The Qatar national football team is the national team of Qatar. This team is entirely controlled by the Qatar Football Association. Though this team didn’t make it to the finals of the FIFA World Cup, they appeared in almost seven AFC Asian Cup matches, and by 2011, they will even host this event.

Overview

It was in the 1940s and 1950s that Qatar became familiar with this sport which was introduced by oil workers. In 1970, the Qatar Football Association got formed after which, the national team played a tournament against Bahrain, which was their first and foremost match. This team developed in continental championships beyond the group stage and has never represented Asia in a FIFA World Cup. They did win the Gulf Cup twice, in 1992 and in 2004. Both times, Qatar was host and was qualified in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2003, and 2007 for the AFC Asian Cup Finals. In 2011, they will be hosts.

The team is nicknamed as ‘Annabi’, which means the Maroon. With Qatar Football Association controlling this team, the confederation of the team is Asian Football Confederation (Asia). The head coach is Bruno Metsu while the home venue of the team is Khalifa International Stadium and Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. A maximum goal for this team with 48 goals was achieved by Mansour Muftah. Adel Khamis AlNoubi achieved the maximum caps credit with achieving 110 caps. As per FIFA, the team is ranked at 98th place.

Country Qatar Qatar
City Qatar
Founded 1960

First Soccer Match Held

The first football match was held in Dukhan city under the supervision of Qatar Oil Company. The year was 1951, when Dukhan team, the host city won the Izzadeen tournament irrespective of other major teams like Al Najah. There were many foreign players in this team throughout the 1950s till 1970s right from Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Ethiopia too. These enriched the team’s popularity and they played a significant role in spreading the game among the local public. An interesting fact here is that for recruitment of foreign players employment was done in governmental administrations or in private companies rather than contracts being signed.

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