Kuwaiti National Football Team / World Championships

State of Kuwait
Daulat al-Kuwait

World Cup record goalscorer:	Faisal ad-Dachil , Abdullah al-Buluschi (1 each)
World Cup record players:	10 players (3 each)
Rank :	67
Balance sheet
3 World Cup games 0 wins 1 draw 2 defeats 2: 6 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Kuwait 1: 1 Czechoslovakia Valladolid ( ESP ); June 17, 1982
Biggest World Cup defeat Kuwait 1: 4 France Valladolid , ESP ; June 21, 1982
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	1 ( first : 1982 )
Best results	1st final round 1982
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Kuwaiti national soccer team at world championships . So far, Kuwait has only been able to qualify for a World Cup finals and was eliminated after the first round. In the all-time table of World Cup finalists, Kuwait is 67th.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				not an independent state
1934	Italy	not participated				not an independent state
1938	France	not participated				not an independent state
1950	Brazil	not participated				not an independent state
1954	Switzerland	not participated				not an independent state
1958	Sweden	not participated				not an independent state
1962	Chile	not participated				Independence only after qualification has started, not a FIFA member
1966	England	not participated
1970	Mexico	not participated
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round on Iran failed, which also failed to qualify.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round on Iran have failed.
1982	Spain	1. Final round	Czechoslovakia , France , England	21st	Carlos Alberto Parreira	After a draw and two defeats, knocked out last in the group.
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In qualifying in the West Asia group stage, Syria failed, which also failed to qualify.
1990	Italy	not qualified				The UAE failed in the first round of qualification .
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification in the 1st round to Saudi Arabia failed.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification in the 3rd round, Saudi Arabia and Iran failed.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				Bahrain failed in the first round of qualification . But Bahrain could not qualify either.
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualifying in the third round of Saudi Arabia and South Korea failed.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round on Iran failed, which also failed to qualify.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				South Korea failed in the third round of qualification .
2018	Russia	suspended				In qualifying , the team met Laos , Lebanon , Myanmar and South Korea in the second round . After five games played, the team was suspended by FIFA and could not play the remaining games, which were then rated 3-0 for the opponents.
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships)

• No participation: 9 × (43%; 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1966 and 1970)
• Unqualified: 10 × (48%; 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014)
• Suspended: 1 × (5%; 2018)
• Athletic qualification: 1 × (5% or 9% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 1 × (5%; 1982)

World Cup tournaments

World Championships 1930 to 1970

After the First World War , the British declared Kuwait to be an independent emirate under British protection. On June 19, 1961, Kuwait gained independence. The Kuwait Football Association was founded in 1952, but was not accepted into FIFA until 1964 . Therefore, Kuwait could not take part in the first seven World Cup tournaments. But even after that, Kuwait initially decided not to participate.

1974 World Cup

For the first World Cup in Germany to Kuwait was the first time qualify . On May 4, 1973, Kuwait played the first World Cup qualifying game in the qualifying tournament in Tehran and lost to Syria 2-1. The next four games were not won either. Only the last now meaningless game against North Korea could be won. This eliminated Kuwait as the bottom of the group. Group winners were Iran , which also failed to qualify.

World Championship 1978

For the World Cup in Argentina to Kuwait wanted to qualify . The first round was to be played against Bahrain , Qatar and the United Arab Emirates . But the latter waived. There were four wins against the other two teams and thus the next round. Here the team finished third behind Iran, which qualified for the first time, and South Korea , ahead of Australia and Hong Kong , against which the only victories come.

World Championship 1982

→ Main article : Football World Cup 1982 / Kuwait

After winning the Asian Football Championship in 1980 , Kuwait was also able to qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time. The teams from Asia and Oceania were granted a further starting place after the increase in the field of participants and Kuwait took advantage of this opportunity. In the first qualifying round for the World Cup in Spain , Kuwait prevailed with three wins against South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand . The final tournament against New Zealand , China and Saudi Arabia achieved four wins and a draw with only one defeat. Kuwait took first place ahead of New Zealand and, like the New Zealanders, qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time.

In Spain, Kuwait met Czechoslovakia in the first round of the finals in their first World Cup game and achieved a 1-1 draw. Faisal ad-Dachil scored the first World Cup goal for Kuwait with a 1-1 final score. Each Kuwaiti player received $ 175,000 for points. The second game against France was lost 4-1. The result was a scandal when the Kuwaiti association president Al-Ahmad ran onto the field with a score of 1: 3 after a goal by the French because a whistle from the audience had irritated his players. After a ten-minute discussion with referee Miroslav Stupar , the latter withdrew the goal and allowed the game to continue with a referee's ball. Al-Ahmad then had to go to his postage and pay a $ 25,000 fine to FIFA , after which Stupar did not whistle any more World Cup matches. With a respectable 0: 1 against England , Kuwait said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 40 years. The coach of the Kuwaitis was the Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira , for whom this was the first of six World Cup appearances as a coach and who 12 years later led his home country to his fourth World Cup title.

1986 World Championship

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , Kuwait failed in the first round to Syria . The other group opponent North Yemen lost all four games against both and played no role. The qualification was lost by a 0-0 home game against Syria after the game was lost in Syria. Syria then failed because of Iraq, which qualified for the first time.

World Cup 1990

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy , Kuwait was unable to assert itself against the United Arab Emirates in the first group stage . Both won their home games against each other and the games against the second opponent Pakistan , the third group opponent South Yemen had waived. Since Kuwait had the worse goal difference against the United Arab Emirates with the same number of points, they were able to reach the next round and ultimately qualify for the first time for the World Cup finals, where they met eventual world champions Germany , among others .

World Championship 1994

Four years later, the qualification failed again. In the first qualifying round for the World Cup in the USA , only second place was taken behind Saudi Arabia in tournaments in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia , followed by Malaysia and Macau - Nepal had decided not to participate after the draw. Kuwait had scored the most goals, but the qualification was lost in the last game with a 2-0 draw against the Saudis, who ultimately qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time.

World Championship 1998

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , Kuwait prevailed in the first round with four wins against Lebanon and Singapore, conceding only one goal. In the second round, however, only the last place was occupied behind Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Qatar. Saudi Arabia qualified directly, Iran via the playoff games against Japan and Australia.

World Championship 2002

In addition to the two co-hosts South Korea and Japan, two other Asian teams qualified directly for the first World Cup in Asia . Another had the chance to qualify through the intercontinental playoffs. Kuwait failed in the first round at tournaments in Singapore and Kuwait against Bahrain. Kyrgyzstan and Singapore had nothing to do with the outcome. The qualification was lost by a 0-1 home defeat in the last game against Bahrain. Bahrain then failed in the second round.

World Championship 2006

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Germany , Kuwait only had to compete in the second round and prevailed as group winners in a group with China , Hong Kong and Malaysia with five wins. Kuwait benefited from having scored one more goal than the tied Chinese. In the third round, however , only the last place was occupied behind Saudi Arabia and South Korea , which qualified, and Uzbekistan .

World Championship 2010

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa , Kuwait only had to intervene in the third round, as Bhutan had renounced the first round. In a group with Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Syria , only the last place was taken. Kuwait had previously been suspended by FIFA because the association failed to implement decisions by FIFA and the AFC. Before the start of the third round, FIFA temporarily lifted the suspension so that Kuwait could play in the qualification. But only one win and one draw, four games were lost.

World Championship 2014

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , Kuwait only had to compete in the second round and beat the Philippines 3-0 and 2-1 . The third round, in which South Korea , Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates were the opponents, was only finished third in the group, with two games each being won and two games ending in a draw. Group winners South Korea then qualified for the World Cup in the fourth round.

World Championship 2018

In qualifying , the team met Laos , Lebanon , Myanmar and South Korea in the second round . Kuwait won three of the first five games and played once. The team was in second place before the last three games and was the best runner-up in the group at the time. However, on October 16, 2015, Kuwait was suspended by FIFA and was not allowed to play the last three group matches. All three failed games were rated 3-0 goals and 3 points for the opponents by FIFA. As a result, Kuwait fell back to third place in the group and thus missed out on the third qualifying round. Group winners were South Korea, which qualified for the World Cup finals in the third round. The group runner-up Lebanon was not one of the top four runners-up, and was therefore also eliminated.

player

Ranking of the Kuwaiti World Cup players with the most appearances

1. Faisal ad-Dachil , Abdulaziz al-Anbari , Abdullah al-Buluschi , Sa'd al-Huti , Ahmad at-Tarabulsi , Fathi Kamil Marzuq , Abdullah Ma'yuf , Mahmud Mubarak , Walid Mubarak , Na'im Sa'd - 3 games each in a tournament

Ranking of the Kuwaiti World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

1. Faisal ad-Dachil, Abdullah al-Buluschi - 1 gate each

World Cup captain

• 1982: Sa'd al-Huti

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

In the only participation so far, the Kuwaitis only used players who played in Kuwait.

Players banned from World Championships

In the only participation so far, no Kuwaiti has been banned.

Games

Kuwait has played three World Cup games so far, two of which have been lost and one game has ended in a draw. Kuwait did not meet the hosts, the eventual world champions, defending champions or newcomers to the World Cup. The two defeats are also the highest against these two countries.

All games are unique so far.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/17/1982	1: 1	Czechoslovakia	*	Valladolid , ESP	1. Final round	First game against Czechoslovakia
2	06/21/1982	1: 4	France	*	Valladolid , ESP	1. Final round	First game against France
3	06/25/1982	0: 1	England	*	Bilbao , ESP	1. Final round	First game against England

See also

• Football World - Statistics - Kuwait on fifa.com

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
2. ↑ FIFA excludes Kuwait
3. ↑ fifa.com: "Suspension of the Kuwaiti Football Association"