Djibouti_national_football_team

Djibouti national football team

Djibouti national football team

Men's association football team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Djibouti women's national football team.

The Djibouti national football team, nicknamed the Riverains de la Mer Rouge ("Shoremen of the Red Sea"), is the national football team of Djibouti. It is controlled by the Djiboutian Football Federation and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The Djibouti national football team's first win in a full FIFA-sanctioned international match was a 1–0 win vs. Somalia in the first round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

History

French Somaliland (1947–1960)

Djibouti played its first international match under the name French Somaliland, at home against neighbouring Ethiopia on 5 December 1947 and lost 5–0. This was also Ethiopia's debut.[2] The two played again in Djibouti on 1 June 1948 and Ethiopia won 2–1. On 1 May 1949, the fixture was played for the Emperor Cup in Ethiopia, and the host won 6–0. In 1954, Djibouti played Ethiopia three times: a 10–2 away loss on 1 May, a 2–0 home loss on 1 June and a 2–1 home loss the day after. Djibouti did not play a match again until 1960, when it entered a tournament for French-speaking countries held in Madagascar. The team lost 9–2 in the first round to Cameroon on 13 April. This was the squad's last game as French Somaliland.

Djibouti (1977–present)

After gaining independence in 1977, the team played under the name Djibouti for the first time against Ethiopia in an away match on 27 March 1983 and lost 8–1. The two played again two days later with Ethiopia again victorious, by 4–2. After a third friendly against Ethiopia, a 2–0 home defeat on 23 March 1984, Djibouti entered a tournament in Ethiopia against the host and Zimbabwe. They lost 2–0 to Ethiopia on 3 June and then 3–1 to Zimbabwe on 7 June.

Djibouti's first appearance at the CECAFA Cup, a local competition for nations in East and Central Africa, was in Kenya in 1994. These were its first matches since defeating South Yemen in 1988. The Djibouti squad lost 4–1 to the hosts on 28 November, 2–1 to Somalia on 1 December, and 3–0 to Tanzania on 3 December. Djibouti did not advance to the next round.

After the 1994 CECAFA Cup, Djibouti did not play a match until the qualification campaign for the 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso. They were drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Kenya, and lost the first leg 3–0 away on 31 July 1998. The second leg at home was lost 9–1 on 15 August and Kenya went through 12–1 on aggregate.

In 1998, Djibouti became a member of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The football squad has since participated in the Arab Games, a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab World.

Djibouti entered its first ever World Cup qualification in an attempt to reach the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. In Pool D of the first round of African qualification, it was drawn against the DR Congo in a two-legged qualifying preliminary. Djibouti hosted the first leg at Stade du Ville in Djibouti on 7 April 2000, drawing the match 1–1 before a crowd of 2,700 fans.[3] The squad lost the second leg 9–1 away at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa and the DR Congo advanced 10–2 on aggregate.[4]

Djibouti has never played in the African Cup of Nations, with the team regularly withdrawing or not entering for financial reasons.

Prior to their four preliminary qualifiers in late 2019, Djibouti had 2 wins, 3 draws and 55 defeats from 60 competitive matches. However, a number of new players were called up and results finally improved. First, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Djibouti beat Eswatini 2–1 at home and drew 0–0 in Manzini to advance to the second round for the first time since the 2010 qualifying when they beat Somalia 1-0 (2–1 on aggregate). This was a massive improvement from the previous edition when Djibouti had also played Eswatini and lost 8–1 on aggregate. One month later, Djibouti played two 1–1 draws against Gambia in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round, only losing the tie on penalties.

Results and fixtures

Main article: Djibouti national football team results

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

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

12 June 2023 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup Djibouti  3–0
Awarded		  Kenya Saint Pierre, Mauritius
18:00 Report Stadium: Stade de Cote d'Or
14 June 2023 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup Mauritius  1–3  Djibouti Saint Pierre, Mauritius
18:00 Nazira 26' Report
Stadium: Stade de Cote d'Or
17 June 2023 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup Djibouti  3–1  Pakistan Saint Pierre, Mauritius
15:30
Report
Stadium: Stade de Cote d'Or
16 November 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification Egypt  6–0  Djibouti Cairo, Egypt
18:00 UTC+2
Report Stadium: Cairo International Stadium
Attendance: 6,000
Referee: Jelly Chavani (South Africa)
20 November 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification Djibouti  0–1  Guinea-Bissau Cairo, Egypt
15:00 UTC+2 Report
Stadium: Al Salam Stadium
Attendance: 35
Referee: Mohamed Athoumani (Comoros)

2024

9 January Friendly Equatorial Guinea  1–1  Djibouti Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
15:00 UTC+1
Report
Stadium: Estadio de Malabo
20 March 2025 AFCON qualification Djibouti  0–2  Liberia Marrakech, Morocco
22:00 UTC±0 Report
Stadium: Stade de Marrakech
Referee: Mehrez Melki (Tunisia)
26 March 2025 AFCON qualification Liberia  0–0
(2–0 agg.)		  Djibouti Monrovia, Liberia
16:00 UTC±0 Report Stadium: Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex
Referee: Karim Sabry (Morocco)
Note: Liberia won 2–0 on aggregate.
2 June 2026 World Cup qualification Sierra Leone  v  Djibouti
9 June 2026 World Cup qualification Djibouti  v  Ethiopia

Coaches

More information Name, Nat ...

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for a friendly match against Equatorial Guinea on 9 January 2024.[6]

Caps and goals are correct as of 20 November 2023, after the match against Guinea-Bissau.

More information No., Pos. ...

Recent call-ups

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

More information Pos., Player ...

Player records

As of 20 November 2023[7]
Players in bold are still active with Djibouti.

Most appearances

More information Rank, Name ...

Top goalscorers

More information Rank, Name ...

Competition records

More information FIFA World Cup, Qualification ...
More information Olympic Games record, Appearances: 0 ...
More information Africa Cup of Nations record, Appearances: 0 ...
More information African Nations Championship record, Appearances: 0 ...
More information FIFA Arab Cup record, Arab Cup qualification record ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 4 April 2024. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  2. [2]
    "Ethiopia - List of International Matches". RSSSF.com. Barrie Courtney and RSSSF. 3 December 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  3. [3]
    "Djibouti - Congo DR". Archived from the original on 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  4. [4]
    "Congo DR - Djibouti". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  5. [5]
    "Football Manager proves England and Wayne Rooney don't need Gareth Southgate to beat Malta". Metro. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  6. [6]
    "Liste des joueurs retenue pour l'équipe Nationale senior A qui va participer au tournoi triangulaire d'île Maurice". Facebook. Fédération Djiboutienne de Football. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  7. [7]
    "Djibouti". National Football Teams.
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