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. Somalia has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup nor the Africa Cup of Nations.
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 Kit providerPeriod A2Z Sports2020–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).
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
2027
Coaches
NameNatPeriodMatchesWinsDrawsLossesWin rateQi Wusheng1978–1979 Klaus Ebbighausen 1980 Hussein Ali Abdulle May 1999 – Dec 2000 8 0 1 7 6.3% Awil Ismail Mohamed Nov 2001 – Dec 2002 7 1 2 4 28.6% Ali Abdi Farah Oct 2003 – Dec 2005 9 1 0 8 11.1% Daniel Muwathe Oct 2006 – Dec 2006 6 0 0 6 0% Hussein Ali Abdulle Oct 2007 – Dec 2007 4 0 0 4 0% Ali Abdi Farah Sept 2008 – Dec 2009 8 2 0 6 25% Mohamed Farayare Jan 2010 – Mar 2010 2 1 0 1 50% Yousef Adam Oct 2010 – Dec 2010 3 0 0 3 0% Alfred Imonje Oct 2011 – Dec 2011 5 0 1 4 10% Sam Ssimbwa Dec 2011 – Oct 2013 6 0 0 6 0% Sam Ssimbwa Mar 2014 – Sept 2015 2 0 0 2 0% Charles Mbabazi Sept 2015 Haruna Mawa Nov 2016 – Nov 2019 Bashir Hayford Mar 2019 – 2019 7 2 2 3 42.8% Said Abdi Haibeh Dec 2019 – May 2021 4 1 2 1 25% Abdellatif Salef May 2021 – June 2021 0 0 0 0 0% Salad Farah June 2021 – February 2022 2 0 0 2 0% Pieter de Jongh February 2022 – May 2022 2 0 0 2 0% Rachid Lousteque July 2022 – 2023 0 0 0 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
RankNameCapsGoalsCareer13101999–20072Yasin Egal2002003–20113Mustaf Yuusuf1802015-present4Abel Gigli1712019-present5Abdulsamed Abdullahi1602019-presentMohamud Ali1602019-present7Farhan Mohamed Ahmed1522019-presentSak Hassan1522022–present9Mohamed Awad1412021–presentAhmed Hirabe1402017–presentMukhtar Suleiman1402022–present
Top goalscorers
RankNameGoalsCapsRatioCareer1Abdullahi Sheikh362000–2005Mohamed Nur371985–19953Omar Mohamed262019Mohamed Abdiaziz2112006–2011Issa Adim Abatari2112023–presentCiise Abshir2112003–2011Farhan Mohamed Ahmed2152019–presentSak Hassan2152022–present
Somalia records and statistics Somalia player sent off: - Abdi Mohamed - v Uganda, 21 November 2023 (45+2nd minutes) Opponent player sent off: - (3 times) Bernard Dong Bortey - v Ghana, 19 November 2003 (59th minutes) Tesfaye Alebachew - v Ethiopia, 12 November 2011 (64th minutes) Landry Ndikumana - v Burundi, 13 December 2019 (90th minutes) Longest winning streak: 1 - (15 times) Longest unbeaten streak: 4 - from 17 November 2025 to present Longest losing streak: 18 - from 16 November 2011 to 22 July 2019 Longest winless streak: 28 - from 5 January 2009 to 22 July 2019 Longest goalless streak: 988 minutes - from 25 November 2012 to 22 April 2017 Longest clean sheet streak: 325 minutes - from 17 November 2025 to present Longest goalless streak by both teams: 325 minutes - from 17 November 2025 to present Most appearances: 31 - Omar Abdulkadir - 1999-2007 Top goalscorer: 3 - (2 times) Abdullahi Sheikh - 2000-2005 Mohamed Ali Abdi Nur - 1985-1995 Most goals in one calendar year: 3 - Ali Abdelaziz - 2006 Somalia own goal scored: - (4 times) Ali Muse - v Kenya, 23 November 1984 Moalim Bader - v Rwanda, 29 November 2009 Ahmed Abdullahi Abdi - v Algeria, 16 November 2023 Faisal Othman - v Guinea, 5 September 2025 Most goals by a player in a match: 2 - (2 times) Abdilahi Abdi - v Zambia, 8 November 1976 Ali Abdelaziz - v Mauritania, 27 December 2006 Most goals by a opponent player in a match: 5 - Mrisho Ngasa - v Tanzania, 1 December 2012 Most goals by a opponent player in first half: 3 - (2 times) Felix Sunzu - v Zambia, 3 December 2010 Mrisho Ngasa - v Tanzania, 1 December 2012 Most goals by a opponent player in second half: 3 - Emmanuel Okwi - v Uganda, 28 November 2011 Biggest wins: 3 - v Mauritania, 7 August 1985 Biggest defeat: 14 - v North Korea, 14 November 1963 Most goals in a match: 5 - v Mauritania, 7 August 1985 Most goals in first half: 1 - (8 times) Most goals in second half: 2 - v Eswatini, 26 March 2024 Most goals conceded in a match: 14 - v North Korea, 14 November 1963 Most goals conceded in first half: 6 - v Mauritania, 27 December 2006 Most goals conceded in second half: 4 - (3 times) v Ghana, 16 November 2003 v Sudan, 18 December 2004 v Ethiopia, 16 November 2011 Most goals by both teams in a match: 14 - v North Korea, 14 November 1963 Fewest goals by both teams in a match: 0 - (11 times) v Niger, 16 July 1980 v Uganda, 19 October 1986 v Djibouti, 19 November 2000 v Eritrea, 14 December 2001 v Ethiopia, 12 November 2011 v Djibouti, 7 December 2019 v Eritrea, 15 December 2019 v Guinea, 21 March 2025 v Oman, 26 November 2025 v Mauritania, 27 March 2026 v Mauritania, 31 March 2026 Fastest goals: 9th minutes - Abdilahi Abdi - v Kenya, 26 November 1994 Fastest goals by a opponent: 1st minutes - Mrisho Ngasa - v Tanzania, 1 December 2012 Fastest 2 goals by a opponent: 1 minute - v Zambia, 3 December 2010 Fastest 3 goals by a opponent: 3 minute - v Zambia, 3 December 2010 Fastest 2 goals to start the match: 50th minute - v Djibouti, 1 December 1994 Fastest 2 goals by a opponent to start the match: 4th minute - v Zambia, 4 December 2013 Fastest 3 goals by a opponent to start the match: 15th minute - v Egypt, 12 November 1977
Competitive record
FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition*1930 to 1958Part of & Part of & 1962Not a FIFA memberNot a FIFA member1966 to 1978Did not enterDid not enter 1982Did not qualify2020111986 to 1998Did not enterDid not enter 2002Did not qualify200206 2006200207 2010100101 2014201105 2018200206 2022210123 202610019320 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034Total231418649
Africa Cup of Nations Africa Cup of Nations recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 1957Part of & Part of & 1959 1962Not affiliated to CAFNot affiliated to CAF 1963 1965 1968 1970WithdrewWithdrew 1974Did not qualify210125 1976210112 1978Did not enterDid not enter 1980WithdrewWithdrew 1982Did not enterDid not enter 1984Did not qualify100101 1986210111 1988201105 1990Did not enterDid not enter 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Did not qualify200215 2025200225 2027To be determinedTo be determinedTotal 0/35 13319724
African Nations Championship African Nations Championship recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 2009Did not enterDid not enter 2011Did not qualify210116 2014Did not enterDid not enter 2016 2018Did not qualify200214 2020200227 2022200213Total 0/6 8107520
Olympic Games Olympic Games recordAppearances: 0YearRoundPosition1896–1960Part of & 1964Did not enter 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992Did not qualify 1996Did not enter 2000 2004Did not qualify 2008 2012 2016 2020Total 0/26
All-Africa Games All-Africa Games recordAppearances: 0YearRoundPosition 1965Did not enter 1973Did not qualify 1978 1987Did not enter 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019Did not enterTotal 0/11
CECAFA Cup
CECAFA Cup recordAppearances: 26YearRoundPosition 1973Group stage6th2002212 19745th201123 1975Did not enter 1976Group stage7th300327 19775th311122 19785th4013310 1979Did not enter 1980Group stage6th201113 1981Did not enter 1982 1983Group stage7th301235 19845th311133 1985Did not enter 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1994Group stage5th310238 19958th3003115 1996Did not enter 1999Group stage12th200205 20009th4013111 20019th301206 20028th410314 2003Did not enter 2004Group stage8th300307 20057th4103610 200610th300308 200710th300306 20089th410319 200910th300316 201012th3003011 201112th3003111 201212th3003113 201311th300307 2014Not held 2015Group stage10th300309 2017Withdrew 2019Group stage5th412112 2021Did not enterTotal0 titles26/42807106335193
FIFA Arab Cup FIFA Arab Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition 1963Did not enterDid not enter 1964 1966 1985Did not qualify30121+2+ 1988Did not enterDid not enter 1992 1998 2002 2009Did not qualify 3003318 2012Did not enterDid not enter 2021Did not qualify 1 0 0 1 1 2 2025 1 0 1 0 0 0Total 0/9 80265+22+
Arab Games Arab Games recordAppearances: 1YearRoundPosition 1953Part of & 1957 1961Did not enter 1965 1976 1985Group stage7th310256 1992Did not enter 1997 1999 2004Not held 2007Did not enter 2011WithdrewTotalGroup stage1/11310256
Minor tournaments Minor tournaments recordYearRoundPosition 1963 GANEFOGroup stage11th2002023 1969 Friendship CupGroup stage6th2002114Total0 Titles4004137
See also Somali national beach soccer team Somali League Somali Cup Somali Football Federation
References
External links
(archived) Somalia at CAF Somalia at FIFA List of international matches at RSSSF