History
An Eritrean team participated in a friendly tournament in Sudan in 1992, the year before Eritrea achieved independence. Eritrea participated in the 1994 CECAFA Cup, organised by the Council for East and Central Africa Football Association, even though the ENFF was not founded until 1996. [7] The first full international was in the 1999 CECAFA Cup, [8] the year after the ENFF joined the CAF [9] and FIFA. [7] They participated in the qualifying rounds of the 2000 African Cup of Nations and the 2002 World Cup, and subsequent editions until 2008. They have also appeared intermittently in the CECAFA Cup. [10]
In the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Eritrea managed a scoreless home draw versus Cameroon and a 1–0 home win over Mozambique. They finished second in their three team group, and advanced to a playoff round where they faced Senegal and Zimbabwe, but ultimately lost all four matches in that final stage.
In the first round of the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup, they were drawn against Nigeria, and were defeated 4–0 in the away leg, [11] after a goalless draw at home. [12] The coach was Yilmaz Yuceturk. [11]
In the first round of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Sudan was Eritrea's first round opponent. Eritrea lost the first leg 3–0, [13] before another goalless draw in Asmara. [14] The coach was Eritrean Tekie Abraha. [13] [14]
In group 6 of the qualifiers for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, under the guidance of Romanian Dorian Marin, Eritrea finished second behind Angola, failing to qualify for the final tournament. They beat Kenya twice and drew at home to Angola.
In the first round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Eritrea faced Rwanda. The first leg in Asmara ended in a 1–1 draw (and saw Eritrea's first ever goal in a World Cup qualification match), but Rwanda took the second leg by a score of 3–1.
In the first round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Eritrea faced Botswana. The first leg in Asmara saw Botswana win 2-0, and the second leg in Francistown saw Botswana win 3-1, with Botswana winning 5-1 on aggregate.
In the first round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Eritrea faced Namibia. The first leg in Asmara saw Namibia win 2-1, and the second leg saw Namibia win 2-0; Namibia won 4-1 on aggregate.
Eritrea withdrew from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers [15] and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. [16]
Withdrawals from major tournament qualifying
On 30 March 2014, Eritrea withdrew from the preliminary round of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, [17] likely due to a rising number of the Eritrean national team players defecting from Eritrea during away matches. [18] They were intended to play against South Sudan, who were awarded a walkover. [19]
On 2 March 2022, Eritrea withdrew from the preliminary round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers due to the lack of a stadium that meets the requirements set by CAF to host its international matches. [20] [15] [16] They were intended to play against Botswana. [21]
In November 2023, Eritrea, who were drawn into Group E alongside Morocco, Zambia, Tanzania, Congo and Niger, [22] pulled out of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, citing the reason as being the refusal of Zemede Tekle, who is the Eritrean Commissioner for Sports and Culture, to participate in the playoffs. [16] [23] [24]
Defections
Recent years have seen a high number of refugees leaving Eritrea, [25] [26] and some athletes travelling to competitions abroad have taken the opportunity to abscond. [27] In December 2012, 17 Eritrean footballers and the team's doctor vanished after the CECAFA championship tournament in Uganda and all applied for asylum in the country. [28] [29] [30] Four players of Red Sea FC defected after a CAF Champions League 2006 match in Nairobi, Kenya, [31] and up to 12 members of the national side after the 2007 CECAFA Cup in Tanzania. [25] [32] Another 6 players sought asylum in Angola in March 2007 after a group 6 qualifying game for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. [33] [34] Three more players from the national team sought asylum in Sudan. [35]
Eritrea withdrew from the 2008 CECAFA Cup, [36] and from the common qualifying tournament shared by the 2010 World Cup and the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. [37] Given the number of players seeking asylum, the Eritrean government began requiring athletes to pay a 100,000 nakfa surety before traveling abroad. [31]
Eritrea returned to the 2009 CECAFA Cup in Nairobi. A young squad was assembled with just 12 days' training. [36] In Group B, they gained a surprise draw with Zimbabwe, [38] lost narrowly to Rwanda, [39] and beat Somalia 3–1. [40] They were easily beaten 4–0 in the quarter-finals by Tanzania. [36] Twelve squad members failed to report for the return flight, and sought the assistance of the Refugee Consortium of Kenya. [25] [26] They were believed to be in hiding in Eastleigh, an eastern suburb of Nairobi home to many immigrants. [41] Nicholas Musonye, the secretary-general of CECAFA, feared that the government might react by refusing to let the team travel abroad in future. [26] The twelve players were later granted interim asylum by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya. [42] Eleven of these players have since travelled to Adelaide in Australia [43] with two of them, Samuel Ghebrehiwet and Ambes Sium, signing for Gold Coast United in the A-League in August 2011. [44]
In the first round of the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, ten players from the Eritrean football team refused to return home after playing a World Cup qualifying match in Botswana and were granted asylum there. [45]
In September 2019, four members of the national Under-20 team sought asylum in Uganda after the team qualified for the semi-finals of a competition. [46] A few months later in December, a further seven players selected for the international team refused to return home and sought asylum in Uganda after a tournament. [47] In October 2021, five footballers from the country's under-20 women's team also disappeared when on international duty in Uganda. [48]
Sudan 1–1 Eritrea 
Seychelles 0–1 Eritrea 
Djibouti 0–3 Eritrea 
Kenya 1–4 Eritrea 
Ghana 5–0 Eritrea 
Angola 6–1 Eritrea 
