Syria Nickname(s) Nosour Qasioun [1] (Arabic : نسور قاسيون , lit. 'Qasioun Eagles') Association Syrian Arab Federation for Football Confederation AFC (Asia)Sub-confederation WAFF (West Asia)UAFA (Arab world)Head coach Valeriu Tița Captain Omar Al Soma Most caps Maher Al-Sayed (109)Top scorer Firas Al Khatib (36)Home stadium Abbasiyyin Stadium Aleppo International Stadium FIFA code SYR
Current 86 1 (23 December 2021)[2] Highest 68 (1 July 2018) Lowest 152 (September 2014, March 2015) Lebanon 1–2 Syria (Beirut , Lebanon ; 19 April 1942)[3] Syria 13–0 Muscat and Oman (Cairo , Egypt ; 6 September 1965) Greece 8–0 Syria (Athens , Greece ; 25 November 1949) Egypt 8–0 Syria (Alexandria , Egypt ; 16 October 1951)Appearances 6 (first in 1980 ) Best result Group stage (1980 , 1984 , 1988 , 1996 , 2011 , 2019 ) Appearances 7 (first in 1963 ) Best result Runners-up (1963 , 1966 , 1988 ) Appearances 8 (first in 2000 ) Best result Champions (2012 )
The Syria national football team (Arabic : منتخب سوريا لكرة القدم ) represents Syria in association football and is controlled by the Syrian Arab Federation for Football , the governing body for football in Syria . Syria has never qualified for the World Cup finals but did reach the fourth qualification round in 2018 . The team is currently banned by FIFA from playing at home, as they have not hosted a game since December 2010.[5]
History [ ]
Syria participated in the 1950 and 1958 World Cup qualifiers, one of the first teams in the region to do so. Between 1958 and 1961, the team combined with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic national football team , although the team's records are attributed only to Egypt by FIFA . In the 1966 World Cup qualifiers they were one of two teams from the Asian zone (the other being Israel ) to be allocated to the European qualifying zone and were originally placed with Spain and the Republic of Ireland . However, they joined the Asian and African boycott of the 1966 qualifiers, due to the decision of FIFA to allocate just one place between Asia and Africa.
Syria has never qualified for the World Cup. The farthest they've gone in qualification was in the 1986 qualifiers when they reached the final qualifying round only to lose to Iraq . They were disqualified from the 2014 World Cup due to the use of an ineligible player.[6]
In December 2012, Syria beat Iraq in the final of West Asia Cup to collect its first major trophy. Syria has, however, competed in six Asian Cups, the last being 2019 , but on each occasion were eliminated at the group stage.
Asia Cup 2019, Syria v Palestine
Ever since civil war broke out in the country, Syria have been banned from playing home games in their own country and in fact were one day away from being thrown out of the 2018 World Cup only for Malaysia to swoop in at the last minute and offer to host all of Syria's home games. Syria had a large upturn in fortune as they made it to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fourth Round but were eliminated by Australia 3–2 on aggregate.[7]
Kit suppliers [ ]
Kit supplier
Period
Notes
Diadora
2007–2011
Adidas
2012–2013
Lotto
2014–2016
Jako
2017–2020
Uhlsport
2021–
Schedule and recent results [ ]
Win
Draw
Loss
2021 [ ]
Iran v Syria
30 March 2021 Friendly Iran 3–0 Syria Tehran , Iran
Kanaanizadegan 2'
Azmoun 38'
Ansarifard 81'
Stadium: Azadi Stadium
Syria v United Arab Emirates
China PR v Syria
30 September 2021 (2021-09-30 ) Unofficial friendly China PR 1–1 Syria Sharjah , United Arab Emirates19:00 UTC+4
Stadium: Sharjah Stadium Attendance: 0 (Behind closed door)
United Arab Emirates v Syria
2022 [ ]
United Arab Emirates v Syria
Coaching staff [ ]
Current coaching staff [ ]
Manager history [ ]
Name
Nat
Period
Matches
Wins
Draws
Losses
Honours
Vinzenz Dittrich
1951
Francisc Mészáros
1954
József Albert
1956–1959
1957 Pan Arab Games winners
Miklós Vadas
1960–1965
Cornel Drăgușin
1965–1966
Ezzat Abdel-Wahab
1969
Moussa Shammas
1980
Avedis Kavlakian
1983–1985
Valeriy Yaremchenko
1985–1987
1987 Mediterranean Games winners
Anatoliy Azarenkov
1986–1990
Anatoliy Azarenkov
1992
Virgil Dridea
1992–1993
Yuri Kurnenin
1995-1996
Kevork Mardikian
1997
Mircea Rădulescu
1997–1998
Moussa Shammas
March 1999 – September 1999
Dragoslav Popović
September 1999 – February 2000
Dragoslav Sridović
March 2000 – April 2000
Božidar Vukotić
March 2001 – October 2001
Jalal Talebi
November 2001 – September 2002
10
9
0
1
Janusz Wójcik
March 2003 – August 2003
Božidar Vukotić
September 2003 – November 2003
Ahmed Rifaat
December 2003 – November 2004
Nizar Mahrous
November 2004 – 2005
Miloslav Radenović
2005 – August 2006
Fajr Ibrahim
5 August 2006 – February 2008
24
13
5
6
Mohammad Kwid
10 May 2008 – 20 August 2008
8
4
0
4
Fajr Ibrahim
13 November 2008 – 13 September 2010
28
13
9
6
Ayman Hakeem (Interim)
14 September 2010 – 20 December 2010
5
2
1
2
Ratomir Dujković
28 October 2010 – 8 December 2010
1
1
0
0
Valeriu Tiţa
21 December 2010 – 9 February 2011
6
1
0
5
Claude Le Roy
16 April 2011 – 4 May 2011
0
0
0
0
Nizar Mahrous
22 May 2011 – 18 August 2011
7
5
2
0
Marwan Khoury
7 July 2012 – 30 August 2012
4
1
1
2
Hussam Al Sayed
21 October 2012 – 10 April 2013
8
2
3
3
2012 WAFF Championship winners
Anas Makhlouf
13 April 2013 – 23 October 2013
3
0
1
2
Hussam Al Sayed (Interim)
9 November 2013 – 20 November 2013
3
1
0
2
Ahmad Al Shaar
13 February 2014 – 5 March 2014
1
0
0
1
Muhannad Al Fakeer
18 September 2014 – 5 January 2015
2
2
0
0
Fajr Ibrahim
6 January 2015 – 29 March 2016
14
10
1
3
Ayman Hakeem
9 May 2016 – 20 November 2017
21
6
11
4
Bernd Stange
31 January 2018 – 10 January 2019
11
3
5
3
Fajr Ibrahim
10 January 2019 – 31 December 2019
17
7
3
7
Nabil Maâloul
11 March 2020 – 15 June 2021
7
3
0
4
Nizar Mahrous
7 July 2021 – 16 November 2021
6
0
2
4
Valeriu Tiţa
18 November 2021 –
3
1
0
2
Players [ ]
Current squad [ ]
The following players were called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against United Arab Emirates and South Korea , on 26 January 2022 and 1 Februar 2022, respectively.
Information correct as of 6 December 2021, after the match against Mauritania .
Recent call-ups [ ]
The following players have also been called up to the Syria squad within the last 12 months.
Previous squads [ ]
Asian Cup
1984 Asian Cup squad
1988 Asian Cup squad
1996 Asian Cup squad
2011 Asian Cup squad
2019 Asian Cup squad
Player records [ ]
As of 4 June 2021 [8]
Players in bold are still active with Syria.
Most capped players [ ]
Mosab Balhous is Syria's third most-capped player with 86 caps.
Rank
Player
Caps
Goals
Career
1
Maher Al-Sayed
109
29
1999–2013
2
Ali Diab
97
4
2004–2013
3
Mosab Balhous
86
0
2006–2016
4
Raja Rafe
84
32
2002–2015
5
Tarek Jabban
83
5
1996–2007
6
Mahmoud Al-Mawas
79
15
2012–
7
Nizar Mahrous
76
12
1985–1993
8
George Khouri
74
8
1982–1989
9
Firas Al-Khatib
72
36
2001–2019
10
Feras Esmaeel
69
5
2002–2011
Top goalscorers [ ]
Rank
Player
Goals
Caps
Ratio
Career
1
Firas Al-Khatib
36
72
0.5
2001–2019
2
Raja Rafe
32
84
0.38
2006–2016
3
Maher Al-Sayed
29
109
0.27
1999–2013
4
Said Bayazid
24
24
1
1997–2001
5
Zyad Chaabo
22
49
0.45
2001–2010
6
Omar Kharbin
20
48
0.42
2012–present
7
Omar Al Somah
17
30
0.57
2012–present
8
Mohamed Al-Zeno
15
44
0.34
2004–2011
Mahmoud Al-Mawas
15
79
0.19
2012–present
10
14
—
—
1953–1966
Competition records [ ]
Syria national football team in Tehran –
2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification
FIFA World Cup [ ]
FIFA World Cup record
FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year
Round
*
1930
Did not enter
Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
Withdrew
1
0
0
1
0
7
1954
Did not enter
Did not enter
1958
Did not qualify
2
0
1
1
1
2
1962
Withdrew
Withdrew
1966
1970
Did not enter
Did not enter
1974
Did not qualify
6
3
1
2
6
6
1978
Withdrew
4
1
0
3
2
6
1982
Did not qualify
4
0
0
4
2
7
1986
8
4
3
1
8
4
1990
4
2
1
1
7
5
1994
6
3
3
0
14
4
1998
5
2
1
2
27
5
2002
6
4
1
1
40
6
2006
6
2
2
2
7
7
2010
10
6
2
2
23
10
2014
Disqualified
2
0
0
2
0
6
2018
Did not qualify
20
9
5
6
36
22
2022
To be determined
14
7
2
5
27
18
2026
To be determined
To be determined
Total
0/23
–
–
–
–
–
–
98
43
22
33
201
115
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
AFC Asian Cup [ ]
AFC Asian Cup record
AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
1956
Not a AFC member
Not a AFC member
1960
1964
1968
1972
Did not qualify
3
0
2
1
4
5
1976
Withdrew
Withdrew
1980
Round 1
4
2
1
1
3
2
3
2
1
0
2
0
1984
Round 1
4
1
1
2
3
5
6
3
0
3
9
9
1988
Round 1
4
2
0
2
2
5
4
3
1
0
8
2
1992
Did not qualify
2
1
0
1
3
4
1996
Round 1
3
1
0
2
3
6
4
3
0
1
6
2
2000
Did not qualify
6
4
1
1
11
3
2004
6
2
1
3
16
10
2007
6
2
2
2
10
6
2011
Round 1
3
1
0
2
4
5
6
4
2
0
10
2
2015
Did not qualify
6
1
1
4
7
7
2019
Round 1
3
0
1
2
2
5
8
6
0
2
26
11
2023
Qualified
8
7
0
1
22
7
Total
0 Titles
21
7
3
11
17
28
68
38
12
19
134
68
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
Olympic Games [ ]
Olympic Games record
Olympic Games qualification record
Year
Result
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
1900 to 1968
Did not enter
1972
Did not qualify
2
0
1
1
0
1
1976
Did not enter
1980
Round 1
3
0
1
2
0
8
4
2
0
2
3
1
1984
Did not qualify
6
2
1
3
6
10
1988
2
0
0
2
0
5
1992 to present
See Syria national under-23 team
See Syria national under-23 team
Total
0 Titles
3
0
1
2
0
8
14
4
2
8
9
17
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
WAFF Championship [ ]
WAFF Championship record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
2000
Runners-up
5
2
1
2
5
2
2002
Fourth place
4
1
1
2
5
6
2004
Runners-up
4
1
1
2
6
13
2007
Semi-finals
3
2
0
1
2
3
2008
Semi-finals
3
1
1
1
2
3
2010
Group stage
2
0
1
1
2
3
2012
Champions
4
2
2
0
5
3
2014
Withdrew
2019
Group stage
4
0
2
2
5
7
2023
Qualified
Total
1 Title
29
9
9
11
32
40
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
FIFA Arab Cup [ ]
FIFA Arab Cup record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
1963
Runners-up
4
3
0
1
9
4
1964
Did not enter
1966
Runners-up
5
3
1
1
9
4
1985
Did not enter
1988
Runners-up
6
2
2
2
5
5
1992
Fourth place
4
0
3
1
2
3
1998
Group stage
2
0
0
2
1
6
2002
Group stage
4
2
0
2
8
6
2012
Did not enter
2021
Group stage
3
1
0
2
4
4
Total
0 Titles
28
11
6
11
38
32
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
Pan Arab Games [ ]
Pan Arab Games record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
1953
Runners-up
3
1
1
1
3
5
1957
Champions
5
2
2
1
12
6
1961
Did not enter
1965
Group stage
4
2
0
2
20
8
1976
Third place
6
3
1
2
6
4
1985
Group stage
2
0
0
2
0
4
1992
Fourth place
4
0
3
1
2
3
1997
Runners-up
5
4
0
1
9
5
1999
Group stage
4
0
4
0
5
5
2007
Did not enter
2011
Withdrew
To be determined
Total
1 Title
33
12
11
10
57
40
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
Mediterranean Games [ ]
Mediterranean Games record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
1951
Third place
2
0
0
2
0
12
1955
Fourth place
3
0
0
3
0
10
1959
Did not enter
1963
Group stage
3
0
0
3
1
10
1967
Did not enter
1971
Group stage
3
0
0
3
1
4
1975
Did not enter
1979
1983
Group stage
2
0
0
2
0
2
1987
Champions
5
4
1
0
13
3
1991 to present
See Syria national under-20 team
Total
1 Title
18
4
1
13
15
41
Asian Games [ ]
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
West Asian Games [ ]
West Asian Games record
Year
Round
Pld
W
D*
L
GF
GA
1997
Runners-up
2002
Third place [9]
4
1
3
0
5
4
2005
Runners-up
4
1
3
0
7
5
Total
0 Titles
8
2
6
0
12
9
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out .
Head-to-head record [ ]
Honours [ ]
West Asian Football Federation Championship
Winners (1): 2012
Runners-up (2): 2000 , 2004
Fourth place (1): 2002
Semi-finals (2): 2007 , 2008
Runners-up (3): 1963 , 1966 , 1988
Fourth place (3): 1992
Winners (1): 1957
Runners-up (2): 1953 , 1997
Third place (1): 1976
Fourth place (1): 1992
Winners (1): 1987
Third place (1): 1951
Fourth place (1): 1955
Runners-up (2): 1997, 2005
Third place (1): 2002
See also [ ]
References [ ]
External links [ ]
General
Syrian Arab Federation for Football
History
Managers
Venues Statistics Players
International footballers
Asian Cup Finals Other tournaments Notable matches Noted rivalries Other teams
National teams League competitions
Syrian Premier League
Syrian League 1st Division
Cup competitions
Syrian Cup
Syrian Super Cup
Other competitions
1974 Kuneitra Cup (defunct)
West Asia (WAFF ) Central Asia (CAFA )
Afghanistan
IR Iran
Kyrgyz Republic
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
South Asia (SAFF )
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
East Asia (EAFF )
China PR
Chinese Taipei
Guam
Hong Kong
Japan
Korea DPR
Korea Republic
Macau
Mongolia
Northern Mariana Islands 1
Southeast Asia (AFF )
Australia
Brunei
Cambodia
Indonesia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Vietnam
Defunct Former
Israel (moved to UEFA in 1994)
Kazakhstan (moved to UEFA in 2002)
New Zealand (formed the OFC in 1966)
1 Not a member of FIFA
International competitions Club competitions Youth competitions
Arab Cup U-20
Arab Cup U-17
Palestine Cup of Nations for Youth (defunct)
Women's competitions Women's youth competitions Related competitions
AGCFF / GCC
Arabian Gulf Cup
U-23 Championship
U-20 Championship
U-17 Championship
Futsal Gulf Cup
UNAF CECAFA WAGF / WAFF
WAFF Championship
West Asian Games
ANOCA , OCA / CAF , AFC
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
Afro-Asian Games
Afro-Asian Club Championship
ISSF IMGC
National teams
1951 : Greece
1955 : Egypt
1959 : Italy
1963 : Italy
1967 : Italy
1967 : France
1971 : Yugoslavia
1975 : Algeria
1979 : Yugoslavia
1983 : Morocco
1987 : Syria
1991 : Greece
1993 : Turkey
1997 : Italy
2001 : Tunisia
2005 : Spain
2009 : Spain
2013 : Morocco
2018 : Spain
2022 : TBA
Syria squads
1 Berakdar
2 Sibai
3 Srour
4 Abbas
5 Jabban
6 Awad
7 Rifai
8 Al Boushi
9 Taleb
10 Afash
12 Cheikh Dib
13 Al Helou
14 Al Zaher
15 Ghaeb
16 Jokhadar
17 Rihawi
18 Shamali
23 Kurdughli
24 Bitar
25
Coach: Kurnenin
1 Alma
2 Al Saleh
3 Ajan
4 Al Baour
5 O. Midani
6 Jenyat
7 Khribin
8 Al Mawas
9 Al Somah
10 Osman
11 Omari
12 Jwayed
13 Sabagh
14 Haj Mohamad
15 Al Anizan
16 Ashkar
17 Kalfa
18 Z. Midani
19 Mardikian
20 Mobayed
21 Youssef
22 Al Youssef
23 Madania
Coach: Stange (first two matches) / Ibrahim (last match)
National sports teams of
Syria