South Yemen national football team

South Yemen

Nickname(s)	Soqoor Al-Janoub (The South Falcons) (صقور الجنوب)
Head coach	Mubarak Qadhi
Most caps	Abubakar Al-Mass
Top scorer	Abubakar Al-Mass
Home stadium	22 May Stadium
FIFA code	SYE
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Highest	139 (1976)
Lowest	164 (1989)
First international
UAR 14–0 South Yemen (Egypt, 2 September 1965)[3] Last International South Yemen 1–0 Guinea (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 5 November 1989)
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 1976)
Best result	Group stage, 1976

The South Yemen national football team (Arabic: منتخب اليمن الجنوبي الوطني لكرة القدم) was the national team of South Yemen between 1965 and 1989. It took part in the Asian Cup finals in 1976, losing 0–8 to Iran and 0–1 to Iraq. They entered their only World Cup qualification campaign, for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, and were knocked out in the first round by Bahrain.

The team ceased to exist when the country united with North Yemen in 1990 to form the modern country of Yemen. See the article Yemen national football team for details after 1990.

Debut

South Yemen made its international football debut on 2 September 1965 at the 1965 Pan Arab Games in Cairo, Egypt. They played the hosts (who played as the United Arab Republic) in the first game and lost, 14–0. This was their largest defeat without scoring a goal in reply. South Yemen lost all three other games in the group: 1–0 to Palestine and then 4–3 to Lebanon. South Yemen did not play another game until 10 January 1972 when they lost a home friendly, 4–1, to Algeria.

1986 World Cup qualification

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Bahrain	2	1	1	0	7	4	+3	3
South Yemen	2	0	1	1	4	7	−3	1
Iran	Disqualified

South Yemen competed in qualification for the only time for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. They were placed in Group 4 of Zone A in the First Round against Iran and Bahrain. Iran was disqualified before the games were played, due to refusal to move their games to neutral grounds away from the Iran–Iraq War. South Yemen hosted Bahrain on 12 March 1985 and lost 4-1 in Mortayer Yard (now 22 May Stadium, Aden. On 12 April they drew, 3–3, at the Bahrain National Stadium in Manama after leading 3-1. This saw Bahrain advance through.

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1962 – Did not exist
• 1966 to 1982 – Did not enter
• 1986 – Did not qualify
• 1990 – Withdrew

Asian Cup record

• 1956 to 1972 – Did not enter
• 1976 – Round 1
• 1980 to 1984 – Withdrew
• 1988 – Did not qualify

Coaches

• Nasr Chadli (1972)
• Ali Mohsen Al-Moraisi (1975–1976)
• Abbas Ghulam (1982–?)
• Timur Segizbaev (1982–1985)
• Azzam Khalifa (? – March 1985)
• Abdullah Saleh Khobani(April 1985–?)
• Awad Awadan (1986–?)
• Abbas Ghulam (1988)
• Mubarak Qadhi (1989)

Friendly matches

South Yemen 1 vs 0 Denmark (Al-Shohada'a Stadium, October 1984, Abyan, South Yemen)

South Yemen 1 vs 4 Djibouti (Djibouti Stadium, 26 February 1988, Djibouti City, Djibouti)

South Yemen 0 vs 0 Tanzania

South Yemen 2 vs 0 Iraq

South Yemen 1 vs 1 Tanzania

South Yemen 1 vs 1 Ethiopia

South Yemen 2 vs 4 China

South Yemen 5 vs 6 China

South Yemen 1 vs 15 Algeria

1982 Asian Games

South Yemen 1 vs 3 Japan

South Yemen 0 vs 2 Iran

South Yemen 0 vs 3 South Korea

1984 Arab Nations Cup qualifier

South Yemen 1 vs 1 Somalia

South Yemen 0 vs 1 Saudi Arabia

South Yemen 0 vs 1 Sudan

1965 Pan Arab Games

Group 2 :

South Yemen 0 vs 14 Egypt

South Yemen 0 vs 6 Iraq

South Yemen 0 vs 1 Palestine

South Yemen 3 vs 4 Lebanon

1972 Palestine Cup

South Yemen 2 vs 1 Qatar

South Yemen 2 vs 1 Palestine

South Yemen 1 vs 4 Algeria

South Yemen 0 vs 1 Syria

1973 Palestine Cup

South Yemen 1 vs 7 Syria

South Yemen 1 vs 6 Egypt

South Yemen 0 vs 2 Tunisia

1975 Palestine Cup

South Yemen 1 vs 0 Saudi Arabia

South Yemen 0 vs 5 Egypt

1976 Pan Arab Games

South Yemen 2 vs 1 Syria

South Yemen 0 vs 4 Morocco

South Yemen 1 vs 0 Saudi Arabia

South Yemen 0 vs 0 Palestine

South Yemen 2 vs 3 Jordan

South Yemen 2 vs 0 Mauritania

1980 Olympic Games Qualifiers

South Yemen 1 vs 2 Syria

South Yemen 1 vs 5 Kuwait

South Yemen 2 vs 1 Jordan

South Yemen 0 vs 3 Iraq

1988 Asian Cup Qualifier

South Yemen 0 vs 2 Bahrain

South Yemen 1 vs 1 South Korea

South Yemen 0 vs 1 Indonesia

Other tournaments

Year	Round
1989 Peace and Friendship Cup	Group Stage

Line-up, 1989

GK (Abdulrahman Ebrahim) {Al-Tilal}

Df (Mohammed Ramadah) {Al-Shorta SC (Aden)}

Df (Khaled Attar)

Df (Abdullah Hadi) {Al-Wahda (Aden)}

Df (Yasin Mahmood) {Al-Wahda (Aden)}

Mf (Salah Saifudin) {Al-Tilal}

Mf (Saleh Al Haj) {Al-Shula}

Mf (Omar Albarek) {Al-Tilal}

Mf (Ali Alsalahi)

Sk (Wagdan Shadeli) {Al-Wahda (Aden)}

Sk (Sharaf Mahfood) {Al-Tilal}

Recent results

Main article: South Yemen national football team match results