Kuwait national football team

Kuwait
Nickname(s)	Al Azraq
Association	Kuwait Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Goran Tufegdžić
Most caps	Bashar Abdullah (134)
Top scorer	Bashar Abdullah (75)
Home stadium	Kuwait National Stadium
FIFA code	KUW
FIFA ranking	118
Highest FIFA ranking	24 (December 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	128 (November 2008)
Elo ranking	101
Highest Elo ranking	26 (December 1998)
Home colours	Away colours
First international
	Kuwait 2 - 2 Libya ; (Morocco; September 3, 1961)
Biggest win
	Kuwait 20 - 0 Bhutan ; (Kuwait City, Kuwait; February 14, 2000)
Biggest defeat
	United Arab Republic 8 - 0 Kuwait ; (Morocco; September 4, 1961); Portugal 8 - 0 Kuwait ; (Leiria, Portugal; November 19, 2003)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1982)
Best result	Round 1, 1982
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	8 (First in 1972)
Best result	Winners, 1980

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The Kuwait National Football Team is the national team of Kuwait and is controlled by the Kuwait Football Association. They made one World Cup Finals appearance, in 1982, managing a draw with Czechoslovakia but losing to England and France. During the match against France, France scored a goal while some of the Kuwaiti players had stopped, having heard a whistle. The goal was initially awarded by the referee, who had not blown, but Kuwait walked off the pitch in protest. They eventually resumed playing only after the intervention of Sheikh Fahad Al Ahmed and the referee's changing his mind to disallow the French goal.

They have better success contending for the Asian Cup, reaching the finals in 1976 and taking home the winner's trophy in 1980.

Kuwait's 20-0 win over Bhutan in 2000 was at the time the biggest ever win in international football. It was surpassed in 2001, when Australia beat Tonga 22-0. Also in 2000, Kuwait took part at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Kuwait, who last qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1982, were drawn with Iran, Syria and the United Arab Emirates in Group Five. Kuwait ended up last in the group and ended its campaign with a 2-0 defeat in Tehran against Iran.

Kuwait are now waiting for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification which will take place in the near future.

[edit] History

[edit] Temporary Suspension

In October 30 2007, Kuwait was suspended by FIFA from all participation in international football, on the grounds of governmental interference in the national football association.^[1] The ban lasted less than 2 weeks.^[2]

On October 24 2008, Kuwait was again suspended by FIFA from all participation in international football, because of its failure to hold the General Assembly elections by mid-October. ^[3]. FIFA provisionally lifted its suspension on the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) on December 22 2008. ^[4].

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Additional information: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Third Round

Kuwait are in the same FIFA World Cup qualifying group as Iran, Syria and United Arab Emirates. They will play home and away against each of the other three teams in group 5.

Kuwait started their World Cup campaign in Abu Dhabi against United Arab Emirates and lost 2-0. Their next game came at home against Iran which ended in a 2-2 draw, Iran were leading by 2 goals in the first 5 minures. In Round 3, Kuwait lost 1-0 to Syria after dominating nearly all the game. Kuwait first win came at home in round 4 against Syria, Ahmad Ajab scored a hattrick which led Kuwait to a 4-2 victory & kept their chances of making the world cup alive. Kuwait's next game was also at home against United Arab Emirates, the away team up 2-0 at halftime, but in the 2nd half Kuwait leading goalscorer Ahmad Ajab scored 2 goals and was on his way to score the 3rd goal in 90th minute but he was punched by the Emarati goalkeeper and the referee didn't give a penalty and a few second after that UAE scored the third goal and won 3-2. Kuwait ended their campaign with a 2-0 loss against Iran.

[edit] Group 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	12
United Arab Emirates	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8
Syria	6	2	2	2	7	8	-1	8
Kuwait	6	1	1	4	8	12	-4	4


Iran		2-0	0-0	0-0
Kuwait	2-2		4-2	2-3
Syria	0-2	1-0		1-1
United Arab Emirates	0-1	2-0	1-3

[edit] 2011 AFC Asian Cup

Additional information: 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Kuwait are in the same AFC Asian Cup qualifying group as Australia, Indonesia and Oman. They will play home and away against each of the other three teams in Group B.

[edit] Group B

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Oman	4	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1
Kuwait	3	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
Indonesia	2	2	0	2	0	0	0	0
Australia	1	2	0	1	1	0	1	-1

[edit] World Cup record

World Cup record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1970	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	6
1986 to 2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	1/19	3	0	1	2	2	6

World Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result
1982	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 1 Czechoslovakia	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 4 France	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 1 England	Lose

[edit] Asian Cup record

AFC Asian Cup record
Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1960	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1964	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1972	Round 1	2	1	0	1	2	5
1976	Runners-Up	4	3	0	1	6	3
1980	Champions	6	4	1	1	13	6
1984	Third Place	6	3	1	2	5	4
1988	Round 1	4	0	3	1	2	3
1992	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Fourth place	6	2	1	3	9	6
2000	Quarter-finals	4	1	2	1	3	3
2004	Round 1	3	1	0	2	3	7
2007	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	8/14	35	15	8	12	43	37

AFC Asian Cup History
Year	Round	Score	Result
1972	Round 1	Kuwait 2 – 0 Thailand	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 2 – 1 Korea Republic	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait0 – 4 Khmer Republic	Lose
Year	Round	Score	Result
1976	Round 1	Kuwait 2 – 0 Malaysia	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 1– 0 China PR	Win
	SemiFinal	Kuwait 3– 2(a.e.t.) Iraq	Win
	Final	Kuwait 0 – 1 Iran	Lose
Year	Round	Score	Result
1980	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 1 United Arab Emirates	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 3 – 1 Malaysia	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 3 Korea Republic	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 4 – 0 Qatar	Win
	SemiFinal	Kuwait 2 – 1 Iran	Win
	Final	Kuwait 3 – 0 Korea Republic	Win
Year	Round	Score	Result
1984	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 0 Qatar	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 0 Korea Republic	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 3 – 1 Syria	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 0– 1 Saudi Arabia	Lose
	Semifinals	Kuwait 0 – 1 China PR	Lose
	Third place	Kuwait 1(4) – 1(3) Iran	Win*
Year	Round	Score	Result
1988	Round 1	Kuwait 0–0 Bahrain	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 0–0 Saudi Arabia	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 0– 1 Syria	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 2–2 China PR	Draw
Year	Round	Score	Result
1996	Round 1	Kuwait 2 –2 Indonesia	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 2 –3 United Arab Emirates	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 2 – 0 Korea Republic	Win
	Quarterfinals	Kuwait 2– 0 Japan	Win
	Semifinals	Kuwait 0 – 1 United Arab Emirates	Lose
	Third place	Kuwait 1(2) – 1(3) Iran	Lose*
Year	Round	Score	Result
2000	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 0 Indonesia	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 1 –0 Korea Republic	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 0–0 China PR	Draw
	Quarterfinals	Kuwait 2 –3 (a.e.t.) Saudi Arabia	Lose
Year	Round	Score	Result
2004	Round 1	Kuwait 3 –1 United Arab Emirates	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 0– 2 Jordan	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 4 Korea Republic	Lose

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

[edit] Olympic Games record

Olympic Games
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1900 to 1956	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1960 to 1976	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1980	Quarterfinals	4	1	2	1	5	4
1984	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1988	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1992	Round 1	3	0	1	2	1	6
1996	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2000	Round 1	3	1	0	2	6	8
2004	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
2008	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Quarterfinal	10	2	2	6	12	18

Olympic Games History
Year	Round	Score	Result
1980	Round 1	Kuwait 3 – 1 Nigeria	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 1– 1 Colombia	Draw
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 0 Czechoslovakia	Draw
	Quarterfinals	Kuwait 1– 2 USSR	Lose
Year	Round	Score	Result
1992	Round 1	Kuwait 0– 2 Poland	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 3 United States	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 0 – 1 Italy	Lose
Year	Round	Score	Result
2000	Round 1	Kuwait 2 – 3 Cameroon	Lose
	Round 1	Kuwait 3 – 2 Czech Republic	Win
	Round 1	Kuwait 1 – 3 United States	Lose

[edit] Gulf Cup of Nations Record

Winners: (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998)
2009 - Semi Finals

Year	Host Country	Place
1970	Bahrain	Champion
1972	Saudi Arabia	Champion
1974	Kuwait	Champion
1976	Qatar	Champion
1979	Iraq	Runners Up
1982	U.A.E.	Champion
1984	Oman	6th place
1986	Bahrain	Champion
1988	Saudi Arabia	5th place
1990	Kuwait	Champion
1992	Qatar	5th place
1994	U.A.E.	5th place
1996	Oman	Champion
1998	Bahrain	Champion
2002	Saudi Arabia	4th place
2003	Kuwait	6th place
2004	Qatar	4th place
2007	U.A.E.	1st Round
2009	Oman	SemiFinal

[edit] Coaches

Coaches by Years (1955-2009)

Ali Othman (1955)
Ahmed Abu Taha (1957)
Edmund Majewski (1958)
Ljubiša Broćić (1962)
Mohammed Abdu Saleh Al Wahsh (1964)
Dimitri Tadic (1966-1969)
Taha Al Touki (1970)
Ljubiša Broćić (1971-1973)
Hassen Nasser (1973) (caretaker)

Ljubiša Broćić (1973-1975)
Mário Zagallo (1976-1978)
Saleh Zakereya (1978) (caretaker)
Carlos Alberto Parreira (1978-1983)
Antônio Lopes (1983-1985)
Malcolm Allison (1985-1986)
Saleh Zakereya (1986) (caretaker)
György Mezey (1986-1987)
Antônio Vieira (1987-1988)

George Armstrong (1988)
Miguel Pereira (1989)
Otacílio (1989-1990)
Luiz Felipe Scolari (1990)
Mohammed Karem (1990) (caretaker)
Valmir Louruz (1990-1992)
Paulo Luiz Campos (1992-1993)
Gildo Rodriguez (1993)

Jawad Maqseed (1993)
Valeri Lobanovsky (1993-1996)
Milan Máčala (1996-1999)
Dušan Uhrin (1999-2001)
Berti Vogts (2001-2002)
Radojko Avramović (2002-2003)
Paulo César Carpegiani (2003-2004)
Mohammed Ibrahem (2004)
Slobodan Pavković (2005)

Mohammed Ibrahem (2005) (caretaker)
Mihai Stoichiţă (2005-2006)
Saleh Zakereya (2006-2007)
Radion Gačanin (2007-June 2008)
Mohammed Ibrahem (June 2008- January 2009) (caretaker)
Goran Tufegdžić (Feb 2009-present)

[edit] Players

[edit] Most capped Kuwaiti players

As of January 25, 2009, the four players with the most caps for Kuwait are:

#	Name	Career	Caps
1	Bashar Abdullah	1996 - 2008	134
2	Wail Sulaiman Al-Habashi	1986 - 1996	109
	Nohair Al-Shammari	1996 - 2009	109
4	Jamal Mubarak	1994 - 2004	108

[edit] Current squad

The following players were called for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification against UAE on June 14, 2008.

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Hameed Youssef	August 10, 1987	6	0	Al Salmiya
2	DF	Yacoub Al Taher	October 27, 1983			Al-Kuwait
3	MF	Mohamed Jarragh	November 10, 1981	39	9	Al-Arabi
4	DF	Hussain Fadel	October 9, 1984			Al-Qadisiya
5	DF	Ali Maqseed	December 11, 1986	12	3	Al-Arabi
6	DF	Mohammad Sinad	July 1, 1987			Al-Qadisiya
7	FW	Fahad Al Rashidi	December 31, 1984	13	4	Al Salmiya
8	MF	Saleh Al Sheikh	May 29, 1982			Al-Qadisiya
9	FW	Ahmad Ajab	May 13, 1984	14	15	Al-Qadisiya
10	FW	Khalaf Salama	July 25, 1979			Al-Qadisiya
11	DF	Fayez Bandar	December 7, 1983	9	1	Al-Qadisiya
12	GK	Ahmed Al Fadhli	September 6, 1982			Kazma
13	DF	Musaed Neda	July 8, 1983			Al-Qadisiya
14	MF	Adel Al Shammari	June 20, 1986			Al-Qadisiya
15	MF	Waleed Ali Jumah	November 3, 1980			Al-Kuwait
16	FW	Hamad Al Enezi	October 5, 1986			Al-Qadisiya
17	MF	Nemia Al Feree	August 15, 1990			Dynamo Tifils
18	MF	Jarah Al Ataiqi	October 15, 1981			Al-Kuwait

[edit] Recent Call Ups

The following players were called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification in 2008.

Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)	Most Recent Call Up
Goalkeepers
Khaled Al Fadhli	May 151974 (age 34)	Al-Kuwait	N/A	v Syria, June 2, 2008
Nawaf Al Khaldi	May 25, 1981 (age 27)	Al-Qadisiya	N/A	v Syria, June 8, 2008
Defenders
Nohayer Al Shammari	July 121976 (age 32)	Al-Qadisiya	N/A	v UAE, February 6, 2008
Ahmad Al Eidan	October 11982 (age 25)	Al-Salmiya	N/A	v UAE, February 6, 2008
Yousef Al Youha	September 21979 (age 28)	Al-Kuwait	N/A	v UAE, February 6, 2008
Fahad Shaheen	February 26, 1985 (age 23)	Al-Kuwait	N/A	v Syria, June 8, 2008
Khaled Al Shammari	January 2, 1977 (age 31)	Kazma	N/A	v Syria, June 8, 2008
Midfielders
Abdulrahman Mussa	December 41981 (age 26)	Al-Qadisiya	N/A	v UAE, February 6, 2008
Ebraheem Shehab	January 201986 (age 22)	Al-Kuwait	N/A	v Iran, March 26, 2008
Strikers
Bader Al Mutwa	January 101985 (age 23)	Al-Qadisiya	N/A	v Iran, March 26, 2008
Fahad Al Hamad	December 11983 (age 24)	Kazma Sporting Club	N/A	v UAE, February 6, 2008

[edit] Previous squads

[edit] Records versus other nations

As of 2009-07-08

Nation	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD
Algeria	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1
Armenia	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Australia	9	5	1	3	9	6	+3
Azerbaijan	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Bahrain	32	16	8	8	42	27	+15
Bangladesh	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5
Bhutan	1	1	0	0	20	0	+20
Bulgaria	4	0	2	2	5	8	-3
Cambodia	1	0	0	1	0	4	-4
China PR	15	5	4	6	13	16	-3
Côte d'Ivoire	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2
Cyprus	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Czech Republic	2	0	1	1	2	3	-1
Ecuador	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3
Egypt	7	1	3	3	8	10	-2
England	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1
Finland	6	1	2	3	4	6	-2
France	2	0	0	2	1	5	-4
Germany	1	0	0	1	0	7	-7
Hong Kong	7	6	1	0	18	4	+14
Iceland	7	1	4	2	3	4	-1
India	2	1	0	1	8	4	+4
Indonesia	4	1	2	1	8	4	+4
Iran	27	6	9	12	26	34	-8
Iraq	23	5	6	12	23	35	-12
Japan	5	4	0	1	8	2	+6
Jordan	10	6	2	2	18	8	+10
Kazakhstan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Kyrgyzstan	3	3	0	0	8	0	+8
Latvia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Lebanon	20	10	5	5	34	25	+9
Libya	2	0	1	1	2	5	-3
Lithuania	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Macau	2	2	0	0	18	1	+17
Malaysia	12	8	2	2	29	8	+21
Mali	3	3	0	0	14	4	+10
Mongolia	1	1	0	0	11	0	+11
Morocco	4	0	0	4	1	10	-9
Myanmar	4	3	0	1	12	5	+7
Nepal	4	4	0	0	21	0	+21
New Zealand	3	1	1	1	5	8	-3
Korea DPR	8	3	4	1	12	7	+5
Korea Republic	20	9	2	9	20	25	-5
Norway	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1
Oman	22	11	8	3	44	13	+31
Pakistan	3	3	0	0	6	0	+6
Palestine	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5
Poland	2	0	1	1	1	3	-2
Portugal	2	0	1	1	1	9	-8
Qatar	35	17	6	12	54	34	+20
Saudi Arabia	33	10	11	12	37	37	0
Singapore	9	6	2	1	18	6	+12
Slovakia	2	0	1	1	1	3	-2
South Vietnam	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Sudan	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Syria	27	10	7	10	40	32	+8
Tajikistan	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Thailand	8	5	0	3	22	12	+10
Trinidad and Tobago	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Tunisia	2	0	0	2	1	4	-3
Turkmenistan	4	3	1	0	12	3	+9
Uganda	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
United Arab Emirates	33	14	6	13	61	37	+24
United States	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2
Uzbekistan	3	1	1	1	7	7	0
Vietnam	1	0	0	1	0	1	-1
Wales	2	0	2	0	0	0	0
Yemen	7	5	2	0	18	2	+16
Zambia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3
Totals	471	204	117	150	766	512	+254