Kuwait national football team

Kuwait

Nickname(s)	Al-Azraq (The Blue)
Association	Kuwait Football Association
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Goran Tufegdžić
Captain	Nawaf Al Khaldi
Most caps	Bashar Abdullah (133)
Top scorer	Bashar Abdullah (75)
Home stadium	Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium
FIFA code	KUW
FIFA ranking	113
Highest FIFA ranking	24 (December 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	128 (November 2008)
Elo ranking	73
Highest Elo ranking	26 (11 December 1998)
Lowest Elo ranking	102 (February 2008)
First colours Second 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
Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (First in 1972)
Best result	Winners, 1980

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 subsequent decision to disallow the French goal.

They had better success contending for the Asian Cup, reaching the final 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 victory in international football. It was surpassed in 2001, when Australia beat Tonga 22–0. In 2000, Kuwait took part in the Sydney Olympic Games.

History

Group 4 in the 1982 World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
England	3	3	0	0	6	1	+5	6
France	3	1	1	1	6	5	+1	3
Czechoslovakia	3	0	2	1	2	4	−2	2
Kuwait	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

17 June 1982 17:15 CEST	Czechoslovakia	1–1	Kuwait	Estadio José Zorrilla, Valladolid Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Benjamin Dwomoh (Ghana)
	Panenka  21' (pen.)	Report	Al-Dakhil  57'

21 June 1982 17:15 CEST	France	4–1	Kuwait	Estadio José Zorrilla, Valladolid Attendance: 30,043 Referee: Miroslav Stupar (Soviet Union)
	Genghini  31' Platini  43' Six  48' Bossis  89'	Report	Al-Buloushi  75'

25 June 1982 17:15 CEST	England	1–0	Kuwait	Estadio San Mamés, Bilbao Attendance: 39,700 Referee: Gilberto Aristizábal (Colombia)
	Francis  27'	Report

Temporary Suspension

On 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. The ban lasted less than 2 weeks.

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. FIFA provisionally lifted its suspension on the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) on December 22, 2008.

2015 AFC Asian Cup

Main article: 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Kuwait are in the AFC Asian Cup qualifying group alongside Iran, Lebanon and Thailand.

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Iran 2 1 1 0 6 1 +5 4 Kuwait 2 1 1 0 4 2 +2 4 Lebanon 2 1 0 1 5 7 −5 3 Thailand 2 0 0 2 3 8 −2 0

Iran — 5 Mar '14 5–0 15 Oct '13 Kuwait 26 Mar '13 — 15 Nov '13 19 Nov '13 Lebanon 19 Nov '13 15 Oct '13 — 22 Mar '13 Thailand 15 Nov '13 1–3 5 Mar '14 —

World Cup record

See also: Kuwait at the FIFA World Cup

World Cup record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1970	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974 to 1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	6
1986 to 2014	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-

Asian Cup record

AFC Asian Cup record
Year	Round	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1956 to 1964	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1968	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	-	-	-	-	-	-
2011	Round 1	3	0	0	3	1	7
2015	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	9/15	38	15	8	15	44	44

*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.

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 to 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 to 2012	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Quarterfinal	10	2	2	6	12	18

Football at the Summer Olympics has been and under-23 tournament since 1992.

Gulf Cup of Nations record

Year	Host Country	Place
1970	Bahrain	Champions
1972	Saudi Arabia	Champions
1974	Kuwait	Champions
1976	Qatar	Champions
1979	Iraq	Runners-Up
1982	UAE	Champions
1984	Oman	6th place
1986	Bahrain	Champions
1988	Saudi Arabia	5th place
1990	Kuwait	Champions
1992	Qatar	5th place
1994	UAE	5th place
1996	Oman	Champions
1998	Bahrain	Champions
2002	Saudi Arabia	4th place
2003	Kuwait	6th place
2004	Qatar	4th place
2007	UAE	1st Round
2009	Oman	Semifinals
2010	Yemen	Champions
2013	Bahrain	Third Place

Other tournaments

Year	Round
1964 Arab Nations Cup	Third Place
Merdeka Cup 1973	Runnerup
1989 Peace and Friendship Cup	Third Place
Pan Arab Games	Third Place
Pan Arab Games	Third Place
1992 Arab Nations Cup	Third Place
West Asian Games 1997	Third Place
1998 Arab Nations Cup	Third Place
West Asian Games 2002	Champions
2010 West Asian F.F. Championship	Champions

Coaches

Ali Othman (1955) Ahmed Abu Taha (1957) Edmund Majowski (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) Ljubiša Broćić (1973–1975) Mário Zagallo (1976–1978)

Saleh Zakereya (1978) Carlos Alberto Parreira (1978–1983) Antônio Lopes (1983–1985) Malcolm Allison (1985–1986) Saleh Zakaria (1986) György Mezey (1986–1987) António Vieira (1987–1988) George Armstrong (1988) Miguel Pereira (1989) Otacílio (1989–1990) Luiz Felipe Scolari (1990)

Mohammed Karam (1990) Valmir Louruz (1990–1992) Paulo Luiz Campos (1992–1993) Gildo Rodrigues (1993) Jawad Maqseed (1993) Valeriy Lobanovskyi (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) Mihai Stoichita (2005–2006) Saleh Zakaria (2006–2007) Rodion Gačanin (2007–2008) Mohammed Ibrahim (2008–2009) Goran Tufegdžić (2009–) Abdul Aziz Hamad (2012 caretaker role)

Statistics

As on 21st ,February 2011

Played	Win	Draw	Loss
1016	343	338	335

Players

Current squad

Match Date: and 6 March 2013
Opposition: Hungary
Caps and goals updated as of 27 March 2013.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1 1GK Hameed Youssef (1987-08-10) 10 August 1987 2 0 Al-Yarmouk 12 1GK Khalid Al-Rashidi (1987-04-20) 20 April 1987 11 0 Nottingham Forest 22 1GK Nawaf Al-Khaldi (1981-05-25) 25 May 1981 66 0 Al-Qadsia 12 1GK Ahmad Al-Khalidi (1989-03-27) 27 March 1989 11 0 Al-Kuwait 2 2DF Yaqoub Al-Taher (1983-10-27) 27 October 1983 67 0 Al-Kuwait 3 2DF Fahad Awadh (1985-02-26) 26 February 1985 42 1 Al-Kuwait 4 2DF Nasser Al Wuhaib (1988-07-29) 29 July 1988 3 0 Kazma 6 2DF Khaled Al-Qahtani (1985-02-16) 16 February 1985 15 0 Al-Qadsia 13 2DF Mesaed Al-Enezi (1983-07-08) 8 July 1983 78 12 Al-Qadsia 19 2DF Ahmed Al-Rashidi (1983-08-16) 16 August 1983 14 1 Al-Arabi 25 2DF Mohammad Frieh (1988-01-01) 1 January 1988 2 0 Al-Arabi 5 3MF Mohammad Rashed (1987-07-01) 1 July 1987 36 1 Al-Qadsia 7 3MF Fahad Al-Enezi (1988-09-01) 1 September 1988 33 3 Al-Kuwait 8 3MF Saleh Al-Sheikh (1982-05-29) 29 May 1982 39 1 Al-Qadsia 9 4FW Fahad Al-Rashidi (1984-12-31) 31 December 1984 20 6 Al-Arabi 10 3MF Abdulaziz Al Misha'an (1988-10-19) 19 October 1988 21 1 1. FK Příbram 11 3MF Fahad Al-Ansari (1987-02-25) 25 February 1987 34 2 Al-Qadsia 14 3MF Talal Nayef (1985-11-30) 30 November 1985 17 0 Al-Arabi 15 3MF Waleed Ali (1980-11-03) 3 November 1980 110 6 Al-Kuwait 21 3MF Ali Al-Maqseed (1986-12-11) 11 December 1986 17 0 Al-Arabi 24 3MF Talal Al-Amer (1987-02-22) 22 February 1987 33 0 Al-Qadsia 26 3MF Abdulaziz Al Salimi (1991-09-19) 19 September 1991 1 0 Al-Arabi 18 3MF Jarah Al-Ateeqi (1981-10-15) 15 October 1981 102 4 Al-Kuwait 17 4FW Bader Al-Mutwa (1985-01-10) 10 January 1985 116 38 Al-Qadsia 20 4FW Yousef Nasser (1990-10-09) 9 October 1990 31 15 Kazma 23 4FW Hussain Al-Moussawi (1988-07-11) 11 July 1988 11 3 Al-Arabi 16 4FW Hamad Al-Enezi (1986-10-05) 5 October 1986 27 3 Al-Qadsia

Recent call-ups

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 2DF Ibrahim Al Tuwaijri (1995-03-25) 25 March 1995 1 3 Kazma 2DF Hussain Fadel (1984-10-09) 9 October 1984 40 2 Al-Qadsia 3MF Abdullah Al-Shemali (1988-01-18) 18 January 1988 6 0 Al-Arabi 4FW Ali Al-Kandari (1985-03-12) 12 March 1985 2 0 Al-Kuwait

Previous squads

World Cup squads

• 1982 FIFA World Cup squads – Kuwait

Asian Cup squads

• 1996 AFC Asian Cup squads – Kuwait
• 2000 AFC Asian Cup squads – Kuwait
• 2004 AFC Asian Cup squads – Kuwait
• 2011 AFC Asian Cup squads – Kuwait

Kit Provider

• Kappa (company)

References

External links

• Official Kuwait Football Site
• Official Fans Forum Site

Titles

Preceded by 1976 Iran

Asian Champions 1980 (First title)

Succeeded by 1984 Saudi Arabia