Jurisdiction Oman Founded 1978 (1978) | Abbreviation OFA Headquarters Oman | |
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Sport Football
Futsal
Beach football Affiliation FIFA (1980)
AFC (1980)
UAFA (1978)
WAFF (2010) | ||
The Oman Football Association (Arabic: الاتحاد العُماني لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Oman. It was founded in 1978, has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation and of FIFA since 1980.
Overview
Despite being a young association, their achievement at the youth level is impeccable. In the 1996 and 2000 AFC U-17 Championship, they became champions of Asia and representing Asia in the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Ecuador, they managed a record high fourth-place finish. Also in the same tournament Mohamed Al Kathiri was awarded most valuable player and was given the golden ball, scoring most individual goals.
At the senior level, success has been far and few. However, lately they seemed to have announced their arrival at the senior events. They reached the Asian Cup, China 2004 final rounds and did well against Asian champions Japan. Later in 2007 they reached the Asian Cup once again, but just went to the group stages. In the Gulf Cup, they reached the final twice, only to lose to Qatar and later, UAE; before winning it as hosts in 2009.
Players such as Imad Ali Al-Hosni have been impressive and are looked at as the future of Omani football. In addition, Oman is looking to take advantage of FIFA's assistance in the GOAL project to further develop the game in Oman. Also Goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi is leading the path of Omani football to Europe, being the first Omani to play in the Premier League. Along with Al-Habsi, Khalifa Ayil has sparked interest from Arsène Wenger of Arsenal.
Oman has a total of 45 clubs divided into three divisions. The First Division has 12 clubs, Second Division has 13 clubs while the Third Division has 20 clubs.