Libya national football team

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Libya
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) The Greens
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
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
First international
Flag of Egypt Egypt 10 - 2 Libya Flag of Libya
(Egypt; July 29, 1953)
Biggest win
Flag of Libya Libya 21 - 0 Oman Flag of Oman
(Iraq; April 06, 1966)
Biggest defeat
Flag of Egypt Egypt 10 - 2 Libya Flag of Libya
(Egypt; July 29, 1953)
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.

Contents

[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

[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

Note:Libya is the only North African country never to qualify for a World Cup.

[edit] African Nations Cup record

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
30 December 2008
Friendly
Flag of Qatar Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha Flag of Qatar Qatar
5-2
Flag of Libya Libya
Zubya Goal 50'
Ahmad Saad Goal 82' (pen.)
El Fezzani Sent off in the 59th minute 59'
11 February 2009
Friendly
Flag of Libya 11 June Stadium, Tripoli Flag of Libya Libya
2-3
Flag of Uruguay Uruguay
Esnany Goal 31'
El Fezzani Goal 57'
18 February 2009
Friendly
Flag of Libya 9 July Stadium, Misratah Flag of Libya Libya
1-0
Flag of Senegal Senegal
Zubya Goal 73'
23 February 2009
2009 African Championship of Nations
Flag of Côte d'Ivoire Stade Bouaké, Bouaké Flag of Libya Libya
0-2
 Congo DR
26 February 2009
2009 African Championship of Nations
Flag of Côte d'Ivoire Stade Bouaké, Bouaké Flag of Libya Libya
1-1
 Ghana
Ahmed Saad Goal 26'
1 March 2009
2009 African Championship of Nations
Flag of Côte d'Ivoire Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan Flag of Libya Libya
0-0
 Zimbabwe
20 March 2009
Friendly
Flag of France France Venue TBC Flag of Libya Libya
-
Flag of Algeria Algeria

[edit] Current Squad

The following players were called up for the last games

Coach: vacant

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club
1 GK Samir Aboud (captain) September 29, 1972 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
2 DF Hesham Shaban August 8, 1980 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
3 DF Waleed al Sbaa'y March 28, 1983 Flag of Libya Al Ahly Tripoli
4 DF Omar Daoud April 9, 1983 Flag of Libya Al Ahly Tripoli
5 DF Younes Al Shibani June 27, 1981 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
6 MF Mohamed Esnany May 13, 1984 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
7 MF Ali Rahuma October 28, 1982 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
8 FW Reyad Ellafi July 8, 1983 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
9 FW Salem Rewani February 28, 1977 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
11 FW Ahmed Zuway December 28, 1982 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
12 GK Gumaa Igtet 1978 Flag of Libya Al Akhdar Al Bayda
13 MF Arafa Nakuaa January 23, 1982 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
14 MF Mansour Al Borki July 3, 1985 Flag of Libya Al Jazeera Zuwarah
15 DF Ashraf al Amari October 24, 1984 Flag of Libya Al Madina Tripoli
16 MF Nader Al Tarhouni October 24, 1979 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
17 FW Mohamed Zubya March 20, 1989 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
18 DF Osama Al Hamady June 7, 1975 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli
19 FW Osama Al Fazzani February 23, 1978 Flag of Libya Al Ahly Tripoli
20 MF Mohammed al Maghrabi April 19, 1985 Flag of Libya Al Ahly Tripoli
21 GK Abdesalam Msalam August 2, 1984 Flag of Libya Al Jazeera Zuwarah
22 DF Ahmed al Tawerghi December 16, 1981 Flag of Libya Al Ahly Tripoli
23 MF Abdulnaser Slil September 2, 1981 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli

[edit] Recent Call Ups 2008

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club
6 MF Abdulnaser Slil September 2, 1981 Flag of Libya Al Ittihad Tripoli (v. Lesotho on June 15)
11 Abdulhamid Zedani December 1, 1982 (v. Gabon on June 7)
11 FW Ahmed El Masli December 28, 1979 Flag of Kuwait Al Arabi (v. Ghana on June 1)
14 Abubaker Sunusi (v. Ghana on June 1)

[edit] References

  1. ^ 22 March, 2009, LFF Sacks Fauzi Benzarti, Tripoli Post, Accessed March 22, 2009.

[edit] External links

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