anti-colonial movement. The Somali Youth League (SYL), the nation's first political party, had put together a team of local youth to play against the Italian expatriate teams. The soccer team the FYL had assembled, which would later change its name to Bondhere, won the first several competitions. In 1951, the Somali Football Federation (SFF) was founded. The first Somali commissioner for sport was later established in 1958.

Although the Somali national football team took part in preliminary matches, it has never qualified for the World Cup. For many years after the outbreak of the civil war in the early 1990s, FIFA-sanctioned games could not be played within the country. Qualifying matches for the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup were instead contested away from home. However, following the pacification of the capital Mogadishu in 2011, the SFF began preparations for the first major sporting event to be held in years at the Mogadishu Stadium, in December 2012.

Prior to 2019, the Somali FA decided they would admit to all their young and upcoming youth talents and put out local trials to fortify both Olympic and national football teams.

In addition, many from the Somali diaspora in the past have produced quality football players such as Islam Feruz and Mukhtar Ali.

On 5 September 2019, Somalia won their first qualifying match since 1984 (against Kenya - AFCON Qualifying) and their first-ever FIFA World Cup qualifying match, beating Zimbabwe by 1–0. They nearly advanced to the second round but lost 3–1 in Zimbabwe after two late goals for the warriors, consigning the Ocean Stars to an early exit.

Team image

Kits and crest

Kit provider	Period
SOM A2Z Sports	2020–present

From the 1970s up until the 1990s, the Somali national football team used to wear the Somali Flag and socks with the Somali Flag for home kits and the inverse as away kits, the two primary colours of the Somali national flags, in the 2010s up until the present, the national team have now replaced the solid sky blue shirts for vertically blue and white striped shirts.

The crest of the Somali national team used to be the coat of arms of Somalia but it is now replaced with the Somali Federation crest. The Ocean Stars plays their home games in the Mogadishu Stadium, (As the stadium was being rebuilt, the national team played matches at Engineer Yaarisow Stadium, which is Mogadishu's secondary stadium for sporting events).

{{Football kit box	pattern_b =	leftarm = 4189DD	body = 4189DD	rightarm = 4189DD	shorts = FFFFFF	socks = 4189DD	title = Somalia's first colours in the 1970s–1990s	{{Football kit box	pattern_b =	leftarm = FFFFFF	body = FFFFFF	rightarm = FFFFFF	shorts = 4189DD	socks = FFFFFF	title = Somalia's second colours in the 1970s–1990s}}

Results and fixtures

Main article: Somalia national football team results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2025

Report (CAF)

Mohutsiwa
Johnson Report (CAF)
Guirassy
Othman
O. Camara
Okello
Ssemugabi
Amoura
Mahrez
Catamo
Al-Romaihi
Omar
Marsis
Al-Busaidi
Al-Rawahi
Al-Yahyaei
Al-Ghafri
S. Hassan
M. Omar
Musse

Coaches

The Somalia national football team players during a training session in 2015

Name	Nat	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win rate
Qi Wusheng	CHN	1978–1979
Klaus Ebbighausen	FRG	1980
Hussein Ali Abdulle	SOM	May 1999 – Dec 2000	8	0	1	7	6.3%
Awil Ismail Mohamed	SOM	Nov 2001 – Dec 2002	7	1	2	4	28.6%
Ali Abdi Farah	SOM	Oct 2003 – Dec 2005	9	1	0	8	11.1%
Daniel Muwathe	KEN	Oct 2006 – Dec 2006	6	0	0	6	0%
Hussein Ali Abdulle	SOM	Oct 2007 – Dec 2007	4	0	0	4	0%
Ali Abdi Farah	SOM	Sept 2008 – Dec 2009	8	2	0	6	25%
Mohamed Farayare	SOM	Jan 2010 – Mar 2010	2	1	0	1	50%
Yousef Adam	QAT	Oct 2010 – Dec 2010	3	0	0	3	0%
Alfred Imonje	KEN	Oct 2011 – Dec 2011	5	0	1	4	10%
Sam Ssimbwa	UGA	Dec 2011 – Oct 2013	6	0	0	6	0%
Sam Ssimbwa	UGA	Mar 2014 – Sept 2015	2	0	0	2	0%
Charles Mbabazi	UGA	Sept 2015
Haruna Mawa	UGA	Nov 2016 – Nov 2019
Bashir Hayford	GHA	Mar 2019 – 2019	7	2	2	3	42.8%
Said Abdi Haibeh	SOM	Dec 2019 – May 2021	4	1	2	1	25%
Abdellatif Salef	MAR	May 2021 – June 2021	0	0	0	0	0%
Salad Farah	SOM	June 2021 – February 2022	2	0	0	2	0%
Pieter de Jongh	NED	February 2022 – May 2022	2	0	0	2	0%
Rachid Lousteque	MAR	July 2022 – 2023	0	0	0	0	0%

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Guinea and Botswana on 21 and 25 March 2025, respectively.

Caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2025, after the match against Botswana.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Somalia squad within the last twelve months.

Player records

|31 |0

1999–2007
2
20
0
2003–2011
-
3
18
0
2015-present
-
14
2
2019-present
-
14
1
2019-present
-
13
0
2019-present
-
13
0
2019-present
-
13
0
2009-2011
-
13
0
2010–2013
-
12
0
2011–2015
-
12
0
2000–2002
-
12
0
2003–2009
-
12
1
2021–present
-
12
2
2022–present
-
12
0
2017–present
-
12
0
2019–2023
-
12
0
2022–present
-
}

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed	3	6		2000–2005
Mohamed Ali Abdi Nur	3	7		1985–1995
3	Omar Mohamed	2	6		2019
Mohamed Ali Abdiaziz	2	11		2006–2011
Ciise Aden Abshir	2	11		2003–2011
Sak Hassan	2	12		2022–present
Farhan Mohamed Ahmed	2	14		2019–present

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record	Qualification record	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*
1930 to 1958	Part of & United Kingdom	Part of & United Kingdom
Chile 1962	Not a FIFA member	Not a FIFA member
1966 to 1978	Did not enter	Did not enter
Spain 1982	Did not qualify	2	0	2	0	1	1
1986 to 1998	Did not enter	Did not enter
South Korea Japan 2002	Did not qualify	2	0	0	2	0	6
Germany 2006	2	0	0	2	0	7
South Africa 2010	1	0	0	1	0	1
Brazil 2014	2	0	1	1	0	5
Russia 2018	2	0	0	2	0	6
Qatar 2022	2	1	0	1	2	3
Canada Mexico United States of America 2026	10	0	1	9	3	20
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030	To be determined	To be determined
Saudi Arabia 2034

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record	Qualification record	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D
Sudan 1957	Part of & UK	Part of & UK
United Arab Republic 1959
Ethiopia 1962	Not affiliated to CAF	Not affiliated to CAF
Ghana 1963
Tunisia 1965
Ethiopia 1968
Sudan 1970	Withdrew	Withdrew
Egypt 1974	Did not qualify	2	1	0	1	2	5
Ethiopia 1976	2	1	0	1	1	2
Ghana 1978	Did not enter	Did not enter
Nigeria 1980	Withdrew	Withdrew
Libya 1982	Did not enter	Did not enter
Ivory Coast 1984	Did not qualify	1	0	0	1	0	1
Egypt 1986	2	1	0	1	1	1
Morocco 1988	2	0	1	1	0	5
Algeria 1990	Did not enter	Did not enter
Senegal 1992
Tunisia 1994
South Africa 1996
Burkina Faso 1998
Ghana Nigeria 2000
Mali 2002
Tunisia 2004
Egypt 2006
Ghana 2008
Angola 2010
Equatorial Guinea Gabon 2012
South Africa 2013
Equatorial Guinea 2015
Gabon 2017
Egypt 2019
Cameroon 2021
Ivory Coast 2023	Did not qualify	2	0	0	2	1	5
Morocco 2025	2	0	0	2	2	5
Kenya Tanzania Uganda 2027	To be determined	To be determined

African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship record	Qualification record	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D
CIV 2009	Did not enter	Did not enter
SUD 2011	Did not qualify	2	1	0	1	1	6
RSA 2014	Did not enter	Did not enter
RWA 2016
MAR 2018	Did not qualify	2	0	0	2	1	4
CMR 2020	2	0	0	2	2	7
ALG 2022	2	0	0	2	1	3

Olympic Games

Olympic Games record	Appearances: 0	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Total				0/26
1896–1960	Part of & England
Japan 1964	Did not enter
Mexico 1968
West Germany 1972
Canada 1976
Soviet Union 1980
United States of America 1984
South Korea 1988
Spain 1992	Did not qualify
United States of America 1996	Did not enter
Australia 2000
Greece 2004	Did not qualify
China 2008
United Kingdom 2012
Brazil 2016
Japan 2020

Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since the 1992 edition.

All-Africa Games

All-Africa Games record	Appearances: 0	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Total				0/11
Congo 1965	Did not enter
Nigeria 1973	Did not qualify
Algeria 1978
Kenya 1987	Did not enter
Egypt 1991
Zimbabwe 1995
South Africa 1999
Nigeria 2003
Algeria 2007
Mozambique 2011
Congo 2015
MAR 2019	Did not enter

Prior to the Cairo 1991 campaign, the Football at the All-Africa Games was open to full senior national teams.

CECAFA Cup

Main article: CECAFA Cup

CECAFA Cup record	Appearances: 26	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Total
Uganda 1973	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	2	12
Tanzania 1974	5th	2	0	1	1	2	3
Zambia 1975	Did not enter
[[File:Flag of Tanzania.svg	border	22px	link=Zanzibar	Zanzibar]] 1976	Group stage	7th	3	0	0	3	2	7
Somalia 1977	5th	3	1	1	1	2	2
Malawi 1978	5th	4	0	1	3	3	10
Kenya 1979	Did not enter
Sudan 1980	Group stage	6th	2	0	1	1	1	3
Tanzania 1981	Did not enter
Uganda 1982
Kenya 1983	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	3	5
Uganda 1984	5th	3	1	1	1	3	3
Zimbabwe 1985	Did not enter
Ethiopia 1987
Malawi 1988
Kenya 1989
[[File:Flag of Tanzania.svg	border	22px	link=Zanzibar	Zanzibar]] 1990
Uganda 1991
Tanzania 1992
Kenya 1994	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	3	8
Uganda 1995	8th	3	0	0	3	1	15
Sudan 1996	Did not enter
Rwanda 1999	Group stage	12th	2	0	0	2	0	5
Uganda 2000	9th	4	0	1	3	1	11
Rwanda 2001	9th	3	0	1	2	0	6
Tanzania 2002	8th	4	1	0	3	1	4
Sudan 2003	Did not enter
Ethiopia 2004	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	0	7
Rwanda 2005	7th	4	1	0	3	6	10
Ethiopia 2006	10th	3	0	0	3	0	8
Tanzania 2007	10th	3	0	0	3	0	6
Uganda 2008	9th	4	1	0	3	1	9
Kenya 2009	10th	3	0	0	3	1	6
Tanzania 2010	12th	3	0	0	3	0	11
Tanzania 2011	12th	3	0	0	3	1	11
Uganda 2012	12th	3	0	0	3	1	13
Kenya 2013	11th	3	0	0	3	0	7
Ethiopia 2014	Not held
Rwanda 2015	Group stage	10th	3	0	0	3	0	9
Kenya 2017	Withdrew
Uganda 2019	Group stage	5th	4	1	2	1	1	2
Ethiopia 2021	Did not enter

FIFA Arab Cup

FIFA Arab Cup record	Qualification record	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D
Lebanon 1963	did not enter	Did not enter
Kuwait 1964
Iraq 1966
Saudi Arabia 1985	Did not qualify	3	0	1	2	1+	2+
Jordan 1988	did not enter	Did not enter
Syria 1992
Qatar 1998
Kuwait 2002
2009	Did not qualify	3	0	0	3	3	18
Saudi Arabia 2012	Did not enter	Did not enter
Qatar 2021	Did not qualify	1	0	0	1	1	2
Qatar 2025	Did not qualify	1	0	1	0	0	0

The 2009 edition was cancelled during qualification.

Arab Games

Arab Games record	Appearances: 1	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L
Egypt 1953	Part of & England
Lebanon 1957
Morocco 1961	Did not enter
UAR 1965
Syria 1976
Morocco 1985	Group stage	7th	3	1	0	2	5	6
Syria 1992	Did not enter
Lebanon 1997
Jordan 1999
Algeria 2004	Not held
Egypt 2007	Did not enter
Qatar 2011	Withdrew

Minor tournaments

Minor tournaments record	Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Total		colspan=2	0 Titles		4		0		0		4		1		37
IDN 1963 GANEFO	Group stage	11th	2	0	0	2	0	23
ETH 1969 Friendship Cup	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	1	14

References

(2008). "History of Somali football (1938–2007)". Scansom.
(8 September 2019). "World Cup qualifying: Somalia national team's history-making driving instructor".
(2 December 2013). "Somalia vs Yemen PDR for Arab Cup Qualification 1985 (Arabic)".
"Final Squad". Somali Football Federation 1951.
"Somalia".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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