Libya national football team
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| Nickname(s) | The Greens | ||
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| Association | Libyan Football Federation | ||
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Head coach | vacant | ||
| Captain | Samir Aboud | ||
| Home stadium | June 11 Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | LBY | ||
| FIFA ranking | 75 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 61 (December 2004) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 187 (July 1997) | ||
| Elo ranking | 83 | ||
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| First international | |||
 Egypt 10 - 2 Libya  (Egypt; July 29, 1953) |
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| Biggest win | |||
Libya 21 - 0 Oman  (Iraq; April 06, 1966) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Egypt 10 - 2 Libya (Egypt; July 29, 1953) |
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| African Nations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 1982) | ||
| Best result | Runners-up, 1982 | ||
The Libya national football team (Arabic: منتخب ليبيا لكرة القدم), is the national team of Libya and is controlled by the Libyan Football Federation. They have reached the World Cup and have made two appearances at the African Nations Cup, finishing as runners up in 1982, when they hosted the tournament.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early History
Libya's national team was first initiated in 1918, but did not play an official international until August 3, 1953, when they defeated Palestine 5-2 in the first Pan Arab Games in 1953. The first manager ever to manage the Libyan national team was Masoud Zantouny, and the first foreign manager was Englishman James Bingham, who took charge of the Greens for the 1961 Pan Arab Games. The first non-Libyan Arab manager ever to manage the Libyan national team was the Algerian Mukhtar Arbee in 1966.
The first penalty ever scored by a member of the national team was in the 1953 Pan Arab Games group stage; in the match against Egypt, Ali Zantouny scored in the 10-2 defeat. The national team's first participation in the Arab Cup was in 1964, the 2nd edition of the competition, held in Kuwait. The first player ever to score for the Libyan national team in an official international was Mukhtar Ghonaay.
The first ever player to score for the Libyan national team in a non-official international was Mustapha Makki in a warm-up friendly played prior to the 1953 Pan Arab Games tournament, played against Palestine in Alexandria in 1952. The national team's first attempt to qualify for an Olympic football tournament was in 1967, where they played their first qualification match against Niger in an attempt to qualify for the 1968 Olympic football tournament in Mexico City.
[edit] World Cups
Libya first entered the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 1970. Their early attempts failed, but during the 1980s the national side strengthened. The country's geopolitical position, however, affected the football team, who had to withdraw from qualifying for the 1982 and 1990 World Cups.
Libya came closest to qualifying for the world cup in 1986. They came to within a game of reaching the finals in Mexico. After winning their match against Sudan in their first game, the Libyans beat Ghana in the next round before taking on Morocco for a place at the finals. Morocco won the first game 3-0 and went through, even though Libya won the return leg 1-0.
After not entering the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup competition, Libya came back in the qualifying competition for Korea/Japan. The Libyans advanced to the second round at the expense of Mali, who were beaten 4-3 on aggregate.
In the group stage, Libya managed only two draws in eight games, however. The qualifying tournament did put Libya's captain Al-Saadi Qadhafi (son of Muammar al-Gaddafi) on the football map and he received a contract with former Serie A Italian club Perugia shortly afterwards.
In the qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, a 9-0 two-legged victory against São Tome and Principe put the Libyans through to the group stage. However, during these two games, the country's most famous player, Al-Saadi Gaddafi, was banned when he failed a drug test.
A difficult group followed containing Egypt, Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, the eventual group winners and qualifiers for the World Cup. However, The Greens were able to secure good results against these sides, as they beat Egypt 2-1 in Tripoli, and held Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire to 0-0 draws, helping them to a 4th place finish and a place at the 2006 African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt.
[edit] See also
- 1986 FIFA World Cup (qualification CAF) (The closest Libya came to qualifying for the world cup).
[edit] African Cup Of Nations
[edit] Libya 82
The biggest football tournament to be held in Libya was the 1982 African Cup of Nations. Libya qualified automatically as hosts and were put in a rather strong group alongside Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia. The opening match of the tournament which saw the hosts take on Ghana in Tripoli was a closely contested match. Ghana managed to score a late goal in the 89th minute forcing a 2-2 draw. A 2-0 win over Tunisia and a goalless draw against Cameroon saw Libya topping the group.
In the semi-finals, Libya came from behind to beat Zambia 2-1 and set up another match with Ghana, this time in the final on March 19. Ghana scored first in the 35th minute, but Libya equalised in the 70th. This was followed by a tense period of extra time in which no goals were scored. In a long penalty shootout, Ghana came out triumphant 7-6.
[edit] Egypt 06
Libya's second African Cup of Nations saw a return to the higher levels of the international footballing scene at the 2006 African Cup of Nations finals in Egypt. They qualified for the competition after a goalless draw with Sudan in their ninth qualifying match.
Libya were drawn in Group A with (eventual finalists) Egypt (the hosts) and 2006 World Cup-qualifiers Côte d'Ivoire and Morocco. Libya's players were unable to compete with these teams, but played bravely, going down 3-0 to Egypt in Cairo, then losing narrowly to the Ivory Coast 2-1, with a Yaya Toure goal in the 74th minute. Against Morocco, they were always the better side, and had a goal dubiously ruled out for offside. Despite their performance in the Nations Cup, Libya showed signs they were improving as a football nation.
[edit] Recent Years
Faouzi Benzarti became the coach of the national team in 2006. He failed to lead the team to the 2008 African Nations Cup, despite being drawn in what was seen as an easy group along with DR Congo, Namibia and Ethiopia. Despite great home form, embarrassing away defeats in Adis Ababa and Windhoek prevented qualification.
The next challenge for the Libyans was the qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. They were drawn in Group 5 along with Gabon, Lesotho and the 2006 ACN quarter-finalists Ghana, . A 3-0 defeat away to Ghana was the only real setback in the group. An own goal from Bruno Manga gave Libya their first win in the group, 1-0 at home to Gabon. They then went on to win their next three games, 1-0 away to Lesotho, 4-0 at home to Lesotho, and, the biggest shock of the group, 1-0 at home to Ghana, where Ahmed Saad scored an 87th minute winner. This left Libya in a great position to go through to the third and final round of qualification. Libya needed only a point against Gabon in their final game to qualify. Despite domination from the Libyans throughout, they failed to take their chances, and Bruno Mbanangoye caused an upset scored from 20 yards to give Gabon the win in the 83rd minute. Libya were therefore eliminated on goal difference.
Libya had a chance to come back from World Cup misfortune during the qualifiers for the 2009 African Championship of Nations. They overcame Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco to go through to the tournament. The players' lack of fitness showed throughout the tournament however. Only one goal was scored, and The Greens finished bottom of their group. Benzarti was sacked, and has since agreed a move to ES Tunis.[1] Libya await a new manager for the qualifiers of the 2012 African Nations Cup.
[edit] World Cup record
- 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter
- 1966 - Withdrew
- 1970 - Did not qualify
- 1974 - Did not enter
- 1978 - Did not qualify
- 1982 - Withdrew during qualifying
- 1986 - Did not qualify
- 1990 - Withdrew during qualifying
- 1994 - Disqualified due to UN sanctions
- 1998 - Did not enter
- 2002 - Did not qualify
- 2006 - Did not qualify
- 2010 - Did not qualify
Note:Libya is the only North African country never to qualify for a World Cup.
[edit] African Nations Cup record
- 1957 to 1965 - Did not enter
- 1968 - Did not qualify
- 1970 - Did not enter
- 1972 - Did not qualify
- 1974 - Withdrew
- 1976 to 1980 - Did not qualify
- 1982 -
Runners-up - 1984 - Did not qualify
- 1986 - Did not qualify
- 1988 - Withdrew
- 1990 - Withdrew
- 1992 to 1998 - Did not enter
- 2000 to 2004 - Did not qualify
- 2006 - Round 1
- 2008 - Did not qualify
- 2010 Did not qualify
- 2012
- 2014 - Qualified As Hosts
Note:Libya is the only North African country never to win an African Nations Cup
[edit] See also
[edit] Results and Upcoming Fixtures
| Date | Tournament | Location | Home Team | Score | Away Team | Scorers |
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 Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha |
Qatar |
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 Libya |
 50'Ahmad Saad 82' (pen.)El Fezzani  59' |
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11 June Stadium, Tripoli |
Libya |
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 Uruguay |
31' El Fezzani 57' |
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9 July Stadium, Misratah |
Libya |
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 Senegal |
73' |
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 Stade Bouaké, Bouaké |
Libya |
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 Congo DR |
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Stade Bouaké, Bouaké |
Libya |
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 Ghana |
26' |
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Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan |
Libya |
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 Zimbabwe |
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 France Venue TBC |
Libya |
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 Algeria |
[edit] Current Squad
The following players were called up for the last games
Coach: vacant
[edit] Recent Call Ups 2008
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[edit] References
- ^ 22 March, 2009, LFF Sacks Fauzi Benzarti, Tripoli Post, Accessed March 22, 2009.
[edit] External links
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