| Nickname(s) |
افغان زمريان تیم ملی (Team-e Melli) |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) | ||
| Sub-confederation | SAFF (South Asia) | ||
| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Head coach | Mohammad Yousef Kargar | ||
| Asst coach | Elyas Ahmad Manucher | ||
| Most caps | Israfeel Kohistani (31) | ||
| Top scorer | Balal Arezou (7) | ||
| Home stadium | Ghazi Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | AFG | ||
| FIFA ranking | 177 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 164 (May 2011) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 204 (January 2003) | ||
| Elo ranking | 190 | ||
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| First international | |||
| Afghanistan 0–0 Iran (Kabul, Afghanistan; 25 August 1941)[5] |
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| Biggest win | |||
| Bhutan 1–8 Afghanistan (New Delhi, India; 7 December 2011) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Turkmenistan 11–0 Afghanistan (Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; 19 November 2003) |
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The Afghanistan national football team تیم ملی فوتبال افغانستان aka Afghan Lions [6][7][8][9] is the national team of Afghanistan and is controlled by the Afghanistan Football Federation. The national team was founded in 1922 that joined FIFA in 1948 and the AFC in 1954. The Afghanistan national team plays its home games at the Ghazi National Olympic Stadium in Kabul.
Afghanistan's best performance in international competition was in the 1951 Asian Games when they finished 4th. Afghanistan played no international fixtures from 1984 to 2003, since when the team rose to a peak of 164th in the FIFA World Rankings. The game was not encouraged under the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001. At present, Afghanistan has low level of participation in football due to lack of funds and security problems inside the country. Despite this, Afghanistan made it to the final match of South Asian Football Federation Championship in 2011 where they were eventually defeated by the hosts and title holders India in a match that was shadowed by referee’s decision to give a penalty, and a red card to Afghan keeper. In the group stage, Afghanistan drew with India, and defeated Sri Lanka and Bhutan, and came out the winner in the semi-final against Nepal.
In 2010 the Afghanistan Football Federation signed a 5 year contract with Danish sports brand Hummel to sponsor both the men's and Afghanistan women's national football team.
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Football in Afghanistan is one of the main sport in the country. Formed in 1922 and affiliated to FIFA since 1948, the Afghanistan Football Federation was one of the founding members of Asian Football Confederation in 1954.[10] The first football club is Mahmoudiyeh F.C. which was founded in 1934. Three years later the team traveled to India and took part in 18 games of which won 8, lost 9 and tied 1. The second football club is Ariana Kabul F.C. which was established in 1941. This team traveled to Tehran, Iran upon invitation, played 3 games in which 1 was won and losing 2.
First international match was played against Iran[11] on 25 August 1941 which was drawn 0–0 in Ghazi Stadium, Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghanistan's only appearance in an Olympic Games football tournament was at the 1948 Summer Olympic Games when they played Luxembourg on 31 July 1948 and lost 6–0. Afghanistan was last seen on international stage during 1984 Asian Cup Qualification. Afghanistan played no international games from 1984 to 2001, due to Russian invasion, Civil war in Afghanistan (1992–1996) and Taliban regime. The condition of the country under decades of war made it impossible to keep football in domestic level or international level in the country. Afghanistan's best performance in international competition was in the 1951 Asian Games when they finished 4th.
Post Taliban regime Afghanistan participated in 2003 SAFF Gold Cup where they lost all three group stage matches to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Later the same year, Afghanistan took part in 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification where they won against Kyrgyzstan but lost to Nepal and failed to make to the next round. Afghanistan started its FIFA World Cup campaign for the first time in 2003 while they played Turkmenistan in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification which they lost both matches in aggregate of 13–0. It was first time that Afghanistan participated in FIFA World Cup qualification to which affiliated in 1948. Afghanistan lost a friendly match against Tajikistan in November 2005, after which the team went to Pakistan to take part in 2005 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup, which they lost to Maldives and Pakistan but won against Sri Lanka. Afghanistan also participated in the first edition of AFC Challenge Cup in 2006 which they drawn both matches with Chinese Taipei and Philippines, Afghan footballers Hafizullah Qadami and Sayed Maqsood Hashemi save the team to a drawn result. Afghanistan on their second campaign of world cup in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification was eliminated by Syria. In SAFF Championship 2008. Afghanistan lost only to Bhutan but drawn with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Afghanistan never made it to the finals of SAFF Championship since its participation, but performed well to recover the age of war that destroyed the country. Afghanistan entered the second edition of AFC Challenge Cup in 2008,[12] by winning group D of AFC Challenge Cup Qualification which drawn with Bangladesh and won against Kyrgyzstan. During the AFC Challenge Cup campaign, Afghanistan played two friendlies with Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan which one was drawn and second won respectively. In 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, Afghanistan lost all group matches to India, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Afghanistan in two International friendly match vs Nepal and Malaysia in 2008 was unable to come with a victory while they could managed to draw with Nepal while lost with a big difference to Malaysia. In 2009 SAFF Championship Afghanistan lost all its matches to Maldives, India and Nepal. Afghanistan played well against the defending champion India while Indians got their only goal to win at the last ten minutes of the match. The rest two matches Afghanistan could stop the Nepal and Maldives Players to win. Hashmatullah Barakzai scored only goal of Afghanistan against Maldives which they lost.In November 2010 Afghanistan Played an friendly against Tajikistan which the teams lost 1–0. till 2010 Afghanistan had tough chances to win over their opponents in any competition.
Afghanistan football finally came with lots of great performances on the start of 2011 when they beat Bhutan 5–0 in two 2010 AFC Challenge Cup Qualification. Afghanistan outplayed Bhutan 3–0 with the great performance of Sidiq Walizada who scored 3 goals and helped Afghanistan to win over Bhutan, and the second match also sentAfghanistan with a 2–0 victory to the Second round 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualification. In second round of Qualification Afghanistan Played first match vs Nepal which resulted to loss of Afghanistan but came with only one win over Sri Lanka and lost the third match vs North Korea and failed to qualify to the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup.
Afghanistan played their third campaign of World Cup while they played against Palestine in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC). Afghanistan played its first match against Palestine in Tajikistan due to security reasons and lost the game, while they played second match against the same opponent in Palestine and drawn with the goal of Balal Arezou. Afghanistan failed to advance to the second round and was eliminated. Afghanistan have some players who play in Germany, Norway, Cyprus, USA and other European and American divisions and helped well in the recent performance of the national team.
In 2011 SAFF Championship Afghanistan drawn its first match vs India the host and title defending nation with the goal of Balal Arezou in the starting five minutes of the match. Afghanistan with their unexpected performance went to win over Sri Lanka with two goals of Sandjar Ahmadi and one goal of Ata Yamrali. Crowds of Afghans witnessed the success of Afghanistan while they took on Bhutan and win 8–1, the biggest win ever in the history of Afghanistan football. Balal Arezou known as danger man by Indian Football experts, scored the only Hat-trick of the season with his 4 goals to win the match. Against Bhutan Afghanistan have shown some great performances with scoring the quickest goal of the tournament scored by Ata Yamrali at the third minute, best goal of the tournament scored by US based player Mohammad Mashriqi from zero angle. For the first time Afghanistan reached Semi Final of the tournament and faced Nepal whom they beat 1–0 at an Extra time with the only goal of Balal Arezou at the 101 minutes of the match. It was the first win of Afghanistan over Nepal and best match of the tournament. In the Final Afghanistan played India the host and defending champion to whom they lost 4–0 after a Controversial decision of refree who sent of Hamidullah Yosufzai the goalkeeper after he pushed Sukhbir Singh the refree. Afghanistan had the over all control of the match until the last 20 minutes when they lost their morality and after change of Goal keeper, the team went down and lost the game. Mohammad Yousef Kargar the national coach called referee a biased and supporter of the host. Over all Afghanistan have shown some great performances that shocked every other nation. After the match vs India, Kam Air Airlines awarded every player with cash $ 1,000 dollar and president Hamid Karzai appreciated their performance in the tournament.
| Against | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | GD | % Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 0% |
| Bhutan | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 4 | +10 | 75% |
| China PR | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0% |
| Chinese Taipei | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Hong Kong | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 0% |
| India | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | −11 | 0% |
| Iran | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 0% |
| Iraq | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | −6 | 0% |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0% |
| Jordan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 100% |
| Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0% |
| Malaysia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | −6 | 0% |
| Maldives | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 | −10 | 0% |
| North Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0% |
| Nepal | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 2% |
| Pakistan | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0% |
| Palestine | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0% |
| Philippines | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Qatar | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 16 | −10 | 0% |
| Saudi Arabia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 0% |
| Syria | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0% |
| South Korea | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 0% |
| Sri Lanka | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | +3 | 80% |
| Tajikistan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0% |
| Turkmenistan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 18 | −18 | 0% |
| Total | 59 | 8 | 11 | 40 | 41 | 166 | −125 |
Ghazi Stadium is home stadium of Afghanistan which is a multi-purpose stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan. It was built during the reign of Amānullāh Khān in 1923, who was regarded as Ghazi (Hero) for winning the war with British and gaining independence of his nation. The stadium has a capacity of 25,000 people. First international match played between Iran and Afghanistan in 1941 which was drawn 0–0. 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification second leg match was played against Turkmenistan to which Afghanistan lost 2–0 at home ground, earlier they lost to the same opponent 11–0. Ghazi Staidum is used more for executions and public works than sport during taliban regime. Post Taliban regime stadium is being maintained and cotrolled by Afghanistan Football Federation. Kabul Premier League and other local football tournaments take place in the stadium.
| Asian Qualification Records | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
| 1930 to 2002 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 2006 to 2014 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| Total | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 21 | |
| Olympic Games record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA | |
| 1900 to 1940 | Did not enter | |||||||
| 1948 | Round 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| 1952 to 1956 | Did not enter | |||||||
| 1960 | Did not qualify | |||||||
| 1964 to 2004 | Did not enter | |||||||
| 2008 | Did not qualify | |||||||
| Total | Best: Round 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| Asian Cup | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1956 to 1972 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 1976 to 1984 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1988 to 2000 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 2004 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 2007 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 2011 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| Total | |||||||
| Year | Round |
|---|---|
| 1951 | 4th Place |
| 1954 | Round 1 |
| 1958 to 1998 | Did not enter |
| 2002 | Round 1 |
| 2006 | Did not enter |