The Oman national football team
The
Oman national football team is the national team of
Oman. Although the team was officially founded in 1978, the squad was formed long before, and has established a proper football association in only December, 2005. The team is controlled by the
Oman Football Association.
Prior to the turn of the 21st century, Oman's senior team have generally finished in last place in all competitions in which competed in. Oman nowadays sports players from
England to
Belgium, and
Saudi Arabia, to
Qatar. Former Omani captain, Hani Al-Dhabit was awarded the
RSSSF 2001 World Top Scorer, with 22 goals;
the most goals scored by a player who won the World Top Scorer award to date, and also being the third
Arab to win the award, as well as being the first
Omani.
The U-16, and U-17 national teams have generally had more success than the senior team on international level, winning 3rd place in the
1994 AFC U-17 Championship, and winning twice the competition in
1996, and
2000 editions. The team has also qualified for the
1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Ecuador, finishing in a record 4th place, and qualifying for the
1997 edition in
Egypt again having an exciting run through the competition, but was eliminated in the final 8. During these U-17 World Championships, many great talents were exposed to international light, such as
Hashim Saleh, Hani Al-Dhabit, and 1995 U-17 World Championship top scorer,
Mohammed Al-Kathiri. The U-17 team has also qualified for the third time for the
2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship in
Trinidad and Tobago. They currently have qualified for the
2010 AFC U-16 Championship.
The senior team has never qualified for the
World Cup, but has qualified for the
Asian Cup in the years
2004 and
2007, and reached the
Gulf Cup of Nations final three times, and won it on its' third attempt as hosts
Omani Football Association
Omani Football Association is considered the biggest sports association in the Sultanate and 43 clubs representing various states of the provinces of the Sultanate fall under its hammer.
Although football is practiced in the Sultanate since the beginning of last century when the British introduced the game to the Arabian Gulf region through their military garrisons. However, the Omani Football is documented with the first sporting club which was founded in the Sultanate which is Oman Club that was founded in 1942 and was known then by the name of Maqboul Club.
With the advent of the modern state of Oman and with His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said - God protect and look after him- taking office in Oman in July 23, 1970 most clubs of the Sultanate were officially declared and the rational government starting with the year 1971 in organizing its various official tournaments especially the Cup of the His Majesty the Sultan and Regional League tournaments under the auspices of the Youth Affairs Department in the Ministry of Education and Youth Affairs then, in addition to the participation of the first ranking football team internationally and represented particularly in the Gulf Football Cup beginning with the third session in Kuwait in 1974.
In 1978 the first Omani Football Association was founded and the first Board of Directors of the Association was appointed under the chairmanship of the late His Highness Sayyid / Faisal bin Ali Al Said - Minister of National Heritage and Culture then - this Council continued for more than five years before the re-declaration of the Omani Football Association officially on June 26 in the year 1983 a.d. according to the Ministerial Decree No. 41/83 and based on the Royal Decree No: 42/82 which related to issuing the law of private organizations working in the sports field. His Highness Sayyid / Haitham bin Tariq Al Said - the current Minister of Heritage and Culture – is considered the first President of the Governing Council of the Omani football Association after its declaration.
Since the Association was founded in 1978, and in the same year became a member in the both Arab and international (FIFA), where it joined the membership of the two Federations immediately after its establishment before joining in 1980 the membership of the Asian Football Federation.
As the days passed, the Statute of the Omani Football Association was established plus the organizational structure of its constituencies, its workforce and for the various local tournament it organized, and for teams that represent the game in the Sultanate and participate in various regional, continental and international competitions. There are five major teams which are the first team and the Olympic team under 23 years old and youth team under 19 years old, and young teams under 16 years old and the bud team under 14 years old. They are supported by the Sultanate clubs which compete with each other in league competitions in its various levels and age groups in addition to the competition of the Cup of His Majesty the beloved, God keep him.
Omani Football was able in the past period to achieve significant development at both the regional, national and continental levels that made it to be admired at Gulf, Arab and Asian levels where the national teams participating in various football forums and major football tournaments played the principal roles and the Omani football even reached to the top of its international achievements by reaching the Fourth place in the World Cup for Youth teams in Ecuador in 1995.
30 August 2007 is a very important date in the pages of Omani football history when on this date the first official elections in the sultanate to form the first elected Board of Directors for the football association in the presence of FIFA regional representative was held, where the overall vision for the development of the Omani football into a thriving industry presented by Sayyid Khalid Bin Hamad bin Hamoud Al Busaidi won the confidence of the general assembly of the Association and he was elected as the Association Chairman of the Board of Directors for the next four years with the rest of his fellow members who were elected on that memorable day when the Omani football entered a new era of development phase through the introduction of scientific programs and modern systems in the administrative work and creating a marketing committee for the competitions and for teams in addition programs for the development of competitions and increasing the financial incentives for clubs, the establishment of a website for the Association and organizing a weekly news conference for the Association, and re-establishing the draft objective and the reopening of football schools and other strategies and plans that are either understudy or that will enter the implementation phase.
Team awards and achievements
Oman have not won many team titles but have gone quite far in many competitions, such as the 1995 U-17 World Championship. For the few trophies the team won, they were in the youth level. The U-17 Team won first place in the 1996 and 2000 AFC U-17 Championship, and third in the '94 tournament. More recent achievements are qualifying for Asian Cups 2004, and 2007 but were eliminated during the first round. The senior team received the 2009 Gulf Cup title in Muscat. Oman performing in the 2007 Asian Cup
Year | Team |
| Award |
| Competition |
| |
| Won third place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won fourth place in tournament |
| |
| |
| Won first place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won first place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won second place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won second place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won first place trophy |
| |
| |
| Won fair play team award |
| |
2010 | |
| Won first place trophy |
| 2010 Al-Massif Football Tournament |
