Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Sahrawi national football team

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Appearances
  
1 (first in 2012)

Location
  
Western Sahara

Best result
  
6th in 2012

Confederation
  
N.F.-Board

Sahrawi national football team httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb5

Nickname(s)
  
Los Dromedarios (The Dromedaries)

Head coach
  
Sidahmed Erguibi Ahmed Baba Haiai

Association
  
Sahrawi Football Federation

The Sahrawi national football team represents Western Sahara, a disputed territory, in association football. Controlled by the Sahrawi Football Federation, they are members of the New Federations Board for non-FIFA-affiliated nations.

Contents

Origins (1984–2003)

Many teams have represented Western Sahara, or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), in unofficial matches. The first known games were played against Algerian league teams in 1984, before the creation of the Sahrawi Football Federation. In 1986, 1987 and 1994, friendly matches were played against Algerian, Spanish and Italian league teams. In 1988, a Sahrawi Republic team played with Le Mans UC 72 in France, losing 3–2. On 27 February 2001, during the 25th anniversary of the proclamation of the SADR, a match was played in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria between a Sahrawi Republic team and a Basque Country veterans team. The match was attended by more than 4,000 fans, and was abandoned during the second half owing to the temperature (38°C) with the score at 2–2.

NF-Board membership and foundation (2003–2012)

On 12 December 2003, the Sahrawi Football Federation became provisionally affiliated to the Nouvelle Fédération Board. In 2007, a team representing Western Sahara beat Macau 1–0. On 23 December 2011, a team from the Spanish region of Galicia beat a team composed of members of the Sahrawi diaspora in Spain 2–1, in a match played in Teo that was attended by 1,500 fans. On 5 December 2009, three Sahrawi representatives participated in the 6th General Assembly of the N.F.-Board in Paris, France.

On 25 March 2012, Mohamed Moulud Mohamed Fadel, SADR Minister for Youth and Sports, announced the official creation of the Sahrawi national football team.

2012 VIVA World Cup

The Sahrawi national football team made its official international début at the inauguration match of the 5th VIVA World Cup, playing against the host team, Kurdistan at the Franso Hariri Stadium in Arbil, Iraq on 4 June 2012. The Dromedaries lost 6–0 to the team which went on to win the tournament. Their next match was against Occitania, a 6–2 defeat, and the team finished in third position in Group A. The next match was a play-off against Darfur, and ended in a 5–1 victory, Sahrawi's first official international victory. They beat Raetia 3–0 before losing the fifth place match 3–1 to Occitania.

The Sahrawi national football team and federation had to face a deal made between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Government of Morocco, which consisted of avoiding the display of the SADR flag during ceremonies and matches of the VIVA tournament. Despite this, the SADR team managed to arrange extraofficial deals with all their rivals to fly the Sahrawi flag wave on the stadiums where they played their matches.

Present (2012–current)

On 31 July 2015, the Sahrawi team beat the Esperanto Team by 4–0 at the Stadium Lille Métropole. The match was part of the Zamenhof Cup, event made during the 100th World Esperanto Congress.

Match locations

Due to the Western Sahara conflict, their home stadium, El Aaiun Stadium, is in the Moroccan-occupied part of the territory. For this reason, until 2012 matches were played either abroad or in Sahrawi refugee camps.

References

Sahrawi national football team Wikipedia