Football in Djibouti is one of the popular sports in this country in East Africa. The performance of the Djibouti national football team in the recent years has made Football in Djibouti even more popular.
The Djibouti national football team is nicknamed the Riverains de la Mer Rouge, which means Young Red Sea. The Federation Djiboutienne de Football looks after the Djibouti national football team. It is the governing body of football in Djibouti. Founded in the year 1979, this organization was affiliated to CAF in the year 1986 and to FIFA in the year 1994. The Federation Djiboutienne de Football arranges for the national football league.
The highest division of football in Djibouti is the Djibouti Premier League. This league was formed in the year 1987. There are various teams that participate in this competition. The teams that participated in this tournament in the 2005-2006 Season are –
- Tadjourah FC
- Total
- AS Port
- Sheraton Hôtel
- CDE Colas
- FNP (Police Nationale)
- ASS d’Ali-Sabieh
- Etablissement Abdi
- Gendarmerie Nationale
- FC Societe Immobilière de Djibouti (Kartileh)
The Djibouti national football team played its first international match against Ethiopia on the 1st of May, 1947. Till date, the biggest win for the national football team is by the margin of 4–1 against South Yemen. This famous match in the history of football in Djibouti was played in Djibouti City on 26th February, 1988.
The home stadium for the Djibouti national football team is Stade du Ville. This multi-purpose stadium can accommodate a maximum of 10000 spectators.
At present, the head coach of the Djibouti national football team is Houssein Ahmed. The current FIFA ranking of the team is 173. Till date, the highest FIFA ranking attained by the Djibouti national football team is 169, in December 1994.
The first time the Djibouti national football team won a FIFA sanctioned international match was on 16th of November 2007, when they defeated Somalia in a qualifying match. Thus, football in Djibouti is now followed with even more interest by the football lovers in the country and from across the world.
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