The Qatar national under-20 football team is the national youth team of

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association. Qatar's U-20 national team played an important role in the development of football in Qatar and gave it one its first shining moment on the global stage when the youth squad finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship in Australia.

History

Formation

In response to the recently established World Youth Championship, Qatar established its national youth team in 1976. However, they were unable to qualify for the first two World Youth Championships in 1977 in Tunisia and in 1979 in Japan.

1981 World Youth Championship

In the 1980 AFC Youth Championship which were held in Thailand, Qatar U20s finished as runners-up after losing to South Korea in the final. This granted them a spot in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship, which was hosted in Australia. Under the supervision of Brazilian coach

Evaristo de Macedo Evaristo de Macedo Filho, (born 22 June 1933, in Rio de Janeiro), known simply as Evaristo, is a Brazilian former footballer and coach. Club career Madureira (1950–1952) Raised in the north of Rio de Janeiro, Evaristo, like many children, play ...

, the championships proved to be a success. Facing

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the quarter-finals, they were able to secure a 3–2 victory by utilizing the offside trap. They went on to face England in the semi-finals, where they earned a 2–1 victory after a fine performance by their goalkeeper. The team finished second after losing 0–4 to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in the final on a wet pitch which was unfavorable to the Qataris as they were not used to playing in such conditions. As a result of achieving runners-up position, each Qatari player received 100,000 Qatari riyals, a Mercedes Benz, and a bungalow. The population of Qataris was only 120,000 at the time of this achievement.

1995 World Youth Championship

Qatar earned its second international U-20 World Cup appearance in 1995 as hosts. While Nigeria was preparing to host the 1995 edition, an Ebola epidemic broke out in west Africa, and as a result, FIFA decided to award the hosting rights to Qatar with only twenty days remaining till the start of the championships.

2014 AFC U-19 Championship

Qatar's youth team won the AFC U-19 Championship for the first time in its history after defeating DPR Korea 1–0 in the final of the 2014 edition which took place in Myanmar. Advancing undefeated from a group which included DPR Korea and Iraq, they defeated China 4–2 in the quarter-finals, and earned a 3–2 victory after extra time against the hosts in the semi-finals. In the finals, the Qataris would be victorious against DPR Korea for a second time in the tournament, with super sub Akram Afif scoring the only goal of the match in the second half. The entire squad was composed of

Aspire Academy Aspire Academy ( ar, أكاديمية أسباير, Akādīmiyat 'Asbāyr) is a sports academy based in the Aspire Zone in Qatar, founded in 2004 with the goal to scout and help develop Qatari athletes, whilst also providing them with secondary ...

students. As a result of Aspire's HOPE Project (Holistic Overseas Player Experience), most of the squad were European-based.

Competitive record

AFC U-19 Championship record

FIFA U-20 World Cup

* Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Current squad

The following players were selected to take part in the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Results and fixtures

2020

Managerial history

(xx) * José Faria (1979) *

(xx) *

João Francisco João Francisco Nóbrega da Silva (born January 28, 1947 in Mangaratiba) is a former Brazilian football manager. Honors ;Vila Nova * Campeonato Goiano:: 1977 ;Cruzeiro * Campeonato Mineiro: 1984 ;Al-Arabi * Sheikh Jassim Cup: 1982–83 ;J ...

(1986) * Edison de Souza (1987) *

Celso Roth Celso Juarez Roth (born 30 November 1957 in Caxias do Sul) is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of Juventude. Coaching career On 4 May 2009 the former Grêmio coach ...

(1991–92) * Marcio Maximo (1994) * Jørgen E. Larsen (1995) *

Alejandro Sabella Alejandro Javier Sabella (; 5 November 19548 December 2020) was an Argentine football player and manager. Born in Buenos Aires, he began his playing career with River Plate in his home country before moving to England in 1978 to play for Sheff ...

(1995) * José Paulo (1995–97) *

Marcelo Buarque Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus (name), Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to: *Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian ser ...

(1997) * José Paulo (1998) * Obeid Jumaa (1998) *

Ruud Doctor Ruud and Rud are surnames of Norwegian origin. Both are also Norwegian place names of numerous farmsteads named Rud or Ruud from Old Norse ''ruð'' meaning clearing. Ruud is also a Dutch masculine given name meaning "famous wolf" although it is also ...

(2001–03) *

Tiny Ruys Martinus Johannes Maria "Tiny" Ruys (born 8 May 1957) is a Dutch football coach who has managed SV Meerssen since 2015. Career Ruys was in charge of the United Arab Emirates in 2001, and has also managed Dutch club teams Fortuna Sittard and MV ...

(xx–2005) *

Roberto Landi Roberto Landi (born 2 January 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career Landi was born in Forlì. A goalkeeper, he joined the Piacenza youth system in 1966 and later joined the first team, then playing in Serie C1 ...

(2005–06) *

Remco Boere Remco Boere (born 29 October 1961) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker. Playing career A much-travelled forward, Boere played club football for Roda JC and ADO ...

(2007) *

(xx–2011) * Marcel van Buuren (2011–2013) * Félix Sánchez (2013–2020)

References

External links

QFA - U-20