Mauritania national football team

Mauritania

Nickname(s)	Mourabitounes
Association	Fédération de Foot-Ball de la Républic Islamique de Mauritanie
Sub-confederation	WAFU (West Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Patrice Neveu
Home stadium	Stade Olympique
FIFA code	MTN
FIFA ranking	175
Highest FIFA ranking	85 (December 1995)
Lowest FIFA ranking	206 (November–December 2012)
Elo ranking	170
First colours Second colours
First international
Malagasy Republic 5–1 Mauritania (Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; 25 December 1961)
Biggest win
Mauritania 8–2 Somalia (Beirut, Lebanon; 27 December 2006)
Biggest defeat
Guinea 14–0 Mauritania (Guinea; 1 January 1972)

The Mauritania national football team, nicknamed Mourabitounes, is the national team of Mauritania and is controlled by the Fédération de Foot-Ball de la Républic Islamique de Mauritanie and is a member of the Confederation of African Football. They have not qualified for the FIFA World Cup or Africa Cup of Nations. However, in the Amilcar Cabral Cup, a regional tournament for West Africa, Mauritania came fourth in 1980 on hosting the competition. They were later runners-up in 1995, losing on penalties to Sierra Leone after the final finished 0-0.

Mauritania lost all six of their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches, in a group that included Rwanda and Morocco.

History

1963–80

Mauritania played its first match after independence from France on 11 April 1963, against Congo Kinshasa (also making their debut) and lost 6-0. The match was held in Dakar, Senegal as part of the L'Amitié tournament between African sides. It also saw the debuts of Chad, Liberia and Niger. Mauritania lost its three other matches in the tournament: 2-0 to the Ivory Coast, 4-0 to Tunisia and 7-0 to Congo Brazzaville.

Mauritania's first goal and avoidance of defeat came four years after their debut, in 1967 with a 1-1 draw away in Tanzania. This was their first match since the L'Amitié tournament in 1963.

Mauritania entered their first African Games qualification campaign, in an aim to reach the 1973 finals in Nigeria. They were drawn in a group against Mali and Guinea in Guinea. The first game was lost 11-0 to Mali, and on 20 May Mauritania lost 14-0 to Guinea. Mauritania did not qualify.

In May 1976 Mauritania entered qualification for the football at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada. They were drawn against neighbouring Mali in a two-legged qualifier. The first leg was lost 6-0 away on 1 May, and the second leg was lost 1-0 at home on 18 May. Mali did not qualify for the finals.

Mauritania's first entrance into World Cup qualification was an attempt to reach the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. In March 1976 they were one of four countries put into two preliminary matches at the start of the African qualification campaign. Mauritania's preliminary was a two-legged match against the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and they drew the first match 1-1 away in Ouagadougou in 13 March. This was their first competitive avoidance of defeat, and their first avoidance of defeat since 1967. On 28 March, Mauritania lost their home leg in Nouakchott 2-0 and the Upper Volta advanced 3-1 on aggregate.

On 12 October 1980, seventeen years after their first game, Mauritania won for the first time by beating Mali 2-1 at home in a qualifier for the African Cup of Nations. Mali won 3-2 on aggregate having won the first leg 2-0.

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification

Mauritania entered qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, which was their first entry in twenty years and second overall. Again, they were drawn to face Burkina Faso in a two-legged preliminary. The first leg was played at home in Nouakchott in front of 15,000 people on 31 May 1996, one day before any other matches in the round. The match finished 0-0. The second leg was played at the Stade du 4-Aout in Ouagadougou on 16 June 1996 in front of 13,000 people. Burkina Faso won 2-0 to advance to the final group phase.

2002 FIFA World Cup qualification

Mauritania entered the qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and were placed in a preliminary against Tunisia, who had qualified for the previous tournament. On 7 April 2000 they hosted Tunisia at the Stade Olympique in Nouakchott. A crowd of 10,000 saw Tunisia win 2-1 with second-half goals from Radhi Jaidi and Hassen Gabsi. In the second leg on 22 April 2000, Mauritania were beaten 3-0 at the Stade El Menzah in Tunis. The match was watched by only 3,000, despite a capacity of 45,000 in the ground. Tunisia won 5-1 on aggregate and later qualified for the finals in South Korea and Japan.

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

Mauritania were drawn with Zimbabwe in the preliminary of the African section of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 12 October 2003 they lost the away leg 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare in front of 55,000 people. In the home return at the Stade Olympique on 14 November 2003, Mauritania scored twice in the opening ten minutes to win 2-1, their first victory in a World Cup match. However, Zimbabwe advanced 4-2 on aggregate.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

The African qualification process was altered for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Only the six lowest-ranked nations played a preliminary, a selection which for the first time did not include Mauritania. Mauritania played in Group 8 of the second qualifying round against Rwanda, Morocco and Ethiopia, and started with an away match at the Stade Regional Nyamirambo in Kigali, Rwanda on 31 May 2008. They lost 3-0 on front of 12,000 people. The first home match was on 7 June at the Stade Nacional in Nouakchott against Morocco. The Moroccans scored two in each half before a late penalty by Dominique da Silva of Mauritania made the game 4-1.

On 13 June 2008 Mauritania hosted Ethiopia at the Stade Nacional and lost 1-0 after an injury-time winner from Saladin Said. On 22 June Mauritania lost 6-1 in the away match versus Ethiopia at the Addis Ababa Stadium. The Ethiopian forwards Fikru Tefera and Andualem Nigussie scored two goals each in a match which also saw Ba Yaoub of Mauritania sent off after 37 minutes, conceding a penalty to Fikru. The game was 1-1 at half time. In September 2008 Ethiopia were expelled from the tournament due to government interferences in their football association and all of their results annulled.

Only 1,000 people saw Mauritania's next game at the Stade Nacional as they were beaten 1-0 by Rwanda on 6 September with a late goal by Bobo Bola. Mauritania finished their group campaign at the Stade Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Morocco. Like the home game against the Moroccans, Mauritania were 4-0 down but scored the last goal, this time by Dahmed Ould Teguedi. Although the Moroccan stadium had a capacity of 52,000, only 1,472 saw the match.

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1962 - Did not exist
• 1966 to 1974 - Did not enter
• 1978 - Did not qualify
• 1982 to 1994 - Did not enter
• 1998 to 2010 - Did not qualify
• 2014 - Did not enter

African Nations Cup record

• 1957 to 1978 - Did not enter
• 1980 to 1982 - Did not qualify
• 1984 - Did not enter
• 1986 - Did not qualify
• 1988 - Did not enter
• 1990 - Withdrew
• 1992 - Did not qualify
• 1994 - Withdrew
• 1996 to 1998 - Did not qualify
• 2000 - Withdrew
• 2002 to 2010 - Did not qualify
• 2012 - Withdrew
• 2013 - Did not enter

Arab Nations Cup

• 1985: 1st round

Amilcar Cabral Cup

Annual Tournaments 1979-1989

• 1979: Did not place
• 1980: Fourth place
• 1981-1982: Did not place
• 1983: Fourth place (host)
• 1984-1989: Did not place

Bi-annual Tournaments 1991-

• 1991-93: Did not place
• 1995: Runners-up (host)
• 1997-: Did not place

Recent and Fixture Results

15 April 2012	Mauritania	0 – 3	Egypt	Abu Dhabi, UAE

18 April 2012 16:00 CEST	Mauritania	0 – 2	Iran	Tehran , Iran Attendance: 100

15 May 2012 16:00 CEST	Mauritania	1 – 3	Iraqi Kurdistan	Hebron , Palestine

17 May 2012 16:00 CEST	Mauritania	0 – 2	Indonesia	Nablus , Palestine Attendance: 90

Current squad

Caps and goals as of 24 July 2012.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1 1GK Souleymane Diallo (1990-05-15) 15 May 1990 12 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 16 1GK Oumar Niang (1979-01-04) 4 January 1979 12 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 22 1GK Samba Gueye (1970-05-23) 23 May 1970 12 0 Academie de Football Nouakchott 2 2DF Abdelaziz Kamara (1984-04-10) 10 April 1984 16 0 FC Farul Constanța 5 2DF Babacar Ngollo Coulibaly 1 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 14 2DF {{{name}}} 2 0 Tidjikja Sabkha 17 2DF Keïta Mohamed 1 0 ASAC Concorde 18 2DF Ibrahima Mamadou Sy (1991-12-31) 31 December 1991 3 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 23 2DF Mamadou Idrissa Wade 2 0 ASAC Concorde 3 3MF Dahmed Ould Teguedi (1984-11-15) 15 November 1984 3 0 MC Saïda 4 3MF Yoann Langlet (1982-12-25) 25 December 1982 20 7 Enosis Neon Paralimni FC 8 3MF Lemine Balla Cherif 3 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 9 3MF El Hadj Moctar 1 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 10 3MF Amar Djiby Samb 2 0 FC Nouadhibou 12 3MF Ali Mohamed Yahya 1 0 CF Cansado 13 3MF Mohamed Yacoub Bâ 3 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 21 3MF Samba Abdallahi Moussa 2 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 6 4FW Dominique Da Silva (1989-08-16) 16 August 1989 4 1 Al Ahly SC 7 4FW Ismaël Diakité (1991-01-13) 13 January 1991 3 0 ASAC Concorde 11 4FW Sidi Youssouf Sy 2 0 CF Cansado 15 4FW Gaye Sileye Mody 1 0 ASAC Concorde 19 4FW Souleymane Yacoub Bâ 3 0 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna 20 4FW Ely Cheikh Voulany 5 1 ASC Tevragh-Zeïna

External sources

• Mauritania at National-Football-Teams.com.