Oman national football team

Oman

Nickname(s)	Al-Ahmar (The Reds) Samba Al-Khaleej (Gulf Samba)
Association	Oman Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach	Branko Ivanković
Captain	Mohsin Al-Khaldi
Most caps	Ahmed Mubarak (180)[1]
Top scorer	Hani Al-Dhabit (43)
Home stadium	Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex
FIFA code	OMA
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	79 (10 February 2022)[2]
Highest	50 (August – October 2004)
Lowest	129 (October 2016)
First international
Libya 14–1 Muscat and Oman (Cairo, Egypt; 2 September 1965)
Biggest win
Oman 14–0 Bhutan  (Muscat, Oman; 28 March 2017)
Biggest defeat
Libya 21–0 Muscat and Oman (Baghdad, Iraq, 6 April 1966)
Asian Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 2004)
Best result	Round of 16 (2019)
WAFF Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 2008)
Best result	Third place (2012)
Arabian Gulf Cup
Appearances	24 (first in 1974)
Best result	Champions (2009, 2017–18)

The Oman national football team (Arabic: منتخب عُمان لكرة القدم) represents Oman in men's international football and is controlled by the Oman Football Association. Although the team was officially founded in 1978, the squad was formed some time before that and a proper football association was formed only in December 2005.

History[]

The mid 1990s under the OFA chairmanship of Sheikh Saif bin Hashil Al-Maskary saw Oman achieve higher results on the Asian stage. Former Omani captain, Hani Al-Dhabit was awarded the RSSSF 2001 World Top Scorer, with 22 goals;^[4] the most goals scored by a player who won the World Top Scorer award till date and also being the third Arab and only the first Omani to win the award.^[5]

The senior team has never qualified for the World Cup but has qualified for the Asian Cup in the years 2004, 2007, 2015 and 2019. They also have reached the Arabian Gulf Cup final four times and have won it for the first time on their third attempt as hosts in 2009. They had to wait for the 2017 edition to win the tournament for the second time in their history.

Gulf Cup performance[]

Prior to the newer millennium, Oman generally struggled more in the Gulf Cup, usually finishing in 6th or 7th place even when the cup was held in Oman. It was in 1998 when the national team began to improve its performance and in the 2003 and 2004 Gulf Cups, new talents like Amad Al-Hosni, Ali Al-Habsi, Sultan Al-Touqi, Badr Al-Maimani and Khalifa Ayil may have made the team more successful.

In the 2002 Gulf Cup which was held in Saudi Arabia, Oman had once again finished at 5th place but under the captaincy of Dhofar F.C.'s Hani Al-Dhabit, Oman had accomplished something which was never done before in the team's history in the Gulf Cup, defeating 9-time winners^[6] Kuwait. The match had ended 3–1 with captain Hani Al-Dhabit scoring a hat-trick. Hani also netted a goal against Bahrain and a consolation goal in a 2–1 loss against Qatar.^[7] At the end of the competition, Hani was the only Omani to score goals and was also awarded the "Top Goalscorer" of the competition with a total of 5 goals.^[8]

In the 2004 Gulf Cup which was held in Doha, Oman reached the final for the first time in the team's history which was eventually lost to the hosts Qatar in a penalty shootout after the goalkeeping sensation Ali Al-Habsi missed a penalty. Qatar won the match 6–5 on penalties after the match had ended 1–1 at normal time. Amad Al-Hosni was awarded the "Top Goalscorer" award of the competition with a total of 4 goals.^[9]

In the 2007 Gulf Cup which was held in the United Arab Emirates, the national team again reached the final for a second consecutive time and again lost 1–0 to the hosts United Arab Emirates. Although Oman lost to the Emirates in the final, they had maintained an undefeated record throughout the competition excluding the final.^[10] Once again Ali Al-Habsi had received the "Best Goalkeeper of the Gulf Cup" award^[11] for the third consecutive time in a row, the most won by any goalkeeper in the 40 years of the Gulf Cup tournament. Oman had tied United Arab Emirates in goal-scoring with nine goals each after the competition.^[12]

Eventually after losing twice in the Gulf Cup final consecutively, Oman had managed to win the 2009 Gulf Cup tournament as hosts by defeating Saudi Arabia in a penalty shootout. Oman won the match 6–5 on penalties after the match had ended 0–0 at extra time. Oman maintained a clean-sheet throughout the whole competition.^[13] The competition in Muscat was the first for Hassan Rabia, and despite this, he managed to score 4 goals making him receive the "Top Goalscorer" award.^[14] Ali Al-Habsi also received his fourth consecutive "Best Goalkeeper Award".^[15]

However, Ali Al-Habsi would not go on to feature in the next two Gulf Cup's due to his commitments with his English club team Wigan Athletic F.C. at the time. In the 2010 Gulf Cup which was held in Yemen, Oman drew all the three matches of the group stage against Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Oman could manage to score only one goal in the tournament against Bahrain which was scored by Amad Al-Hosni and hence could not go further in the tournament. Following these performances of the team in the regional tournament, the Oman Football Association sacked their then-manager Claude Le Roy on 9 January 2011 who won them their maiden tournament in 2009.

In the 2013 Gulf Cup which was held in Bahrain, Oman could manage to draw only one match against the hosts Bahrain and lost in their other two matches against Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Oman again could score only one goal and this time it was from the spot by Hussain Al-Hadhri in the match against Qatar which Oman eventually lost 2–1.

In the 2017 Gulf Cup which was held in Kuwait, Oman started the tournament with a loss to the United Arab Emirates by one goal from a penalty kick by Ali Mabkhout. Afterwards, Oman won the two remaining matches of the group stage, first against the hosts Kuwait 1–0 with a penalty kick by Ahmed Kano then against Saudi Arabia 2–0. Oman qualified to the semi-final match which was against Bahrain and won it 1–0 with an own goal by the Bahraini Mahdi Abduljabbar. Eventually, and after nine years from its first title, Oman managed to win the tournament for the second time in its history by defeating United Arab Emirates in the final in a penalty shootout. Oman won the match 5–4 on penalties after it had ended 0–0 after extra time. The Omani Ahmed Mubarak Kano was awarded the most valuable player award for his role in the results of the Omani team campaign.

Kits and sponsors[]

Over the years Oman has had multiple kit providers of which Grand Sport held the contract for the longest period. Oman has also worn kits provided by Puma, Umbro, Lotto and Adidas.

The national team signed a contract in 2006 with Gulf Air^[16][17] but the deal ended in 2008 and was replaced with a signed sponsorship by Omantel's Oman Mobile.

On 9 May 2012, the Oman Football Association launched the new official team kit to be worn by Oman in their push for 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fourth Round. The new kit was launched together with a new OFA logo. The new kit was designed for Oman by Taj Oman, an Oman-based company.^[18] Later in June 2012, Oman's airline Oman Air became the official carrier of the Oman Football Association.^[19]

On 8 February 2014, the Omani Football Association confirmed the tie-up with Italian sports apparel manufacturer Kappa. A joint venture agreement was signed by sportswear Kappa and the OFA's apparel brand Taj Oman. In a 4-year deal, Kappa will produce the kit worn by all the Oman National football teams bearing the Taj mark and will provide Oman with a range of sportswear specific for the country. The deal will see both the names (Kappa & Taj) on the kit worn by the National teams and on all retail items.^[20] Oman Air also renewed its deal on the same day with the OFA till the end of the 2013–14 season. On 16 September 2014, the Omani Football Association announced that they had signed an agreement with Asia Sports Marketing to become the exclusive sales agent for the Association.^[21]

On 9 September 2015, the Omani Football Association signed a one-year contract extension with Oman Air as the official carrier of the national team. The association said that although Oman Air's ticket allocation in the deal is primarily meant for the senior national team's tours, OFA has availed the privilege for club teams' trips to Salalah for Omantel Professional League (OPL) matches and also for overseas travel of the national age-group squads.^[22][23] On 18 October 2015, the Omani Football Association announced a partnership with a new mental energizer Energy Drinks Partner, Effect.^[24][25]

In 2018, the OFA signed a contract with German sports company Jako.

Period	Kit Manufacturer
1978–1996	Puma
1996–2005	Grand Sport
2005–2006	Umbro
2006–2008	Lotto
2008–2012	Adidas
2012–2014	Taj Oman
2014–2018	Kappa
2018–	Jako

Schedule[]

Recent and forthcoming matches[]

The following is a list of match results in the next 12 months:

2021[]

2022[]

Coaching staff[]

As of February 2019^[26]

Position	Name
Head Coach	Branko Ivanković
Assistant Coach	Mario Tokić
	Waleed Al-Saadi
Goalkeeping Coach	Enver Lugušić[27]
Fitness Coach
Performance Analyst	Zlatko Ivanković
Team Manager
Players Relations Manager	Ahmed Hadid Al-Mukhaini
Task Manager
Operations Manager
Team Doctor
Physiotherapist
Physiotherapist
Masseur
Technical Director	Slobodan Pavković

Former coaches[]

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Vietnam and China on 24 and 29 March 2022, respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Caps and goals correct as of 28 January, after the match against Saudi Arabia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini	(1997-06-20) 20 June 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Al-Nasr
18	1GK	Faiz Al-Rushaidi	(1988-07-19) 19 July 1988 (age 33)	63	0	Mes Rafsanjan
22	1GK	Ahmed Al-Rawahi	(1994-05-05) 5 May 1994 (age 27)	4	0	Al-Seeb
3	2DF	Fahmi Durbin	(1993-10-10) 10 October 1993 (age 28)	10	0	Al-Nasr
5	2DF	Juma Al-Habsi	(1996-01-28) 28 January 1996 (age 26)	3	0	Al-Seeb
6	2DF		(1991-11-26) 26 November 1991 (age 30)	1	0	Dhofar
13	2DF	Khalid Al-Braiki	(1993-07-03) 3 July 1993 (age 28)	12	0	Al-Seeb
14	2DF	Amjad Al-Harthi	(1994-01-01) 1 January 1994 (age 28)	11	1	Al-Seeb
17	2DF	Ali Al-Busaidi	(1991-01-21) 21 January 1991 (age 31)	70	1	Al-Seeb
21	2DF		(1995-05-14) 14 May 1995 (age 26)	8	0	Al-Seeb
2	3MF		(1996-09-15) 15 September 1996 (age 25)	2	0	Al-Nahda
4	3MF	Arshad Al-Alawi	(2000-04-12) 12 April 2000 (age 21)	11	1	Oman Club
8	3MF	Zahir Al-Aghbari	(1999-05-28) 28 May 1999 (age 22)	4	0	Mes Rafsanjan
10	3MF	Mohsin Al-Khaldi (C)	(1988-08-16) 16 August 1988 (age 33)	56	7	Saham
12	3MF	Abdullah Fawaz	(1996-10-03) 3 October 1996 (age 25)	7	0	Dhofar
15	3MF	Jameel Al-Yahmadi	(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994 (age 28)	31	2	Al-Markhiya
16	3MF	Mohammed Al-Ghafri	(1997-05-17) 17 May 1997 (age 24)	8	0
19	3MF		(1993-05-19) 19 May 1993 (age 28)	7	0
20	3MF	Salaah Al-Yahyaei	(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994 (age 28)	18	2	Dhofar
23	3MF	Harib Al-Saadi	(1990-02-01) 1 February 1990 (age 32)	44	0	Dhofar
7	4FW	Khalid Al-Hajri	(1994-03-10) 10 March 1994 (age 28)	33	13	Bahla
9	4FW	Abdulaziz Al-Muqbali	(1989-04-23) 23 April 1989 (age 32)	85	30	Dhofar
11	4FW	Issam Al-Sabhi	(1997-05-01) 1 May 1997 (age 24)	2	0

Recent call-ups[]

The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Mohammed Al-Musalami	(1990-04-27) 27 April 1990 (age 31)	91	3	Al-Gharafa	vs.  Australia, 8 October 2021
DF	Ali Salim Al-Nahar	(1992-08-21) 21 August 1992 (age 29)	34	1	Dhofar	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
MF		(1990-11-22) 22 November 1990 (age 31)	0	0	Nizwa Club	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
MF		(1998-05-13) 13 May 1998 (age 23)	0	0	Dhofar	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
MF	Yaseen al-Sheyadi	(1994-02-05) 5 February 1994 (age 28)	26	0	Al-Suwaiq	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
FW	Muhsen Al-Ghassani	(1997-03-27) 27 March 1997 (age 24)	25	6	Al-Seeb	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
FW		(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994 (age 28)	0	0	Dhofar	vs.  Indonesia, 29 May 2021
FW	Marwan Taib	(1996-04-07) 7 April 1996 (age 25)	1	0	Al-Seeb	vs.  Saudi Arabia, 27 January 2022

Records[]

As of 20 June 2021^[29]

Players in bold are still active with Oman.

Competition records[]

FIFA World Cup[]

FIFA World Cup record											FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1982	Did not enter										Did not enter
1986	Withdrew										Withdrew
1990	Did not qualify										6	0	2	4	2	11
1994											6	2	2	2	10	5
1998											6	4	1	1	14	2
2002											14	6	4	4	40	19
2006											6	3	1	2	14	3
2010											8	4	2	2	9	7
2014											16	6	5	5	12	10
2018											8	4	2	2	11	7
2022											Ongoing
2026	To be determined										To be determined
Total	0/22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		70	29	19	22	115	70

AFC Asian Cup[]

AFC Asian Cup record											AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1956 to 1980	Not an AFC member										Not an AFC member
1984	Did not qualify										4	1	1	2	9	15
1988	Withdrew										Withdrew
1992	Did not qualify										2	0	0	2	0	5
1996											6	4	0	2	23	5
2000											3	1	0	2	4	4
2004	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	4	3	Squad		6	5	0	1	24	2
2007	Group stage	15th	3	0	2	1	1	3	Squad		6	4	0	2	14	6
2011	Did not qualify										6	2	2	2	4	4
2015	Group stage	12th	3	1	0	2	1	5	Squad		6	4	2	0	7	1
2019	Round of 16	16th	4	1	0	3	4	6	Squad		14	9	2	3	39	12
2023	Qualified										8	6	0	2	16	6
Total	Round of 16	5/18	13	3	3	7	10	17	—		61	36	7	18	140	60

Arabian Gulf Cup[]

Arabian Gulf Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Squad
1970	Did not enter
1972
1974	Sixth place	2	0	0	2	0	9	–9
1976	Seventh place	6	0	1	5	3	21	–18
1979	Seventh place	6	0	0	6	1	21	−20
1982	Sixth place	5	0	0	5	2	15	−13
1984	Seventh place	6	0	2	4	3	9	−6
1986	Seventh place	6	0	1	5	4	11	–7
1988	Seventh place	6	1	1	4	3	9	−6
1990	Fourth place	4	0	3	1	4	6	−2
1992	Sixth place	5	0	0	5	1	10	–9
1994	Sixth place	5	0	2	3	4	9	–5
1996	Sixth place	5	0	2	3	2	7	–5
1998	Fourth place	5	1	1	3	6	12	−6
2002	Fifth place	5	1	1	3	5	7	−2
2003	Fourth place	6	2	2	2	6	4	+2
2004	Runners-up	5	3	1	1	10	7	+3
2007	Runners-up	5	4	0	1	7	4	+3
2009	Champions	5	3	2	0	7	0	+7	Squad
2010	Group stage	3	0	3	0	1	1	0
2013	Group stage	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	Squad
2014	Fourth place	5	1	2	2	7	5	+2	Squad
2017	Champions	5	3	1	1	4	1	+3	Squad
2019	Group stage	3	1	1	1	3	4	–1	Squad
2021	To be determined
Total	22/24	104	19	27	58	81	172	–91	–

WAFF Championship[]

WAFF Championship record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2000	Not a WAFF Member
2002
2004
2007
2008	Group stage	2	0	0	2	2	5	−3
2010	Group stage	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2
2012	Third place	5	3	0	2	5	3	+2
2014	Group stage	2	0	2	0	0	0	0
2019	Did not enter
Total	4/9	11	3	3	5	9	12	+3

Asian Games[]

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1951	Did not participate
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982	Withdrew
1986	Did not participate
1990
1994	11th place	3	1	1	1	4	4
1998	11th place	5	2	1	2	14	13
2002–present	See Oman national under-23 football team
Total	2/13	8	3	2	3	18	17

Pan Arab Games[]

Pan Arab Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1953	Did not enter
1957
1961
1965	Group stage	10th	4	0	0	4	2	45
1976	Did not enter
1985
1997	Group stage	7th	3	0	2	1	4	6
1999	Group stage	8th	4	0	2	2	2	7
2007	Did not enter
2011	Group stage	9th	2	0	1	1	0	2
Total	Group stage	4/10	13	0	5	8	8	60

Arab Cup[]

FIFA Arab Cup record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1963	Did not enter
1964
1966	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	24	−23
1985	Did not enter
1988
1992
1998	Withdrew
2002	Did not enter
2012
2021	Quarter-finals	4	1	1	2	6	5	+1
Total	2/10	7	1	1	5	7	29	−22

Head-to-head record[]

Updated on 11 December 2021 after match against  Tunisia. ^[30]

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Afghanistan	4	4	0	0	12	1	+11
Algeria	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5
Australia	10	1	3	6	6	21	−15
Azerbaijan	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
Bahrain	45	14	17	14	44	51	−7
Bangladesh	3	3	0	0	10	2	+8
Belarus	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4
Benin	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Bhutan	2	2	0	0	18	2	+16
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Brazil	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Burkina Faso	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4
Bulgaria	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Chile	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
China PR	7	2	1	4	7	15	−8
Chinese Taipei	2	2	0	0	9	2	+7
Costa Rica	1	0	0	1	3	4	−1
DR Congo	1	0	1	0	2	2	0
Ecuador	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
Egypt	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1
Estonia	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1
Finland	6	0	3	3	2	7	−5
Gabon	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Germany	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Guam	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1
Haiti	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Hong Kong	1	1	0	0	6	0	+6
India	10	7	3	0	23	6	+17
Indonesia	4	3	1	0	6	2	+4
Iran	13	2	4	7	15	26	−11
Iraq	26	6	8	12	22	45	−23
Japan	14	1	3	10	5	21	−16
Jordan	20	4	6	10	13	26	−13
Kazakhstan	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2
Kenya	5	2	3	0	8	5	+3
Kosovo	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Kuwait	30	8	10	12	24	46	−22
Kyrgyzstan	2	2	0	0	5	0	+5
Laos	2	2	0	0	19	0	+19
Latvia	2	1	0	1	4	4	0
Lebanon	12	4	5	3	12	12	0
Liberia	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Libya	3	0	1	2	3	38	−35
Macau	2	2	0	0	6	0	+6
North Macedonia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Maldives	9	9	0	0	26	3	+23
Mali	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1
Malaysia	6	4	1	1	13	4	+9
Mauritania	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Morocco	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Mozambique	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Myanmar	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7
Nepal	12	12	0	0	50	3	+47
New Zealand	6	1	1	4	4	7	−3
North Korea	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1
Norway	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1
Palestine	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1
Pakistan	4	3	1	0	12	2	+10
Paraguay	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Philippines	3	2	1	0	10	1	+9
Qatar	36	6	10	20	31	64	−33
Republic of Ireland	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9
Saudi Arabia	24	2	5	17	11	44	−33
Senegal	4	3	0	1	5	2	+3
Singapore	11	8	2	1	26	7	+19
Slovenia	2	0	0	2	0	11	−11
South Korea	6	1	1	4	4	10	−6
Somalia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Sri Lanka	3	2	1	0	14	1	+13
Sudan	7	1	3	3	6	20	−14
Sweden	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Switzerland	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4
Syria	24	7	8	9	25	38	−13
Tajikistan	6	4	1	1	14	8	+6
Thailand	12	6	1	5	10	11	−1
Togo	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Tunisia	2	1	1	1	3	3	0
Turkmenistan	5	4	0	1	10	5	+5
United Arab Emirates	33	6	12	15	24	45	−21
Uruguay	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Uzbekistan	6	4	0	2	9	9	0
Vietnam	3	3	0	0	11	1	+10
Yemen	11	8	2	1	19	5	+14
Zambia	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2
Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1
Total	516	190	131	195	667	700	−33

See also[]

• Oman national under-23 football team
• Oman women's national football team

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oman national football team.

• Official Oman Football Association Website
• Oman national football team FIFA.com
• Oman national football team – Football-Lineups
• Oman national football team – NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAMS