Libya national football team

Libya

Nickname(s)	The Mediterranean Knights
Association	Libyan Football Federation
Sub-confederation	UNAF (North Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Marcos Paqueta
Captain	Samir Aboud
Home stadium	June 11 Stadium
FIFA code	LBY
FIFA ranking	63
Highest FIFA ranking	58 (April 2011)
Lowest FIFA ranking	187 (July 1997)
Elo ranking	83
Highest Elo ranking	46 (August 1985)
Lowest Elo ranking	124 (June 2003)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Egypt 10–2 Libya (Egypt; July 29, 1953)[1]
Biggest win
Libya 21–0 Muscat and Oman (Iraq; April 6, 1966)
Biggest defeat
Egypt 10–2 Libya (Egypt; July 29, 1953)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	3 (First in 1982)
Best result	Runner-up, 1982

The Libya national football team (Arabic: منتخب ليبيا لكرة القدم‎) is the national association football team of Libya and is controlled by the Libyan Football Federation. The team has never qualified for the senior FIFA World Cup. They have qualified for three Africa Cup of Nations, one in 1982 where they finished runners-up and also hosted the tournament. The second was in 2006, but they failed to progress from their group and the third was in 2011, which was the first time that they qualified without hosting the tournament. They also finished runners-up in the 1964 Arab Nations Cup.

The Libya national team has been a member of CAF since 1965, and has been a member of the sub-confederation UNAF since its official formation in 2005. As of October 2011, Libya is currently ranked 62 in the official FIFA World Rankings, just short of their highest ever ranking. Their lowest ever ranking was 187th in July 1997.

History

Early History

Libya's national team was first initiated in 1918, but did not play an official international until 3 August 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 Libyan national team for the 1961 Pan Arab Games. The first player ever to score for the Libyan national team in an official international was Mukhtar Ghonaay.

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 second edition of the competition, held in Kuwait.

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.

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 increased the profile of Libya's captain Al-Saadi Gaddafi, son of national leader Muammar Gaddafi, 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 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 knights 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.

See also

• 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) (The closest Libya came to qualifying for the World Cup).

African Cup Of Nations

Libya 1982

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 agroup alongside Ghana, Cameroon and Tunisia. The opening match of the tournament saw the hosts take on Ghana in Tripoli in 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 19 March. 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.

Egypt 2006

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 Egypt (the hosts and eventual winners), 2006 World Cup-qualifiers Côte d'Ivoire and Morocco. Libya lost 3–0 to Egypt in Cairo, then lost 2–1 to the Ivory Coast. A goalless draw against Morocco saw Libya finish bottom of the group.

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; away defeats in Addis 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 Ghana: Libya were eliminated on goal difference after losing their final match against Gabon.

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, but Libya finished bottom of their group after losing to Congo DR and drawing with Ghana and Zimbabwe. Benzarti was sacked, and Serbian Branko Smiljanić was appointed on December 13. In July 2010, Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta was appointed the head coach of the Libyan team, and signed a four year contract ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Post Gaddafi Era

Libya played its first match after the Battle of Tripoli (and thus the end of the Gaddafi era in Libya) on 3 September 2011, with a new uniform sporting the National Transitional Council flag of Libya.

The match, part of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, resulted in a 1–0 victory over Mozambique. The historic goal was scored by Rabee'a al Laafi. Like Libya's previous home match, a 3–0 defeat of Comoros in qualifying, played in Stade 26 mars in Bamako, Mali, a relocation was necessary due to the on-going Libyan civil war, and so the Petro Sport Stadium in Cairo, Egypt became the venue. The match was played behind closed doors for security reasons.

Prior to the team's final game in the qualification campaign, against Zambia, coach Marcos Paquetá claimed that the team was now "not only playing for football success but for a new government and a new country". The match was played on 8 October 2011, and resulted in a 0–0 draw which was good enough for both teams to qualify. Paquetá and his team danced and celebrated afterwards.

In November 2011 the team travelled to the United Arab Emirates to play a friendly match against Belarus organized by FIFA and broadcast Dubai Sports. The team members, along with the Libyan national Chess team, also attended an event at the Libyan Consulate in Dubai organized to honour their contribution to their country in the field of sports.

Rivalries

Libya's only real rivalries are with its fellow North African footballing nations, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and, mainly, Tunisia. Matches between Libya and any one of these opponents are highly charged encounters, although the rivalry is not considered intense due to the gulf in quality between the sides. Libya defeated Egypt 2–1 in a World Cup qualifier on 8 October 2004, however they have never managed to defeat the Pharaohs on their own turf. The rivalry was rekindled at the 2007 Pan Arab Games, where the teams drew 0–0; Egypt eventually claimed the gold medal on goal difference from the Libyans.

Libya's last clash with Morocco was at the 2006 African Nations Cup, where it finished goalless (However, Libya also recently contested a fiery two-legged play-off tie for the 2009 African Championship of Nations, which Libya won 4–3 on aggregate). The height of the rivalry was in the 1980s, where a strong Libya side had its World Cup '86 dreams crushed by a resurgent Morocco side. The Moroccans won the play-off 3–1 on aggregate, and progressed to the knockout stage, where they were defeated by West Germany.

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
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
2010
2014	To Be Determined
2018
2022
Total	N/A	N/A	0	0	0	0	0	0

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

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations
Titles: 0 Appearances: 2
Year	Position		Year	Position		Year	Position		Year	Position
1957	Did not enter		1976	Did not enter		1994	Did not enter		2012	Round 1
1959			1978			1996			2013	TBD
1962			1980			1998			2015
1963			1982	Runners up		2000	Did not qualify		2017	Qualified
1965			1984	Did not qualify		2002
1968	Did not qualify		1986			2004
1970	Did not enter		1988	Withdrew		2006	Round 1
1972	Did not qualify		1990			2008	Did not qualify
1974	Withdrew		1992	Did not enter		2010

• Red bordered cells indicates Cup was held in Libya.

Results and Upcoming Fixtures

Date	Tournament	Location	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Libya Scorers	Opposition scorers
5 September 2010	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	Estádio da Machava, Maputo	Mozambique	0–0	Libya	-	-
10 October 2010	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	June 11 Stadium, Tripoli	Libya	1–0	Zambia	Ahmed Sa'ad  36'	-
26 March 2011	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	Stade 26 mars, Bamako	Libya	3–0	Comoros	Ahmed Abdelkader  41' Mohamed Al Ghanodi  81' Djamal Bindi  83'	-
4 June 2011	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	Stade Said Mohamed Cheikh, Moroni	Comoros	1–1	Libya	Ihaab Boussefi  53'	Mzé Mbaba  83'
3 September 2011	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	Petro Sport Stadium, Cairo	Libya	1–0	Mozambique	Rabee'a al Laafi  31'	-
8 October 2011	2012 African Cup of Nations Qualifier	Nkoloma Stadium, Lusaka	Zambia	0–0	Libya	-	-
21 January 2012	2012 African Cup of Nations	Estadio de Bata, Bata	Equatorial Guinea	1–0	Libya	-	Javier Balboa  87'
25 January 2012	2012 African Cup of Nations	Estadio de Bata, Bata	Libya	2–2	Zambia	Ahmed Saad Osman  5', 47'	Emmanuel Mayuka  29' Christopher Katongo  54'
29 January 2012	2012 African Cup of Nations	Estadio de Bata, Bata	Libya	–	Senegal	-	-

Current squad

Squad has been selected to participate in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. Caps and goals updated as 29 January 2012.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Samir Aboud (Captain) 29 September 1972 (1972-09-29) 22 0 Al Ittihad 12 GK Guma Mousa 1 January 1978 (1978-01-01) 1 0 Al-Shamal 22 GK Muhammad Nashnoush 15 June 1988 (1988-06-15) 1 0 Al Shat 2 DF Rabii Mabrouk Al Lafi 5 March 1990 (1990-03-05) 3 0 Club Africain 3 DF Abdulaziz Belraysh 12 July 1990 (1990-07-12) 8 0 Al Ittihad 4 DF Ahmed Al Alwany 19 August 1981 (1981-08-19) 3 0 Al Ittihad 5 DF Younes Al Shibani 27 June 1981 (1981-06-27) 37 2 OC Khouribga 7 DF Osama Chtiba 27 September 1988 (1988-09-27) 4 0 Al-Nejmeh 11 DF Muhammad al Maghrabi 19 April 1985 (1985-04-19) 18 0 OC Khouribga 14 DF Ali Salama 18 September 1987 (1987-09-18) 8 0 Al Ahly Benghazi 6 MF Muhammad al Sanaani 13 May 1984 (1984-05-13) 7 1 US Monastir 8 MF Abdallah Sharif 30 March 1985 (1985-03-30) 6 1 Al Madina 13 MF Mohamed El Mounir 8 April 1992 (1992-04-08) 0 0 Jagodina 15 MF Marwan Mabrouk 15 December 1989 (1989-12-15) 5 0 Al Ittihad 16 MF Abubakr al Abaidy 27 October 1981 (1981-10-27) 5 0 Al-Nasr Benghazi 17 MF Walid Mhadeb 6 November 1985 (1985-11-06) 5 1 Al Ittihad 18 MF Faisal Al Badri 4 June 1990 (1990-06-04) 1 0 Al Hilal Benghazi 21 MF Moataz Ben Amer 2 February 1981 (1981-02-02) 3 0 Al-Ahly Benghazi S.C. 23 MF Djamal Mahamat 26 April 1983 (1983-04-26) 6 1 Braga 9 FW Mohamed Al Ghanodi 22 November 1992 (1992-11-22) Haras El-Hodood 10 FW Ahmed Saad 7 August 1979 (1979-08-07) 40 9 Club Africain 19 FW Ahmed Zuway 28 December 1982 (1982-12-28) 16 3 CA Bizertin 20 FW Ihaab Boussefi 23 June 1985 (1985-06-23) 7 4 Al Ittihad

Recent call-ups

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 18 GK Ahmed Azzaqa 9 August 1988 (1988-08-09) 0 0 Al Hilal 6 DF Ahmed al Tawerghi 16 December 1981 (1981-12-16) 2 0 Alahly Tripoli S.C. 20 DF Omar Dawood 9 April 1983 (1983-04-09) 11 1 Alahly Tripoli S.C. 22 DF Hamed Snousi 3 November 1989 (1989-11-03) 0 0 Al-Ahly Benghazi S.C. 9 MF Abdulnaser Slil 2 September 1981 (1981-09-02) 10 1 Al Ittihad 10 MF Riyadh al Laafi 5 July 1980 (1980-07-05) 8 0 Al Ittihad 13 MF Ibrahim al Haasy 13 May 1987 (1987-05-13) 2 0 Al-Nasr Benghazi 14 MF Khalid al Deelawi 27 July 1985 (1985-07-27) 1 0 Al Swihli 21 MF Ali Rahuma 16 May 1982 (1982-05-16) 7 1 Al Ittihad 23 MF Tariq Q'tait 22 July 1989 (1989-07-22) 1 0 Khaleej Sirte MF Osama Abdusalam 23 February 1983 (1983-02-23) 1 0 Al-Akhdhar 17 FW Muhammad Za'abia 20 March 1989 (1989-03-20) 27 1 Al-Arabi SC 19 FW Éamon Zayed 4 October 1983 (1983-10-04) 3 0 Persepolis

External links

• Libyan Football Federation
• African Cup Of Nations 82