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Djibouti national football team facts for kids

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Djibouti
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Riverains de la Mer Rouge (Shoremen of the Red Sea)
Association Djiboutian Football Federation
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation CECAFA
(East & Central Africa)
Head coach Mohamed Meraneh Hassan
Captain Daoud Wais
Most caps Daoud Wais (34)
Top scorer Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh (7)
Home stadium El Hadj Hassan Gouled Aptidon Stadium
FIFA code DJI
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 197 Steady (7 February 2019)
Highest 169 (December 1994)
Lowest 207 (April–July 2015, November 2015)
Elo ranking
Current 210 Increase 1 (3 March 2019)
Highest 94 (1947)
Lowest 214 (2016)
First international
 French Somaliland 0–5 Ethiopia 
(French Somaliland; 5 December 1947)
Post-independence
 Ethiopia 8–1 Djibouti 
(Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 27 March 1983)
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). The Djibouti national football team's first win in a full FIFA-sanctioned international match was a 1–0 win vs. Somalia in the first round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification.

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. 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 10–2 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. 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.

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

2022

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 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 – Oct 2021 13 3 3 7 23.08%
Mohamed Meraneh Hassan Djibouti Oct 2021 – present 6 1 0 5 25.00%

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against South Sudan on 23 and 27 March 2022 respectively.

Caps and goals are correct as of 27 March 2022, after the match against South Sudan.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Innocent Mbonihankuye (1996-11-05) 5 November 1996 (age 27) 19 0 Djibouti AS Port
1GK Omar Mahamoud (2001-10-19) 19 October 2001 (age 22) 0 0 Djibouti Dikhil
1GK Yahya Houssein (2002-04-07) 7 April 2002 (age 21) 0 0 Djibouti AS Port

2DF Ali Youssouf Farada (1995-08-25) 25 August 1995 (age 28) 22 1 Djibouti Dikhil
2DF Ibrahim Aden Warsama (1998-05-12) 12 May 1998 (age 25) 15 1 Djibouti AS Port
2DF Yabe Siad Isman (1998-03-12) 12 March 1998 (age 26) 15 1 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
2DF Moussa Araita (1997-07-24) 24 July 1997 (age 26) 6 0 Djibouti Dikhil
2DF Ibrahim Ali Mohamed (1996-10-14) 14 October 1996 (age 27) 2 0 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
2DF Moustapha Abdi Osman (1992-01-08) 8 January 1992 (age 32) 1 0 Djibouti Garde Républicaine FC

3MF Warsama Hassan (1999-03-17) 17 March 1999 (age 25) 16 1 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
3MF Saleh Bourhan Hassan (1996-12-19) 19 December 1996 (age 27) 11 0 Djibouti AS Port
3MF Youssouf Abdi Ahmed (1997-10-11) 11 October 1997 (age 26) 7 1 Djibouti ASAS Djibouti Télécom
3MF Ahmed Youssouf (1998-09-01) 1 September 1998 (age 25) 7 0 Djibouti AS Port
3MF Mogueh Idriss (2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 (age 24) 2 0 Djibouti AS Arta/Solar7
3MF Fahmi Moussa (1996-04-25) 25 April 1996 (age 27) 2 0 Djibouti AS Arta/Solar7
3MF Samatar Mohamed (1995-10-10) 10 October 1995 (age 28) 1 0 Djibouti Garde Républicaine FC

4FW Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh (1995-12-20) 20 December 1995 (age 28) 22 6 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
4FW Hamza Abdi Idleh (1991-12-16) 16 December 1991 (age 32) 20 2 Djibouti FC Dikhil
4FW Doualeh Mahamoud Elabeh (1991-11-11) 11 November 1991 (age 32) 19 0 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
4FW Mohamed Fouad Mohamed (2000-02-25) 25 February 2000 (age 24) 12 0 Djibouti AS Port
4FW Samuel Akinbinu (1999-06-06) 6 June 1999 (age 24) 9 2 Djibouti Arta Solar 7
4FW Omar Abdallah (2002-10-30) 30 October 2002 (age 21) 2 0 Djibouti Garde Républicaine

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


MF Yonis Moussa Dirir (1997-02-13) 13 February 1997 (age 27) 2 0 Djibouti AS Port

Player records

Players in bold are still active with Djibouti.

Competition records

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Yibuti para niños

  • French Somaliland national football team
  • Djibouti national football team results
  • Football in Djibouti
  • Djiboutian Football Federation
  • Djibouti Premier League
  • Djibouti Cup
  • Stade du Ville
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