South Yemen national football team

The South Yemen national football team (Arabic: منتخب اليمن الجنوبي الوطني لكرة القدم), recognised as Yemen DPR by FIFA, represented South Yemen in men's international football, playing as one of two Yemeni teams, along with North Yemen.

South Yemen

1965–1989
Nickname(s)	Soqoor Al-Janoub (The South Falcons) (صقور الجنوب)
Association	PDR Yemen Football Federation الاتحاد اليمني لكرة القدم
Most caps	Abubakar Al-Mass (12)
Top scorer	Mohammed Hussein (3)
Home stadium	Mortayer Yard
FIFA code	YMD
First colours Second colours
First international
Palestine 1–0 Aden  (Cairo, United Arab Republic; 2 September 1965)[1]
Last international
South Yemen 1–0 Guinea  (Kuwait City, Kuwait; 5 November 1989)
Biggest win
South Yemen 2–0 Iraq  (Aden, South Yemen; 2 May 1974)  South Yemen 2–0 Mauritania  (Damascus, Syria; 12 October 1976)
Biggest defeat
Algeria 15–1 South Yemen  (Tripoli, Libya; 17 August 1973)  United Arab Republic 14–0 Aden  (Cairo, United Arab Republic; 3 September 1965)
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 1976)
Best result	Group stage (1976)

After Yemeni unification in 1990, the PDR Yemen Football Federation, and with it the South Yemeni team, joined the Yemen Football Association (YFA) and the North Yemen national football team.

History

Aden (1965)

The first international tournament in South Yemen was the Football at the 1965 Pan Arab Games, which at the time was the State of Aden in the Federation of South Arabia. The tournament was hosted in United Arab Republic where it was eliminated on the group stage, losing 1–0 to Palestine, 14–0 to United Arab Republic being his biggest defeat, 6–0 to Iraq and 4–3 to Lebanon.^[2]

South Yemen (1967–1990)

The first participation of the newly independent, South Yemen was in the 1972 Palestine Cup of Nations, where in their group, they lost 0–1 against Syria, beat Palestine and Qatar, both 2–1, and in the last round, they lost against Algeria by 1–4.^[3]

South Yemen has only played in the AFC Asian Cup since the 1976 edition, qualifying automatically, due to the other teams having given up playing in the knockout tournament, with the final tournament being held in Iran. They were placed in Group B with the hosts Iran and Iraq. South Yemen lost to Iraq 0–1 and then Iran 0–8 in the group stage.^[4]

South Yemen competed in qualification for the only time for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. They were placed in Group 4 of Zone A in the first round against Iran and Bahrain. Iran was disqualified before the games were played, due to refusal to move their games to neutral grounds away from the Iran–Iraq War. South Yemen hosted Bahrain on 12 March 1985 and lost 4–1 in Mortayer Yard (now 22 May Stadium), Aden. On 12 April they drew, 3–3, at the Bahrain National Stadium in Manama after leading 3–1.^[5][6] This saw Bahrain advance through.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Bahrain 2 1 1 0 7 4 +3 3  South Yemen 2 0 1 1 4 7 −3 1  Iran Disqualified[7]

Bahrain  — — 3–3 Iran  — — — South Yemen  1–4 — —

After that campaign, they would play again three later against Djibouti in a friendly, months later, they played for the 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification losing 0–1 to Indonesia, drawing 1–1 against South Korea, and in the end losing 0–2 to Bahrain, being at the bottom of the group.^{[citation needed]}

The last time The South Falcons took to the field was at the 1989 Peace and Friendship Cup tournament held in Kuwait, where in their group, they lost 0–2 to the Iran, also lost to Iraq but 2–6, and in the last one played by South Yemen, they won 1–0 against Guinea.^{[citation needed]}

With the Yemeni unification in May 1990, the South Yemen team was dissolved, and its players migrated to the newly created Yemen, but it was the North Yemen which was considered the legitimate predecessor of the now Yemeni team.^{[citation needed]}

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
as  Aden
1930	Part of  United Kingdom									Part of  United Kingdom
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
as  South Yemen
1970	Did not enter									Did not enter
1974
1978
1982
1986	Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	4	7
1990	Withdrew									Withdrew
Total	–	0/6	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	0	1	1	4	7

AFC Asian Cup record

Main article: South Yemen at the AFC Asian Cup

AFC Asian Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
as  Aden
1956	Not member of AFC										Not member of AFC
1960
1964
as  South Yemen
1968	Not member of AFC										Not member of AFC
1972	Did not enter										Did not enter
1976	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	0	9	Squad		Qualified by default
1980	Withdrew										Withdrew
1984
1988	Did not qualify										3	0	1	2	1	4
Total	Group stage	1/9	2	0	0	2	0	9	—		3	0	1	2	1	4

Asian Games

Asian Games record Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA 1951– 1978 Did not participate 1982 Group stage 15th 3 0 0 3 1 8 1986 Did not participate Total Group stage 1/10 3 0 0 3 1 8 Pan Arab Games Pan Arab Games record Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA 1953 Did not enter 1957 1961 1965 Group stage 9th 4 0 0 4 3 25 1976 Fourth place 4th 6 3 1 2 7 8 1985 Did not enter Total Fourth place 2/6 10 3 1 6 10 33

Palestine Cup of Nations Palestine Cup of Nations record Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA 1972 Group stage 5th 4 2 0 2 5 7 1973 9th 4 0 1 3 1 27 1975 Did not enter Total Group stage 2/3 8 2 1 5 6 34

Coaches

No.	Name	Period
1	Nasr Chadli	1972[8]
2	Ali Mohsen Al-Moraisi	1975–1976
3	Abbas Ghulam	1982
4	Timur Segizbaev	1982–1985[9]
5	Azzam Khalifa	?–March 1985[10]
6	Abdullah Saleh Khobani	April 1985–?[11]
7	Awad Awadan	1986–?
8	Abbas Ghulam	1988
9	Mubarak Qadhi	1989[12]

Results and head-to-head records

Main articles: Aden national football team results and South Yemen national football team results

Results Review

Nation	Confederation	P	W	D	L	Win %	GF	GA	GD
South Yemen	AFC (Asia)	44	9	5	30	26.92%	41	142	–101

Head to head records

Key

  Positive balance

  Neutral balance

  Negative balance

The list shown below shows the South Yemen national football team all-time international record against opposing nations.

Head to head records

Opponent	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Algeria	2	0	0	2	2	19	–17
China	3	0	0	3	8	17	–9
Bahrain	3	0	1	2	4	9	–5
Djibouti	1	0	0	1	1	4	–3
Egypt	2	0	0	2	0	19	–19
Ethiopia	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Guinea	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Indonesia	1	0	0	1	0	1	–1
Iran	3	0	0	3	0	12	–12
Iraq	6	1	0	5	4	18	–14
Japan	1	0	0	1	1	3	–2
Jordan	2	1	0	1	4	4	0
Kuwait	1	0	0	1	1	5	–4
Lebanon	1	0	0	1	3	4	–1
Libya	1	0	0	1	0	10	–10
Mauritania	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Morocco	1	0	0	1	0	4	–4
Palestine	3	1	1	1	2	2	0
Qatar	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Saudi Arabia	2	2	0	0	2	0	+2
South Korea	2	0	1	1	1	4	–3
Sudan	1	0	0	0	1	1	–1
Syria	3	1	0	2	3	4	–1
United Arab Emirates	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Totals	44	9	5	30	41	142	–101

Player records

As of 5 November 1989

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Mohammed Hussein	3	2	1.5	1989
2	Abubakar Ibrahim Al-Mass	2	12	0.17	1975–1988
3	Adnan Ahmed Al-Sabou	1	–	–	1982–1985
	Jamil Saif		–	–	1973–1976
	Saleem Ahmed Mehdi		3	0.33	1982
	Kassim Tariq Abdullah		–	–	1985–1988
	Maher Hassan Saleh		3	0.33	1988
	Wagdan Mahmoud Shadli		–	–	1985–1989