Seychelles national football team

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Seychelles

Nickname

The Pirates

Association

Seychelles Football Federation

Confederation

CAF (Africa)

Head coach

Rahoul Shungu

Home stadium

Stade Linité

FIFA code

SEY

FIFA ranking

132

Highest FIFA ranking

129 (October 2006)

Lowest FIFA ranking

195 (July 2002)

Elo ranking

172





First kit





Second kit

First international

Réunion 2 - 0 Seychelles

(Réunion; February 13, 1974)

Biggest win

Seychelles 9 - 0 Maldives

(Réunion; August 27, 1979)

Biggest defeat

Madagascar 6 - 0 Seychelles

(Antananarivo, Madagascar; August 30, 1990)

The Seychelles national football team, nicknamed the Pirates, is the national team of the Seychelles and is controlled by the SFF. It is a member of CAF and they play most home games at the 10,000 capacity stadium, Stade Linité in Roche Caiman.

The Seychelles national team have never qualified for the finals of the African Nations Cup or the World Cup but they made their debut in qualifiers for the African Nations Cup in 1986, losing to Mauritius.

Under Yugoslav coach Vojo Gardasevic, the Seychelles team made their debut in the World Cup qualifiers in 2001. Philip Zialor got the equaliser for Seychelles in a 1-1 draw against Namibia at Stade Linité. In the preliminary round return leg match, Seychelles lost 0-3.

In their second attempt to qualify, for the 2006 World Cup, Seychelles lost 0-4 at home to Zambia but played a 1-1 draw in the away match. Robert Suzette was the scorer of Seychelles’ goal in Lusaka.

Seychelles’ biggest competitive win came against Zimbabwe in the African Nations Cup 2004 qualifiers.

Goals by strikers Alpha Baldé and Philip Zialor gave Seychelles a 2-1 win at Stade Linité against Zimbabwe captained by professional striker Peter Ndlovu. German coach Michael Nees was at the helm of the team at that time. Under Frenchman Dominique Bathenay, Seychelles also beat Eritrea 1-0 at Stade Linité by a goal by veteran Roddy Victor in the same qualifiers.

Seychelles’ best players of all time

Some of Seychelles’ best players of all time are: Rolly Baker, Jimmy Baker, Ralph Micock, Dawson Sinon, Michael Mancienne, Kevin Betsy, Bernard Dorasamy, Philip Zialor, Ange Dubignon, Robin Mousbé, Paul Khan, Jim Louis, Simon Françoise, Alpha Baldé, Suketu Patel, Jeris César, Barry Furneau, Michael Barra, Ulric Mathiot, Nelson Sopha and Charles Alcindor. Only three Seychellois players have so far been able to play in foreign leagues. In the mid-90s, Jim Louis formerly with Beau Vallon, joined Ste Suzanne of Reunion, Kevin Betsy of Wycombe in England, while ex-Red Star captain and midfield strategist Simon Françoise, signed for Fire Brigade of Mauritius.

Youth Development

A lot is being done to develop youth football in Seychelles and the brain behind the scheme is SFF boss Suketu Patel. Under-13, under-15 and under-18 teams train regularly on the artificial astro-turf pitches built in 2001 with funds received under FIFA’s Goal Project.

In 2006, the second phase of the Goal Project - the technical centre –was officially inaugurated by three-time European Footballer of the Year and former France national football team captain Michel Platini. The project has cost US$1,271,700. The different contributions have come from the Seychelles government, FIFA and the SFF. It will house the local football body’s new headquarters, offices, a technical and residential centre with a state-of-the-art 80-seat auditorium, 20 self-contained bedrooms, two massage rooms, changing rooms and a restaurant.

The facilities will be used by the country's different national teams, club teams, foreign teams and even other local sporting federations and associations.

A number of senior teams boast Junior (under-18) sides which provide them with well-groomed young players to replace the seasoned ones who are nearing retirement.

Seychellois coaches working with youth teams have all their work monitored by Rwandan technical advisor and coach Raoul Shungu.

It is hoped that in the years to come, SFF’s systematic youth development programme will help produce good players and strong Seychelles teams capable of qualifying for the African Nations Cup or even the World Cup. According to SFF chairman Patel, this will help bring Seychelles football to the next level.