Djibouti national football team

Djibouti played its first international match under the name French Somaliland, at home against neighbouring Ethiopia on 5 December 1947 and lost 5–0. This was also Ethiopia's debut.[2] The two played again in Djibouti on 1 June 1948 and Ethiopia won 2–1. On 1 May 1949, the fixture was played for the Emperor Cup in Ethiopia, and the host won 6–0. In 1954, Djibouti played Ethiopia three times: a 10–2 away loss on 1 May, a 2–0 home loss on 1 June and a 2–1 home loss the day after. Djibouti did not play a match again until 1960, when it entered a tournament for French-speaking countries held in Madagascar. The team lost 9–2 in the first round to Cameroon on 13 April. This was the squad's last game as French Somaliland.

After gaining independence in 1977, the team played under the name Djibouti for the first time against Ethiopia in an away match on 27 March 1983 and lost 8–1. The two played again two days later with Ethiopia again victorious, by 4–2. After a third friendly against Ethiopia, a 2–0 home defeat on 23 March 1984, Djibouti entered a tournament in Ethiopia against the host and Zimbabwe. They lost 2–0 to Ethiopia on 3 June and then 3–1 to Zimbabwe on 7 June.

Djibouti's first appearance at the CECAFA Cup, a local competition for nations in East and Central Africa, was in Kenya in 1994. These were its first matches since defeating South Yemen in 1988. The Djibouti squad lost 4–1 to the hosts on 28 November, 2–1 to Somalia on 1 December, and 3–0 to Tanzania on 3 December. Djibouti did not advance to the next round.

After the 1994 CECAFA Cup, Djibouti did not play a match until the qualification campaign for the 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso. They were drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Kenya, and lost the first leg 3–0 away on 31 July 1998. The second leg at home was lost 9–1 on 15 August and Kenya went through 12–1 on aggregate.

In 1998, Djibouti became a member of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The football squad has since participated in the Arab Games, a regional multi-sport event held between nations from the Arab World.

Djibouti entered its first ever World Cup qualification in an attempt to reach the 2002 FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan. In Pool D of the first round of African qualification, it was drawn against the DR Congo in a two-legged qualifying preliminary. Djibouti hosted the first leg at Stade du Ville in Djibouti on 7 April 2000, drawing the match 1–1 before a crowd of 2,700 fans.[3] The squad lost the second leg 9–1 away at the Stade des Martyrs in Kinshasa and the DR Congo advanced 10–2 on aggregate.[4]

Djibouti has never played in the African Cup of Nations, with the team regularly withdrawing or not entering for financial reasons.

Prior to their four preliminary qualifiers in late 2019, Djibouti had 2 wins, 3 draws and 55 defeats from 60 competitive matches. However, a number of new players were called up and results finally improved. First, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Djibouti beat Eswatini 2–1 at home and drew 0–0 in Manzini to advance to the second round for the first time since the 2010 qualifying when they beat Somalia 1-0 (2–1 on aggregate). This was a massive improvement from the previous edition when Djibouti had also played Eswatini and lost 8–1 on aggregate. One month later, Djibouti played two 1–1 draws against Gambia in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round, only losing the tie on penalties.

The following players were selected for the 2023 Mauritius Four Nations Cup in June 2023.[6]

Caps and goals are correct as of 17 June 2023, after the match against Pakistan.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Innocent Mbonihankuye	(1996-11-05) 5 November 1996	25	0	Espereance
	1GK	Liban Mohamed Said	(2001-11-12) 12 November 2001	0	0	ASAS Djibouti Télécom
3	2DF	Ali Youssouf Farada	(1995-08-25) 25 August 1995	27	1	AS Port
4	2DF	Yabe Siad	(1998-03-12) 12 March 1998	21	1	Arta Solar 7
15	2DF	Warsama Ibrahim Aden	(1998-05-12) 12 May 1998	20	1	AS Port
14	2DF	Moussa Araita	(1997-07-24) 24 July 1997	12	0	Dikhil
	2DF	Abdoulkader Djama	(1994-01-05) 5 January 1994	12	1	Dikhil
	2DF	Moustapha Abdi Osman	(1992-01-08) 8 January 1992	3	0	Garde Républicaine FC
5	3MF	Hamza Abdi Idleh	(1991-12-16) 16 December 1991	24	2	Dikhil
13	3MF	Doualeh Mahamoud Elabeh	(1991-11-11) 11 November 1991	24	1	Arta Solar 7
6	3MF	Warsama Hassan	(1999-03-17) 17 March 1999	20	2	Arta Solar 7
	3MF	Saleh Bourhan Hassan	(1996-12-19) 19 December 1996	14	0	AS Port
	3MF	Youssouf Abdi Ahmed	(1997-10-11) 11 October 1997	10	0	Espereance
	3MF	Abdillahi Mohamed	(1992-12-19) 19 December 1992	4	0	Nourie Transit
	3MF	Ibrahim Ali Mohamed	(1996-10-14) 14 October 1996	2	0	ASAS Djibouti Télécom
31	4FW	Samuel Akinbinu	(1999-06-06) 6 June 1999	14	7	Arta Solar 7
7	4FW	Mohamed Fouad Mohamed	(2000-02-25) 25 February 2000	14	1	Arta Solar 7
	4FW	Ahmed Youssouf Omar	(1998-09-01) 1 September 1998	10	0	AS Port
24	4FW	Gabriel Dadzie	(1997-03-06) 6 March 1997	6	3	ASAS Djibouti Télécom

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Omar Mahamoud	(2001-10-19) 19 October 2001	0	0	Dikhil	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
GK	Yahya Houssein	(2002-04-07) 7 April 2002	0	0	AS Port	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
MF	Mogueh Idriss	(2000-01-01) 1 January 2000	2	0	Arta Solar 7	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
MF	Fahmi Moussa	(1996-04-25) 25 April 1996	3	0	Arta Solar 7	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
MF	Samatar Mohamed	(1995-10-10) 10 October 1995	2	0	Garde Républicaine FC	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
FW	Mahdi Houssein Mahabeh	(1995-12-20) 20 December 1995	26	7	Arta Solar 7	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023
FW	Omar Abdallah	(2002-10-30) 30 October 2002	2	0	Garde Républicaine	v.  South Sudan, 27 March 2023