Somalia national football team

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

{| class="wikitable"

!Kit provider

!Period

| 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).

{|style="margin:1em auto;"

Results and fixtures

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

2025

2026

Coaches

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

thumbnail|Another picture of the Somalia national football team players in 2015

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

!Name

!Nat

!Period

!Matches

!Wins

!Draws

!Losses

!Win rate

|align="left" |Qi Wusheng

|1978–1979

| align="left" | Klaus Ebbighausen

| 1980

| align="left" | Hussein Ali Abdulle

| May 1999 – Dec 2000

| 8

| 0

| 1

| 7

| 6.3%

| align="left" | Awil Ismail Mohamed

| Nov 2001 – Dec 2002

| 7

| 1

| 2

| 4

| 28.6%

| align="left" | Ali Abdi Farah

| Oct 2003 – Dec 2005

| 9

| 1

| 0

| 8

| 11.1%

| align="left" | Daniel Muwathe

| Oct 2006 – Dec 2006

| 6

| 0

| 6

| 0%

| align="left" | Hussein Ali Abdulle

| Oct 2007 – Dec 2007

| 4

| 0

| 4

| 0%

| align="left" | Ali Abdi Farah

| Sept 2008 – Dec 2009

| 8

| 2

| 0

| 6

| 25%

| align="left" | Mohamed Farayare

| Jan 2010 – Mar 2010

| 2

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 50%

| align="left" | Yousef Adam

| Oct 2010 – Dec 2010

| 3

| 0

| 3

| 0%

| align="left" | Alfred Imonje

| Oct 2011 – Dec 2011

| 5

| 0

| 1

| 4

| 10%

| align="left" | Sam Ssimbwa

| Dec 2011 – Oct 2013

| 6

| 0

| 6

| 0%

| align="left" | Sam Ssimbwa

| Mar 2014 – Sept 2015

| 2

| 0

| 2

| 0%

| align="left" | Charles Mbabazi

| Sept 2015

| align="left" | Haruna Mawa

| Nov 2016 – Nov 2019

| align="left" | Bashir Hayford

| Mar 2019 – 2019

| 7

| 2

| 3

| 42.8%

| align="left" | Said Abdi Haibeh

| Dec 2019 – May 2021

| 4

| 1

| 2

| 1

| 25%

| align="left" | Abdellatif Salef

| May 2021 – June 2021

| 0

| 0%

| align="left" | Salad Farah

| June 2021 – February 2022

| 2

| 0

| 2

| 0%

|align="left" | Pieter de Jongh

| February 2022 – May 2022

| 2

| 0

| 2

| 0%

| align="left" | Rachid Lousteque

| July 2022 – 2023

| 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

:Players in bold are still active with Somalia.

Most appearances

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;"

!width=20px|Rank

!class="unsortable" style="width:190px;"|Name

!width=50px|Caps

!width=50px|Goals

!class="unsortable" style="width:100px;"|Career

|align=left|

|31

|1999–2007

|align=left|Yasin Ali Egal

|20

|2003–2011

|align=left|Mustaf Yuusuf

|18

|2015-present

|align=left|Abel Gigli

|17

|2019-present

|rowspan=2|5

|align=left|Abdulsamed Abdullahi

|16

|2019-present

|align=left|Mohamud Ali

|16

|2019-present

|rowspan=2|7

|align=left|Farhan Mohamed Ahmed

|15

|2019-present

|align=left|Sak Hassan

|15

|2022–present

|rowspan=3|9

|align=left|Mohamed Awad

|14

|2021–present

|align=left|Ahmed Hirabe

|14

|2017–present

|align=left|Mukhtar Suleiman

|14

|2022–present

Top goalscorers

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;"

!width=20px|Rank

!class="unsortable" width=190px|Name

!width=50px|Goals

!width=50px|Caps

!width=50px|Ratio

!class="unsortable" width=100px|Career

|rowspan=2|1

|align="left"|Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed

|2000–2005

|align="left"|Mohamed Ali Abdi Nur

|1985–1995

|rowspan=6|3

|align="left"|Omar Mohamed

|2019

|align="left"|Mohamed Ali Abdiaziz

|11

|2006–2011

|align="left"|Issa Adim Abatari

|11

|2023–present

|align="left"|Ciise Aden Abshir

|11

|2003–2011

|align="left"|Farhan Mohamed Ahmed

|15

|2019–present

|align="left"|Sak Hassan

|15

|2022–present

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|FIFA World Cup record

!rowspan=39|

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Position

|1930 to 1958

|colspan=8|Part of &

|colspan=6|Part of &

| 1962

|colspan=8|Not a FIFA member

|colspan=6|Not a FIFA member

|1966 to 1978

|colspan=8|Did not enter

|colspan=6|Did not enter

| 1982

|colspan=8|Did not qualify

|1986 to 1998

|colspan=8|Did not enter

|colspan=6|Did not enter

| 2002

|colspan=8 rowspan=7|Did not qualify

| 2006

| 2010

| 2014

| 2018

| 2022

| 2026

|10

|20

| 2030

|colspan=8 rowspan=2|To be determined

| 2034

!Total

!21

!18

!49

Africa Cup of Nations

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|Africa Cup of Nations record

! width="1" rowspan="38" |

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1957||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Part of &

|colspan=8 rowspan=2|Part of &

| 1959

| 1962

|colspan=8 rowspan=4|Not affiliated to CAF

|colspan=6 rowspan=4|Not affiliated to CAF

| 1963

| 1965

| 1968

| 1970

|colspan=8|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 1974||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

| 1976

| 1978||colspan=8|Did not enter

|colspan=6|Did not enter

| 1980

|colspan=8|Withdrew

|colspan=6|Withdrew

| 1982

|colspan=8|Did not enter

|colspan=6|Did not enter

| 1984

|colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not qualify

| 1986

| 1988

| 1990||colspan=8 rowspan=17|Did not enter

|colspan=6 rowspan=17|Did not enter

| 1992

| 1994

| 1996

| 1998

| 2000

| 2002

| 2004

| 2006

| 2008

| 2010

| 2012

| 2013

| 2015

| 2017

| 2019

| 2021

| 2023 ||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

| 2025

| 2027||colspan=8 |To be determined||colspan=6 |To be determined

!Total|| ||0/35|| || || || || ||

!13

!24

African Nations Championship

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|African Nations Championship record

! width="1" rowspan="38" |

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 2009||colspan=8|Did not enter

|colspan=6|Did not enter

| 2011||colspan=8|Did not qualify

| 2014||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not enter

|colspan=6 rowspan=2|Did not enter

| 2016

| 2018||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not qualify

| 2020

| 2022

!Total|| ||0/6|| || || || || ||

!20

Olympic Games

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;font-size:90%;"

!colspan=9|Olympic Games record

!colspan=9|Appearances: 0

!Year

!Round

!Position

|1896–1960||colspan=8|Part of &

| 1964||colspan=8 rowspan=7|Did not enter

| 1968

| 1972

| 1976

| 1980

| 1984

| 1988

| 1992||colspan=8|Did not qualify

| 1996||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not enter

| 2000

| 2004||colspan=8 rowspan=5|Did not qualify

| 2008

| 2012

| 2016

| 2020

!Total|| ||0/26|| || || || || ||

All-Africa Games

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|All-Africa Games record

!colspan=9|Appearances: 0

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1965||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 1973||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

| 1978

| 1987||colspan=8 rowspan=8|Did not enter

| 1991

| 1995

| 1999

| 2003

| 2007

| 2011

| 2015

| 2019||colspan=8|Did not enter

!Total|| ||0/11|| || || || || ||

CECAFA Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|CECAFA Cup record

!colspan=9|Appearances: 26

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1973||rowspan=2|Group stage||6th||2||0||0||2||2||12

| 1974||5th||2||0||1||1||2||3

| 1975||colspan=8|Did not enter

|border|22px|link=Zanzibar|Zanzibar 1976||rowspan=3|Group stage||7th||3||0||0||3||2||7

|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1977||5th||3||1||1||1||2||2

| 1978||5th||4||0||1||3||3||10

| 1979||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 1980||Group stage||6th||2||0||1||1||1||3

| 1981||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not enter

| 1982

| 1983||rowspan=2|Group stage||7th||3||0||1||2||3||5

| 1984||5th||3||1||1||1||3||3

| 1985||colspan=8 rowspan=7|Did not enter

| 1987

| 1988

| 1989

|border|22px|link=Zanzibar|Zanzibar 1990

| 1991

| 1992

| 1994||rowspan=2|Group stage||5th||3||1||0||2||3||8

| 1995||8th||3||0||0||3||1||15

| 1996||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 1999||rowspan=4|Group stage||12th||2||0||0||2||0||5

| 2000||9th||4||0||1||3||1||11

| 2001||9th||3||0||1||2||0||6

| 2002||8th||4||1||0||3||1||4

| 2003||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 2004||rowspan=10|Group stage||8th||3||0||0||3||0||7

| 2005||7th||4||1||0||3||6||10

| 2006||10th||3||0||0||3||0||8

| 2007||10th||3||0||0||3||0||6

| 2008||9th||4||1||0||3||1||9

| 2009||10th||3||0||0||3||1||6

| 2010||12th||3||0||0||3||0||11

| 2011||12th||3||0||0||3||1||11

| 2012||12th||3||0||0||3||1||13

| 2013||11th||3||0||0||3||0||7

| 2014||colspan=8|Not held

| 2015||Group stage||10th||3||0||0||3||0||9

| 2017||colspan=8|Withdrew

| 2019||Group stage||5th||4||1||2||1||1||2

| 2021||colspan=8|Did not enter

!Total||0 titles||26/42||80||7||10||63||35||193

FIFA Arab Cup

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|FIFA Arab Cup record

!width=1% rowspan=39|

!colspan=6|Qualification record

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1963||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not enter||colspan=7 rowspan=3|Did not enter

| 1964

| 1966

| 1985||colspan=8 |Did not qualify

|1+

|2+

| 1988||colspan=8 rowspan=4|Did not enter||colspan=7 rowspan=4|Did not enter

| 1992

| 1998

| 2002

| 2009||colspan=8|Did not qualify

|18

| 2012||colspan=8|Did not enter||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 2021||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Did not qualify

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 2

| 2025

| 1

| 0

| 1

| 0

!Total|| ||0/9|| || || || || ||

!5+

!22+

Arab Games

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|Arab Games record

!colspan=9|Appearances: 1

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1953||colspan=8 rowspan=2|Part of &

| 1957

| 1961||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not enter

| 1965

| 1976

| 1985||Group stage||7th||3||1||0||2||5||6

| 1992||colspan=8 rowspan=3|Did not enter

| 1997

| 1999

| 2004||colspan=8|Not held

| 2007||colspan=8|Did not enter

| 2011||colspan=8|Withdrew

!Total||Group stage||1/11||3||1||0||2||5||6

Minor tournaments

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!colspan=9|Minor tournaments record

!Year

!Round

!Position

| 1963 GANEFO||Group stage||11th||2||0||0||2||0||23

| 1969 Friendship Cup||Group stage||6th||2||0||0||2||1||14

!Total||colspan=2|0 Titles||4||0||0||4||1||37

References

External links

(archived)
Somalia at CAF
Somalia at FIFA
List of international matches at RSSSF

History

Team image

Kits and crest

Results and fixtures

2025

2026

Coaches

Players

Current squad

Recent call-ups

Player records

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Africa Cup of Nations

African Nations Championship

Olympic Games

All-Africa Games

CECAFA Cup

FIFA Arab Cup

Arab Games

Minor tournaments

See also

References

External links