Mauritania national football team

Mauritania played its first match after independence from France on 11 April 1963, against Congo Kinshasa (also making their debut) and lost 6–0.[2] The match was held in Dakar, Senegal as part of the L'Amitié tournament between African sides. It also saw the debuts of Chad, Liberia and Niger. Mauritania lost its three other matches in the tournament: 2–0 to the Ivory Coast, 4–0 to Tunisia and 7–0 to Congo Brazzaville.

Mauritania's first goal and avoidance of defeat came four years after their debut, in 1967 with a 1–1 draw away in Tanzania. This was their first match since the L'Amitié tournament in 1963.

Mauritania entered their first African Games qualification campaign, in an aim to reach the 1973 finals in Nigeria. They were drawn in a group against Mali and Guinea in Guinea. The first game was lost 11–0 to Mali, and on 20 May Mauritania lost 14–0 to Guinea. Mauritania did not qualify.

In May 1976 Mauritania entered qualification for the football at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada. They were drawn against neighbouring Mali in a two-legged qualifier. The first leg was lost 6–0 away on 1 May, and the second leg was lost 1–0 at home on 18 May. Mali did not qualify for the finals.

Mauritania's first entrance into World Cup qualification was an attempt to reach the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. In March 1976 they were one of four countries put into two preliminary matches at the start of the African qualification campaign. Mauritania's preliminary was a two-legged match against the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and they drew the first match 1–1 away in Ouagadougou on 13 March. This was their first competitive avoidance of defeat, and their first avoidance of defeat since 1967. On 28 March, Mauritania lost their home leg in Nouakchott 2–0 and the Upper Volta advanced 3–1 on aggregate.

On 12 October 1980, seventeen years after their first game, Mauritania won for the first time by beating Mali 2–1 at home in a qualifier for the African Cup of Nations.[3] Mali won 3–2 on aggregate having won the first leg 2–0.

Mauritania entered qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, which was their first entry in twenty years and second overall. Again, they were drawn to face Burkina Faso in a two-legged preliminary. The first leg was played at home in Nouakchott in front of 15,000 people on 31 May 1996, one day before any other matches in the round. The match finished 0–0.[4] The second leg was played at the Stade du 4-Aout in Ouagadougou on 16 June 1996 in front of 13,000 people. Burkina Faso won 2–0 to advance to the final group phase.

Mauritania entered the qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and were placed in a preliminary against Tunisia, who had qualified for the previous tournament. On 7 April 2000 they hosted Tunisia at the Stade Olympique in Nouakchott. A crowd of 10,000 saw Tunisia win 2–1 with second-half goals from Radhi Jaidi and Hassen Gabsi.[5] In the second leg on 22 April 2000, Mauritania were beaten 3–0 at the Stade El Menzah in Tunis. The match was watched by only 3,000, despite a capacity of 45,000 in the ground.[6] Tunisia won 5–1 on aggregate and later qualified for the finals in South Korea and Japan.

Mauritania were drawn with Zimbabwe in the preliminary of the African section of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 12 October 2003 they lost the away leg 3–0 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare in front of 55,000 people.[7] In the home return at the Stade Olympique on 14 November 2003, Mauritania scored twice in the opening ten minutes to win 2–1, their first victory in a World Cup match. However, Zimbabwe advanced 4–2 on aggregate.

The African qualification process was altered for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Only the six lowest-ranked nations played a preliminary, a selection which for the first time did not include Mauritania. Mauritania played in Group 8 of the second qualifying round against Rwanda, Morocco and Ethiopia, and started with an away match at the Stade Regional Nyamirambo in Kigali, Rwanda on 31 May 2008. They lost 3–0 in front of 12,000 people.[8] The first home match was on 7 June at the Stade Nacional in Nouakchott against Morocco. The Moroccans scored two in each half before a late penalty by Dominique da Silva of Mauritania made the game 4–1.

On 13 June 2008 Mauritania hosted Ethiopia at the Stade Nacional and lost 1–0 after an injury-time winner from Saladin Said. On 22 June Mauritania lost 6–1 in the away match versus Ethiopia at the Addis Ababa Stadium. The Ethiopian forwards Fikru Tefera and Andualem Nigussie scored two goals each in a match which also saw Ba Yaoub of Mauritania sent off after 37 minutes, conceding a penalty to Fikru. The game was 1–1 at half time.[9] In September 2008 Ethiopia were expelled from the tournament due to government interferences in their football association and all of their results annulled.

Only 1,000 people saw Mauritania's next game at the Stade Nacional as they were beaten 1–0 by Rwanda on 6 September with a late goal by Bobo Bola. Mauritania finished their group campaign at the Stade Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Morocco. Like the home game against the Moroccans, Mauritania were 4–0 down but scored the last goal, this time by Dahmed Ould Teguedi. Although the Moroccan stadium had a capacity of 52,000, only 1,472 saw the match.[10]

Mauritania beat Mauritius 1–0 in the first leg of a preliminary round qualifier for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Nouakchott. SC Bastia's midfielder Adama Ba scored the only goal midway through the first half.[11] The return leg in Curepipe ended 2–0 in favour of Mauritania. Scorers were Demba Sow and Moulaye Ahmed Bessam.[12]

In the first round, first leg match, Mauritania beat visitors Equatorial Guinea 1–0 in Nouakchott. The two sides headed into the break scoreless in their match played at Office du Complexe Olympique de Nouakchott. Hosts Mauritania broke the deadlock in the 76th minute through their Tunisian-based striker Ismaël Diakité. In the return match Equatorial Guinea beat Mauritania 3–0 in Malabo.[13] Equatorial Guinea won 3–1 on aggregate. However, on 3 July 2014, the CAF announced that Equatorial Guinea were disqualified for fielding the ineligible player Thierry Fidjeu in the tie, and as a result, Mauritania advanced to the second round.[14] Equatorial Guinea later qualified for the final tournament as replacement hosts.

On 18 November 2018, Mauritania qualified to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in their history, after they won 2–1 against Botswana, coming second in qualification Group I.

The following players were called up for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Gabon on 9 September 2023.[15]
Caps and goals correct as of 9 September 2023, after the match against  Gabon.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Namori Diaw	(1994-12-30) 30 December 1994	25	0	Tevragh-Zeina
	1GK	Babacar Niasse	(1996-12-20) 20 December 1996	9	0	EA Guingamp
	1GK	M'Backé N'Diaye	(1994-12-19) 19 December 1994	3	0	Nouakchott Kings
	2DF	Aly Abeid	(1997-12-11) 11 December 1997	55	3	UTA Arad
	2DF	Abdoulkader Thiam	(1998-10-03) 3 October 1998	12	0	UTA Arad
	2DF	Hassan Houbeib	(1993-10-31) 31 October 1993	12	0	Al-Zawraa
	2DF	Ibrahima Keita	(2001-11-08) 8 November 2001	10	0	TP Mazembe
	2DF	Lamine Ba	(1997-08-24) 24 August 1997	6	1	Varaždin
	2DF	Nouh Mohamed El Abd	(2000-12-24) 24 December 2000	7	1	Nouadhibou
	2DF	Demine Saleck	(1994-11-30) 30 November 1994	5	0	Nouadhibou
	2DF	Khadim Diaw	(1998-07-07) 7 July 1998	3	0	Horoya
	2DF	Lassana Diakhaby	(1996-01-01) 1 January 1996	2	0	Martigues
	3MF	Moctar Sidi El Hacen	(1997-12-31) 31 December 1997	54	9	Unattached
	3MF	Abdallahi Mahmoud	(2000-05-04) 4 May 2000	27	1	Istra 1961
	3MF	Mouhamed Soueid	(1991-12-31) 31 December 1991	20	3	Al-Talaba
	3MF	Guessouma Fofana	(1992-12-17) 17 December 1992	16	0	Unattached
	3MF	Almike N'Diaye	(1996-10-26) 26 October 1996	14	1	Hyères
	3MF	Bakari Camara	(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994	2	0	Paris 13 Atletico
	3MF	Omaré Gassama	(1995-10-01) 1 October 1995	2	0	LB Chateauroux
	4FW	Hemeya Tanjy	(1998-05-01) 1 May 1998	36	6	Al-Ittihad
	4FW	Idrissa Thiam	(2000-09-02) 2 September 2000	20	1	Unattached
	4FW	Aboubakar Kamara	(1995-03-07) 7 March 1995	18	8	Olympiacos
	4FW	Pape Ibnou Ba	(1993-01-05) 5 January 1993	13	1	Concarneau
	4FW	Souleymane Doukara	(1991-09-29) 29 September 1991	6	0	Gençlerbirliği
	4FW	Souleymane Anne	(1997-12-05) 5 December 1997	6	0	Deinze
	4FW	El Mami Tetah	(2001-11-12) 12 November 2001	0	0	Arda

The following players have been called up for Mauritania in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mamoudou M'Bodj	(1999-10-08) 8 October 1999	0	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	Birama Ndoye	(1994-03-27) 27 March 1994	4	0	Al-Arabi	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
DF	Mohamedhen Beibou	(1995-12-05) 5 December 1995	9	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	Soukrana Mheimid	(1999-06-19) 19 June 1999	8	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	Mohamed Lemine Hawbott	(2002-01-06) 6 January 2002	3	0	Nouakchott Kings	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	Thierno Ba	(1998-10-16) 16 October 1998	0	0	Tevragh-Zeina	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	Balla Bilal	(1990-02-17) 17 February 1990	0	0	Tevragh-Zeina	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DF	El Mokhtar Bilal	(1995-11-28) 28 November 1995	0	0	Douanes	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Mouhsine Bodda	(1997-07-18) 18 July 1997	24	1	Nouadhibou	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
MF	Mohamed Dellahi Yali	(1997-11-01) 1 November 1997	65	2	Nouadhibou	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
MF	El Hadji Ba	(1993-03-05) 5 March 1993	3	0	Apollon Limassol	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
MF	Bessam	(1987-12-05) 5 December 1987	66	13	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Ibréhima Coulibaly	(1989-08-30) 30 August 1989	16	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Yacoub Sidi Ethmane	(1995-12-10) 10 December 1995	11	1	Free agent	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Sidi Bouna Amar	(1998-12-31) 31 December 1998	5	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Mohamed El Abd	(2001-05-05) 5 May 2001	0	0	Nouakchott Kings	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Mohamed Khay Lejouade	(1999-12-01) 1 December 1999	0	0	Tevragh-Zeina	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
MF	Bekaye Wade	(1996-04-13) 13 April 1996	0	0	Nouadhibou	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
FW	Mamadou Niass	(1994-06-04) 4 June 1994	45	5	El Mokawloon	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
FW	Dawda Camara	(2002-11-04) 4 November 2002	0	0	Girona	v.  DR Congo, 28 March 2023
FW	Sidi Abdoullah Touda	(1990-12-10) 10 December 1990	6	2	Al-Safa	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
FW	Mamadou Sy	(1997-11-28) 28 November 1997	5	1	Nouakchott Kings	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
FW	Yacoub Henoune	(1995-02-16) 16 February 1995	0	0	Tevragh-Zeina	v.  Algeria, 14 December 2022
DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Player has retired from international football. SUS Suspended from the national team.

Olympic Games record
Appearances: 0
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1896 – 1960	Part of  France (FRA)
1964	Did not enter
1968
1972
1976	Did not qualify
1980	Did not enter
1984	Did not qualify
1988	Did not enter
1992	Did not qualify
1996	Did not enter
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016	Did not qualify
2020
2024
Total		0/28

• Football at the Summer Olympics has been an under-23 tournament since the 1992 edition.

Africa Cup of Nations Africa Cup of Nations record Appearances: 2 Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA 1957 Part of  France 1959 1962 Not affiliated to CAF 1963 1965 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 Did not enter 1978 1980 Did not qualify 1982 1984 Did not enter 1986 Did not qualify 1988 Did not enter 1990 Withdrew 1992 Did not qualify 1994 Withdrew 1996 Did not qualify 1998 2000 Withdrew 2002 Did not qualify 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Withdrew 2013 Did not enter 2015 Did not qualify 2017 2019 Group stage 19th 3 0 2 1 1 4 2021 Group stage 24th 3 0 0 3 0 7 2023 Qualified 2025 To be determined 2027 Total Group stage 2/36 6 0 2 4 1 11

African Games African Games record Appearances: 0 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1965 Did not enter 1973 Did not qualify 1978 Did not enter 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 Withdrew 2007 Did not enter 2011 2015 2019 Did not qualify 2023 To be determined Total 0/11 Prior to the Cairo 1991 campaign, the Football at the African Games was open to full senior national teams.

African Nations Championship African Nations Championship record Appearances: 3 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 2009 Did not qualify 2011 Withdrew 2014 Group stage 14th 3 0 0 3 4 8 2016 Did not qualify 2018 Group stage 16th 3 0 0 3 0 6 2020 Did not qualify 2022 Quarter-finals 7th 3 1 1 1 1 1 Total Quarter-finals 3/7 9 1 1 7 5 15

WAFU Nations Cup WAFU Nations Cup record Appearances: 2 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 2010 Did not enter 2011 2013 2017 Round 1 11th 1 0 0 1 1 3 2019 Round 1 9th 2 0 2 0 1 1 2021 To be determined Total Round 1 2/5 2 0 2 1 2 4

Amílcar Cabral Cup Amílcar Cabral Cup record Appearances: 16 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1979 Group stage 7th 3 0 0 3 4 11 1980 Fourth place 4th 4 1 1 2 4 6 1981 Group stage 5th 3 1 0 2 2 4 1982 8th 3 1 0 2 3 8 1983 Fourth place 4th 5 2 0 3 4 4 1984 Group stage 8th 3 0 0 3 1 9 1985 8th 3 0 0 3 0 6 1986 7th 3 0 0 3 1 5 1987 6th 3 0 1 2 1 3 1988 7th 3 0 2 1 5 6 1989 7th 2 0 0 2 2 5 1991 Did not enter 1993 Group stage 7th 3 0 1 2 0 5 1995 Runners-up 2nd 5 3 2 0 7 3 1997 Group stage 6th 3 0 2 1 4 5 2000 7th 3 0 2 1 3 4 2001 6th 2 0 0 2 2 4 2005 Did not enter 2007 Withdrew Total Runners-up 16/19 51 8 11 32 38 88

CEDEAO Cup CEDEAO Cup record Appearances: 1 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1977 Unknown 1983 Did not qualify 1985 Did not enter 1987 1990 1991 Total Group stage 1/3 3 0 0 3 4 8

FIFA Arab Cup FIFA Arab Cup record Appearances: 2 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1963 Did not enter 1964 1966 1985 Group stage 5th 2 0 0 2 0 4 1988 Did not qualify 1992 Withdrew 1998 Did not enter 2002 2012 2021 Group stage 11th 3 1 0 2 3 7 Total Group stage 2/10 5 1 0 4 3 11

Arab Games Arab Games record Appearances: 4 Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA 1953 Part of  France (FRA) 1957 1961 Did not enter 1965 1976 Group stage 7th 6 0 0 6 2 13 1985 11th 3 0 0 3 2 12 1992 Did not enter 1997 Group stage 8th 3 0 0 3 2 6 1999 Did not enter 2004 No tournament 2007 Did not enter 2011 2023 Group stage 7th 3 0 2 1 4 6 Total Group stage 4/12 15 0 2 13 10 37 Prior to the Doha 2011 campaign, the Football at the Arab Games was open to full senior national teams.