The Qatar national under-20 football team is the national youth team of Qatar and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association. Qatar's U-20 national team played an important role in the development of football in Qatar and gave it one of its first shining moments on the global stage when the youth squad finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia.
History
Formation In response to the recently established World Youth Championship, Qatar established its national youth team in 1976. However, they were unable to qualify for the first two World Youth Championships in 1977 in Tunisia and in 1979 in Japan.
1981 World Youth Championship In the 1980 AFC Youth Championship which was held in Thailand, the Qatar U20 team finished as runners-up after losing to South Korea in the final. This granted them a spot in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was hosted in Australia. Under the supervision of Brazilian coach Evaristo de Macedo, the championships proved to be a success. Facing Brazil in the quarter-finals, they were able to secure a 3–2 victory by utilizing the offside trap. They went on to face England in the semi-finals, where they earned a 2–1 victory after a fine performance by their goalkeeper.
The team finished second after losing 0–4 to West Germany in the final on a wet pitch which was unfavorable to the Qataris as they were not used to playing in such conditions. As a result of achieving runners-up position, each Qatari player received 100,000 Qatari riyals, a Mercedes Benz, and a bungalow. The population of Qataris was only 120,000 at the time of this achievement.
1995 World Youth Championship Qatar earned its second international U-20 World Cup appearance in 1995 as hosts. While Nigeria was preparing to host the 1995 edition, an Ebola epidemic broke out in West Africa, and as a result, FIFA decided to award the hosting rights to Qatar with only twenty days remaining till the start of the championships.
2014 AFC U-19 Championship Qatar's youth team won the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time in its history after defeating DPR Korea 1–0 in the final of the 2014 edition which took place in Myanmar. Advancing undefeated from a group which included DPR Korea and Iraq, they defeated China 4–2 in the quarter-finals, and earned a 3–2 victory after extra time against the hosts in the semi-finals. In the finals, the Qataris would be victorious against DPR Korea for a second time in the tournament, with super sub Akram Afif scoring the only goal of the match in the second half. The entire squad was composed of Aspire Academy students. As a result of Aspire's HOPE Project (Holistic Overseas Player Experience), most of the squad were European-based.
Competitive record FIFA U-20 World Cup FIFA U-20 World Cup recordHosts / YearResult 1977did not qualify 1979 1981Runners-up631279 1983did not qualify 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995Group stage301214 1997did not qualify 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015Group stage300317 2017did not qualify 2019Group stage300306 2023did not qualify 2025 2027 To be determinedTotal4/25153210926
AFC U-20 Asian Cup Year ResultPldWDLGFGA 1980Runners-up421144 1982did not qualify 1985 1986Fourth place520376 1988Third place5311125 1990Fourth place530253 1992Round 1430195 1994Round 1412157 1996Round 14013312 1998Round 1411226 2000did not qualify 2002Round 1310278 2004Quarter-finals421132 2006did not qualify 2008 2010 2012Round 1310246 2014Champions6510146 2016Round 1311124 2018Semifinals53021913 2023Round 13003212 2025Round 1310265Total 16/22 65 29 9 27 104 104
Results and fixtures 2023
2026
Managerial history
Evaristo de Macedo (xx) José Faria (1979) Evaristo de Macedo (xx) João Francisco (1986) Edison de Souza (1987) Celso Roth (1991–92) Marcio Maximo (1994) Jørgen E. Larsen (1995) Alejandro Sabella (1995) José Paulo (1995–97) Marcelo Buarque (1997) José Paulo (1998) Obeid Jumaa (1998) Ruud Doctor (2001–03) Tiny Ruys (xx–2005) Roberto Landi (2005–06) Remco Boere (2007) Tiny Ruys (xx–2011) Marcel van Buuren (2011–2013) Félix Sánchez (2013–2020)
Head-to-head record The following table shows Qatar's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-20 World Cup and AFC U-20 Asian Cup. In FIFA U-20 World Cup OpponentWin %Total In AFC U-20 Asian Cup OpponentWin %Total
References
External links QFA - U-20
See also Qatar national football team Qatar national under-17 football team Football in Qatar