South Yemen national football team

The first international tournament in South Yemen was the Football at the 1965 Pan Arab Games, which at the time was Aden Colony (a colony of United Kingdom). 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]

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.

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.

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.

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

Key

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

As of 5 November 1989