The Yemen national football team is the national team of Yemen and is controlled by the Yemen Football Association. Yemen Football History.
Despite being the 5th most populous country in the Middle East, and despite Yemen’s success in youth teams such as U23, U20, and U17, Yemen has never achieved as much success as countries with smaller populations such as the United Arab Emirates. , Qatar, Syria, Jordan, and Oman.
2000 AFC Asian Cup
Yemen began the millennium by attempting to qualify for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup. Al Mayman Saeed started the year with an impressive 3-0 win against Nepal followed by a 0-1 defeat against Turkmenistan. It then emerged that Kuwait had thrashed Bhutan 20-0 in the qualifiers, raising doubts about the national team.
Yemen only lost 2-0 to Kuwait (with an own goal) and ended the qualification campaign with their highest-ever win as they beat Bhutan 11-2. In which Ali Al Nuno scored a hat trick and three others scored a brace. . These matches put Yemen above Nepal with 6 points and Bhutan in fifth place.
World Cup
The following year, 2001, would be a high point for Yemeni fans as they watched their national team narrowly lose in the second round of the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. They lost to the United Arab Emirates who finished top with 12 points while Yemen sat on 11 points with India and Yemen scored three more goals than India despite a goal difference of six. Losing both legs to the Arab powerhouse that was the United Arab Emirates, the Yemeni fans knew that football in Yemen was slowly developing.
However, disappointment would follow for the Yemenis as they bombed in their next major competition, the 2002 Arab Cup. This will be their first appearance since 1966 when they played as North Yemen, in which they also failed to win all three games and with a goal difference of -23. In 2012, it would be a different story as they drew 2-2 with Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia but lost to Lebanon 4-2, Bahrain 3-1, and Syria 0-4.
2004 AFC Asian Cup
Qualification for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup would come as the next test for Yemen. Yemenis will soon find out that this capability is getting better than expected. However, as fate would have it, the Yemenis were left stranded at the top of the qualification as they were beaten by Indonesia in last place by 3 points, despite having a worse goal difference between them.
A few days later, they would face another major tournament in succession which was the 16th Arabian Gulf Cup hosted by Kuwait. The tournament didn’t do him any favors as he finished seventh out of last. They finished with 1 point, a draw with Oman, and a goal difference of −16.
Gulf Cup
But within months, the 17th Arabian Gulf Cup arrived with the Yemenis looking to avenge their poor performance in the previous tournament. However, the Yemenis once again failed to register a win, as expected, with the only point coming from a 1-1 draw against Bahrain while losing 0-3 to Saudi Arabia and 3-1 to Kuwait.
2006 FIFA World Cup
Yemen will next look towards the qualification campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. But the Yemenis would soon end it on a short note, as they finished bottom of the group with 5 points and one win behind Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and North Korea (who won the group with 11 points). , drew two and lost three.
A little later, the Yemenis are preparing for the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup. As expected, despite finishing last in the group, they finished with two defeats against UAE and Oman and a single draw with Kuwait. However, the Yemenis will go out proud as they did not get the defeat many expected and lost by a 1-goal margin with the winner coming in the second half.
2007 AFC Asian Cup
Months later would see Yemen enter the qualification campaign for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and were knocked out once again with mixed results. While Japan and Saudi Arabia qualified comfortably, Yemen got their only two wins against India. However, their loss to Japan was minimal as both goals (consolation and victory) came in stoppage time.
The next task for the Yemenis was a qualification campaign for the 2010 World Cup that was cut short. In the first round, Yemen scored three goals without reply against the Maldives, in the first leg. In the comeback, Maldives scored two goals in reply but in the end, it was not enough and Yemen entered the next stage. The second leg saw Yemen draw 1-1 with Thailand which ended 1-0 in Thailand’s favor thus knocking them out 3-2 on aggregate. This was the first time that Yemen did not reach the group stage of the World Cup qualification stage.
Hosting Gulf Cup
Yemen kicked off the new year by hosting the 20th Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time. As hosts, they played against Saudi Arabia at the Aden Stadium on 22 May and lost 0–4. Yemen would go on to lose 2-1 and 0-3 to Qatar and Kuwait respectively, thus exiting the group stage with just one goal while beating nine.
The qualification campaign for the 2011 Asian Cup was acceptable by Yemeni standards. Despite being in a group with Japan and Bahrain and Hong Kong, they won two, drew one, and lost three. They opened with a shocking 2-1 defeat against Japan and again, ended with the surprise of holding off Japan until the last minute to defeat Japan 3-2.
After ten years of their last participation, they entered the 2012 Arab Cup where they were grouped with Morocco, Bahrain, and Libya. To the surprise of many football pundits, Bahrain finished last and Yemen third with three points. Yemen Football History.
In 2013
However, in 2013, Yemen would participate in the 21st Arabian Gulf Cup, recording their worst run at the tournament where they were grouped with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq. They recorded no goals and conceded six goals in all three games.
As the recent record shows, the Yemenis ended their worst ever World Cup qualification campaign for the 2014 World Cup. They faced Iraq where they lost 2-0. Due to civil unrest in Yemen, the return leg was played in the United Arab Emirates. The match between Yemen and Iraq was a draw as a result of which Iraq won 2-0 on aggregate and thus knocked Yemen out of the knockout stage. Yemen Football History.
FIFA Ranking
In December 2013, they fell to their lowest ever ranking of 179th in the FIFA rankings. From the beginning of January 2013 to December 2013. They lost half of what they were before, going down almost 50 points. The calling came as a serious signing for the Yemen Football Association. As they signed Vladimir Petrovic as a coach, with experience in Europe as a player and Red Star Belgrade fame.
Unfortunately, Vladimir Petrovic resigned as Yemen’s manager in May 2014, with only a one-year extension to his contract. Because of this, Yemen dropped to the lowest and worst ranking in its football: 186th. In preparation for the 22nd Arabian Gulf Cup, they hired Czech youth teams manager Miroslav Sokup to try to revive the national team. Once again, Yemen went out without a win. But for the first time in their Gulf Cup history, they did not finish last. Yemen Football History.
2018 FIFA World Cup
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers coincided with the outbreak of civil war, forcing most of the national team’s players. And staff fled to Djibouti by boat, making media headlines. Yemen managed to beat only two opponents, Pakistan and the Philippines while losing to other opponents. Thus ending their qualification with a bottom record. However, since the setback, Yemen has started to bounce back.
2019 AFC Asian Cup
During the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, which was Yemen’s first attempt to qualify for the tournament. As a unified nation, Yemen defeated Tajikistan, while maintaining other draws. Yemen had a great chance to qualify for the first international tournament in its history as a unified country. Finally, Yemen finally qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in their history. When the Azkals beat Tajikistan 2-1 in Manila with the help of the Philippines. Yemen Football History.
In the team’s first AFC Asian Cup, Yemen was placed in a group with Iraq, Iran, and Vietnam. Their opening campaign was against Iran, who took part in the last 2018 World Cup. And nearly eliminated Spain in the promotion. Yemen played well in the first ten minutes and almost scored a goal. But after that Iran completely dominated Yemen and the Yemenis lost 0-5 to Iran. Yemen later fell 0-3 to Iraq after failing to repel Iraqi pressure. And later lost 0-2 to Southeast Asian rivals Vietnam to finish last with no goals and no points. All three of Yemen’s opponents will advance from the group stage soon. For more details click here