Djibouti national football team

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This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Djibouti women's national football team.
Djibouti
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Riverains de la Mer Rouge (Shoremen of the Red Sea)
AssociationDjiboutian Football Federation
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationCECAFA
(East & Central Africa)
Head coachJulien Mette
CaptainDaoud Wais
Most caps (33)
Top scorerMahdi Houssein Mahabeh (6)
Home stadiumStade du Ville
FIFA codeDJI
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 182 Increase 1 (12 August 2021)[1]
Highest169 (December 1994)
Lowest207 (April–July 2015, November 2015)
First international
 Ethiopia 5–0 French Somaliland
(Ethiopia; 5 December 1947)
Biggest win
 Djibouti 4–1 South Yemen 
(Djibouti City, Djibouti; 26 February 1988)
 Djibouti 3–0 Mauritius 
(Djibouti City, Djibouti; 23 November 2019)
Biggest defeat
 Uganda 10–1 Djibouti 
(Kigali, Rwanda; 9 December 2001)
 Rwanda 9–0 Djibouti 
(Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; 13 December 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 Djiboutian Football Federation, and is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). Until its 1–0 win over Somalia in the first round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Djibouti national football team had never won a full FIFA-sanctioned international match.

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.[3] 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 (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 Pan 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.[4] 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.[5]

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[]

2021[]

15 June Friendly Djibouti  1–0  Somalia Djibouti City, Djibouti
17:00 UTC+3 Stadium: El Hadj Hassan Gouled Aptidon Stadium
23 June 2021 Arab Cup qualification Lebanon  1–0  Djibouti Doha, Qatar
20:00 UTC+3
  • El-Helwe Goal 46'
 Report Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium
Referee: Benoît Bastien (France)
31 August 2022 World Cup qualification Algeria  v  Djibouti
4 September 2022 World Cup qualification Djibouti  v  Niger
5 October 2022 World Cup qualification Djibouti  v  Burkina Faso
9 October 2022 World Cup qualification Burkina Faso  v  Djibouti
10 November 2022 World Cup qualification Djibouti  v  Algeria
13 November 2022 World Cup qualification Niger  v  Djibouti

Coaches[]

Name Nat Period Matches Wins Draws Losses Win %
Mohamed Bader Djibouti 1998? – Dec 2001 15 0 2 13 0.00%
Ahmed Hussein Djibouti Oct 2007 – Dec 2007 4 1 0 3 25.00%
Mohamed Abar Djibouti Jan 2008 – Jun 2008 4 0 0 4 0.00%
Ahmed Abdelmonem Egypt Jul 2008 – Jul 2010 11 0 1 10 0.00%
Noureddine Gharsalli Tunisia Oct 2011 – Jul 2016 5 0 0 5 0.00%
Michael Gibson[6] England Jul 2016 – Apr 2017 4 1 0 3 25.00%
Moussa Ghassoum Mauritania Dec 2017 – Apr 2019 5 0 0 5 0.00%
Julien Mette France Apr 2019 – present 13 3 3 7 23.08%

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following 23 players were called up for the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup qualification match against Lebanon on 23 June 2021.[7]
Caps, goals and player numbers are correct as of 23 June 2021, after the match against Lebanon. Clubs are correct as of present day.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Nasradine Abdi Aptidon (1994-06-05) 5 June 1994 (age 27) 2 0 Djibouti AS Port
16 1GK (1996-11-05) 5 November 1996 (age 24) 11 0 Djibouti AS Port
22 1GK (1993-04-21) 21 April 1993 (age 28) 3 0 Djibouti Gendarmerie Nationale FC
2 2DF (1991-05-18) 18 May 1991 (age 30) 12 0 Djibouti AS Port
4 2DF (1991-11-28) 28 November 1991 (age 29) 13 0 Djibouti GR/SIAF
14 2DF (1997-07-24) 24 July 1997 (age 24) 0 0 Djibouti GR/SIAF
17 2DF Yabe Siad Isman (1998-03-12) 12 March 1998 (age 23) 8 0 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
23 2DF Daoud Wais (Captain) (1986-12-06) 6 December 1986 (age 34) 31 1 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
3 3MF (1995-08-29) 29 August 1995 (age 26) 13 1 Djibouti AS Port
5 3MF Abdi Idleh Hamza (1991-12-16) 16 December 1991 (age 29) 14 2 Djibouti FC Dikhil/SGDT
6 3MF Sabri Ali (2000-09-20) 20 September 2000 (age 20) 2 0 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
10 3MF (1991-10-27) 27 October 1991 (age 29) 14 0 Djibouti GR/SIAF
11 3MF (1997-10-04) 4 October 1997 (age 23) 2 0 Djibouti ASAS Djibouti Télécom
12 3MF (1996-12-19) 19 December 1996 (age 24) 7 0 Djibouti AS Port
15 3MF (1999-11-01) 1 November 1999 (age 21) 5 0 Djibouti ASAS Djibouti Télécom
19 3MF (1993-04-28) 28 April 1993 (age 28) 12 1 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
20 3MF (1993-01-20) 20 January 1993 (age 28) 0 0 Djibouti FC Dikhil/SGDT
7 4FW (2000-02-25) 25 February 2000 (age 21) 7 0 Djibouti AS Port
8 4FW (1998-09-01) 1 September 1998 (age 22) 6 0 Djibouti AS Port
9 4FW Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh (1995-12-20) 20 December 1995 (age 25) 16 6 Djibouti ASAS Djibouti Télécom
13 4FW (1991-11-11) 11 November 1991 (age 29) 13 0 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
18 4FW Samuel Akinbinu (1999-06-06) 6 June 1999 (age 22) 2 1 Djibouti Arta/Solar7
21 4FW (1996-06-13) 13 June 1996 (age 25) 2 0 Djibouti Arta/Solar7

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.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up

Player records[]

As of 15 December 2019[8]
Players in bold are still active with Djibouti.

Competition records[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  2. ^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 28 August 2021. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Ethiopia - List of International Matches". RSSSF.com. Barrie Courtney and RSSSF. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2010-10-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-25. Retrieved 2010-10-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ "Football Manager proves England and Wayne Rooney don't need Gareth Southgate to beat Malta". Metro. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Djibouti". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Djibouti". National Football Teams.

External links[]

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