Syria national football team


The Syria national football team represents Syria in association football and is controlled by the Syrian Arab Federation for Football, the governing body for football in Syria. Syria has never qualified for the World Cup finals but did reach the fourth qualification round in 2018.

History

Syria participated in the 1950 and 1958 World Cup qualifiers, one of the first teams in the region to do so. Between 1958 and 1961, the team combined with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic national football team, although the team's records are attributed only to Egypt by FIFA. In the 1966 World Cup qualifiers they were one of two teams from the Asian zone to be allocated to the European qualifying zone and were originally placed with Spain and the Republic of Ireland. However, they joined the Asian and African boycott of the 1966 qualifiers, due to the decision of FIFA to allocate just one place between Asia and Africa.
Syria has never qualified for the World Cup. The farthest they've gone in qualification was in the 1986 qualifiers when they reached the final qualifying round only to lose to Iraq. They were disqualified from the 2014 World Cup due to the use of an ineligible player.
In December 2012, Syria beat Iraq in the final of West Asia Cup to collect its first major trophy. Syria has, however, competed in six Asian Cups, the last being 2019, but on each occasion were eliminated at the group stage.
Ever since civil war broke out in the country, Syria have been banned from playing home games in their own country and in fact were one day away from being thrown out of the 2018 World Cup only for Malaysia to swoop in at the last minute and offer to host all of Syria's home games. Syria had a large upturn in fortune as they made it to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fourth Round but were eliminated by Australia.

Competition history

FIFA World Cup record

AFC Asian Cup Record

Olympic Games record

WAFF Championship Record

Arab Nations Cup record

Pan Arab Games record

Mediterranean Games record

Asian Games record

West Asian Games record

Honours

Schedule and recent results

2019

2020

Players

Current squad

Squad selected for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against China on 14 November 2019 and Philippines on 19 November 2019.
Caps and goals updated as 19 November 2019, after the match vs. Philippines.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Syria squad within the last 12 months.
SUS Player suspended.

INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.

RET Retired from the national team.

WD Player withdrew from the squad for non-injury related reasons.

Previous squads

;Asian Cup

Head-to-Head records against other countries