Yemen national football team

The Yemen national football team (Arabic: منتخب اليمني لكرة القدم‎), is the national team of Yemen and is controlled by the Yemen Football Association.

When the nation was split into North Yemen and South Yemen before 1990, two national teams existed. After unification, the Yemen national football team is considered the successor of the North Yemen national football team. See the article South Yemen national football team for details on the South Yemen team.

Yemen (or North Yemen) has never appeared at a FIFA World Cup.

North Yemen

1965-1966

North Yemen debuted at the 1965 Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Egypt in August 1965. It lost its first game 9-0 to Sudan, then it lost 16-1 to Libya. After losing 4-0 to Syria, North Yemen won for the first time by defeating Oman 2-1 in the last game in the group. North Yemen did not advance.

In April 1966 the team entered the 1966 Arab Nations Cup in Baghdad, Iraq. It was placed in Group 2. North Yemen lost its first match 4-1 to Syria on 1 April, and then 7-0 to Palestine three days later. On 5 April they lost their last match 13-0 to Libya, and were eliminated, finishing bottom of the group.

Also in 1966, North Yemen entered the Games of the Emerging Forces in Cambodia. They lost their opener 5-3 against Palestine. The remaining games in their group were lost 8-0 to the hosts Cambodia, 9-0 to North Vietnam, 14-0 to North Korea and 6-0 to China.

1984-1989

Following the tournament in Cambodia, North Yemen did not play a match for eighteen years, returning in 1984 to attempt 1984 AFC Asian Cup qualification. This was their first entrance of the competition. They were placed in qualification Group 3 with all matches held in Calcutta, India in October 1984. North Yemen lost the first match on 10 October, 6-0 to South Korea, for whom Park Sung-Hwa scored four goals and Chung Hae-Won two. Two days later they lost 2-0 to hosts India. On 15 October North Yemen lost 4-1 to Pakistan and three days later by the same score to Malaysia. North Yemen finished bottom of the group.

North Yemen entered its first World Cup qualification campaign with the aim of securing a place in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. They were placed in Group 3 of the West Asia zone in the first round of qualification. North Yemen played their first match at home to Syria in Sana'a on 29 March 1985 and lost 1-0 to a 70th minute goal. On 5 April they lost 5-0 to Kuwait in Kuwait City. On 19 April North Yemen lost 3-0 away to Syria at the Abbasiyin Stadium in Damascus. On 26 April, while hosting Kuwait, North Yemen scored their only goal in the group as they lost 3-1 in front of 10,000 people.

In August 1985, North Yemen compted at the 1985 Pan Arab Games in Rabat, Morocco and was placed in a group with Saudi Arabia, Algeria and the United Arab Emirates. They lost 2-0 to the Saudis on 5 August, 3-1 to Algeria on 7 August and then, on 9 August, beat the UAE 2-1 for their first ever victory.

On 15 October 1985, North Yemen played opposition from outside Asia and Africa for the first time, losing a friendly 2-0 to Mexico at home.^[2]

Competition records

World Cup record

AFC Asian Cup record

Gulf Cup of Nations record

Arab Nations Cup

Current squad

Coaches

Kit Providers

• Adidas
• Uhlsport

See Also

• Yemen national under-17 football team
• Yemen national under-20 football team
• Yemen national under-23 football team

References

External links

• Official site
• RSSSF: Yemen – List of International Matches
• – Current squad of the national team (2010)