Djibouti national football team

Djibouti

Nickname(s)	Riverains de la Mer Rouge (Shoremen of the Red Sea)
Association	Fédération Djiboutienne de Football
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	CECAFA (East & Central Africa)
Head coach	Michael Gibson
Top scorer	Ahmed Daher (4)
Home stadium	Stade du Ville
FIFA code	DJI
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	205 (24 November 2016)
Highest	169 (December 1994)
Lowest	207 (April–July 2015, November 2015)
Elo ranking
Current	213 (14 February 2016)
First international
Ethiopia 5–0 French Somaliland (Ethiopia; December 5, 1947)
Biggest win
Djibouti 4–1 South Yemen  (Djibouti City, Djibouti; February 26, 1988)
Biggest defeat
Uganda 10–1 Djibouti  (Kigali, Rwanda; December 9, 2001)  Rwanda 9–0 Djibouti  (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; December 13, 2007)

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 Fédération Djiboutienne de Football, and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). Until its 1–0 defeat of Somalia's national squad in the opening stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Djibouti national football team had never won a full FIFA sanctioned international.

History

French Somaliland

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.^[1] 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 10–1 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

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 Pan Arab Games, a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab World.

In July 1999, Djibouti played in its second CECAFA Cup, in Rwanda. The team was drawn into a group against the host nation and Tanzania. It lost 4–1 to Rwanda on 24 July and 2–1 to Tanzania on 26 July, and did not advance to the next round.^[2]

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 Nations Cup, with the team withdrawing twice from the tournament in 2004 and 2008.

Coaches

Name	Nat	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Efficiency %
Mohamed Bader		1998? – Dec 2001	15	0	2	13	6.7%
Ahmed Hussein		Oct 2007 – Dec 2007	4	1	0	3	25%
Mohamed Abar		Jan 2008 – Jun 2008	4	0	0	4	0%
Ahmed Abdelmonem		Jul 2008 – Jul 2010	11	0	1	10	4.6%
Noureddine Gharsalli		Oct 2011 – Jul 2016	5	0	0	5	0%
Michael Gibson		Jul 2016 – Present	0	0	0	0	0%

Competition records

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1930 Part of  France 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 Did not enter 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 Did not qualify 2006 Did not enter 2010 Did not qualify 2014 2018 2022 To be determined Total 0/21

Olympic Games record Olympic Games Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1896 – 1976 Part of  France (FRA) 1980 Did not enter 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 Did not qualify 2012 Did not enter 2016 2020 To be determined Total 0/25 Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since the 1992 edition.

Africa Cup of Nations Record Africa Cup of Nations Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1957 Part of  France 1959 1962 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 Did not enter 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Did not qualify 2002 2004 Withdrew 2006 Did not qualify 2008 Withdrew 2010 Did not qualify 2012 Did not enter 2013 2015 2017 Did not qualify 2019 To be determined 2021 2023 Total 0/29

All-Africa Games Record All-Africa Games Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1965 Part of  France (FRA) 1973 1978 Did not enter 1987 Withdrew during qualification 1991 Did not enter 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 To be determined All Total 0/11 Prior to the Cairo 1991 campaign, the Football at the All-Africa Games was open to full senior national teams.

African Nations Championship record African Nations Championship Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 2009 Did not enter 2011 Did not qualify 2014 Did not enter 2016 Did not qualify 2018 To be determined Total 0/3

CECAFA Cup record CECAFA Cup Appearances: 10 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1973 Part of  France 1974 1975 1976 1977 Did not enter 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1994 Group Stage 8th 3 0 0 3 2 9 1995 Did not enter 1996 1999 Group Stage 11th 2 0 0 2 2 6 2000 8th 4 0 1 3 4 15 2001 11th 3 0 0 3 3 17 2002 Did not enter 2003 2004 2005 Group Stage 10th 4 0 0 4 2 18 2006 11th 3 0 0 3 0 10 2007 8th 3 0 0 3 2 19 2008 10th 4 0 1 3 2 13 2009 12th 3 0 0 3 0 13 2010 Did not enter 2011 Group Stage 11th 3 0 0 3 2 10 2012 Did not enter 2013 2014 Not held 2015 To be determined Total 0 Titles 10/38 38 0 8 30 19 130

Arab Nations Cup record Arab Nations Cup Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1963 Part of  France 1964 1966 1985 Did not enter 1988 1992 1998 2002 2009 Did not qualify ^1 2012 Did not enter Total 0/9 ^1 The 2009 edition was cancelled during qualification.

Pan Arab Games record Pan Arab Games Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1953 Part of  France (FRA) 1957 1961 1965 1976 1985 Did not enter 1992 1997 1999 2004 No tournament 2007 Did not enter 2011 Total 0/11

See also

• Football in Djibouti
• Fédération Djiboutienne de Football
• Djibouti Premier League
• Djibouti Cup
• Stade du Ville

References

1. http://rsssf.com/tablese/ethi-intres.html
2. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/dji-intres.html
3. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=3868/matches/match=19532/report.html
4. http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=3868/matches/match=19533/report.html

External sources

• Djibouti at National-Football-Teams.com.