Niger national football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Niger
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Mena
Association Fédération Nigerienne
de Football
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Head coach Hamey Amadou
Home stadium Stade Général Seyni Kountché
FIFA code NIG
FIFA ranking 170
Highest FIFA ranking 68 (November 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking 196 (August 2002)
Elo ranking 121
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
First kit
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Second kit
First international
Flag of Nigeria Nigeria 1 - 0 Niger Flag of Niger
(Senegal; April 11, 1963)
Biggest win
Flag of Niger Niger 7 - 1 Mauritania Flag of Mauritania
(Niamey, Niger; October 12, 1990)
Biggest defeat
Flag of Niger Niger 1 - 9 Ghana Flag of Ghana
(Niger; September 21, 1969)

The Niger national football team, nicknamed the Mena, is the national team of Niger and is controlled by the Fédération Nigerienne de Football. A member of CAF, it is one of its weakest teams.

Contents

[edit] History

Although one of the weaker sides in the strong West Africa region, Niger has produced a couple of noteworthy runs in qualifying tournaments.

One of their best performances was in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, in which Niger eliminated Somalia and Togo on away goals, but were beaten by Algeria in the third round where only 8 teams were left. Notable players in this run included Jacques Komlan, Hassane Adamou and Moussa Kanfideni.

In the 2004 African Nations Cup qualifiers, Niger won all their home games (including a win over Guinea) to finish on 9 points, just 3 short of qualification.

The Niger squad is also plauged by financial concerns, which have caused them to withdraw from international tournoments on more than one occasion. The Niger FA has turned to supporter's fundraising to pay for their trip to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola, if they qualify.[1]

[edit] World Cup record

[edit] African Nations Cup record

  • 1957 to 1968 - Did not enter
  • 1970 - Did not qualify
  • 1972 - Did not qualify
  • 1974 - Withdrew
  • 1976 - Did not qualify
  • 1978 - Withdrew
  • 1980 - Withdrew
  • 1982 - Did not enter
  • 1984 - Did not qualify
  • 1986 to 1990 - Did not enter
  • 1992 - Did not qualify
  • 1994 - Did not qualify
  • 1996 - Withdrew during qualifying
  • 1998 - Disqualified for withdrawing in 1996
  • 2000 to 2008 - Did not qualify





[edit] Current squad

(May, 2007)

Goalkeepers:

Aboudou Abdourahime
Kassaly Daouda

Defenders:

Ismael Alassane
Moussa Ouwo
Komla Galey
Ousmane Tiecoura
Haruna Alhassan
Sani Boubacar
Abdellatif Sadikou
Dodo Issa
Ide Abdoulaye
Ibrahim Daouda

Midfielders:

Idrissa Lauali
Gafaru Adeleke
Moussa Madougou Hamani
Pascal Aniset
Mohammed Mussa
Hamadou Hamza
Issoufou Moussa
Issaka Mahamadou

Forwards:

Ibrahim Tankary
Alhassane Issoufou
Mohammed Muyei
Jimmy Bulus
Issoufo Idrissa
Ibrahim Imman Issaka
Saidou Idrissa

[edit] References

  1. ^ helpmena.com: "Project MENA is dedicated to assisting MENA, the Niger national soccer team. The project strives to raise enough money to send the team to compete for the 2010 African Cup in Angola. The money raised will cover costs of accommodations and catering for the team and staff during competition. "

[edit] External links