African Cup of Nations In 1965 Liberia played in first campaign
1965 qualification qualifying campaign, losing its first match 0–1 against
Ivory Coast. They also won 3–2 against
DR Congo however lost both returning fixtures and were eliminated in the first round. In 1967 Liberia played in
1968 qualification qualifying campaign, drawing its first match 2–2 against
Guinea. They also drew against
Senegal however lost both returning fixtures and were eliminated in the first round. Liberia returned to qualifying in 1976 but lost in the preliminary round to
Togo, falling to defeat in both fixtures. After another absence, Liberia again joined AFCON qualifying in 1982 in the preliminary rounds but failed to progress after two draws against
Gambia, losing on the
away goals rule. Liberia withdrew from qualifying for the
1984 African Cup of Nations, but the following tournament they managed to secure their first win during qualifying, a 3–1 first-leg victory over
Mauritania. They failed to capitalize on this advantage, losing 3–0 in the second leg. Liberia then faced
Sierra Leone and
Mali during the
1988 qualification and
1990 qualification respectively, but again failed to progress. In 1992, Liberia withdrew from qualifying before playing a match (possibly due to the ongoing
First Liberian Civil War), and in 1994, Liberia was put into a group with two participants that withdrew during qualifying (
Tanzania and
Burkina Faso) however they failed to take advantage of this and finished with zero points, having lost to
Ghana twice. In the
1996 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia managed to register three wins (against
Togo,
Tunisia and
Mauritania) and four draws, which saw them finish the group in second place and qualify for their first
African Cup of Nations tournament. Following the withdrawal of
Nigeria, Liberia was placed in a group with
Gabon and
Zaire. Liberia opened the tournament with a 2–1 victory over Gabon with goals from
Kelvin Sebwe and
Mass Sarr Jr. but lost 2–0 to Zaire. This meant that Liberia finished bottom of the group on goal difference and failed to progress to the knock-out stages. Liberia missed out on returning to the African Cup of Nations in 1998 as they finished one point off of qualification. In 2000, they defeated
Niger in the preliminary rounds, but again failed to advance to the main tournament, this time finishing behind
Algeria on goal difference. In
2002 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia beat
Cape Verde in the preliminary rounds, then they finished top of their group to qualify for the main tournament for the second time in their history. In the
2002 African Cup of Nations, Liberia drew their first game 1–1 with
Mali (goal scored by
George Weah) and drew their second game 2–2 against
Algeria (goals from
Prince Daye and
Kelvin Sebwe), but in their final group game, needing a win against
Nigeria, they lost 1–0.
FIFA World Cup Liberia first entered the qualifying process for the FIFA World Cup in
1966, however, they withdrew in protest against the fact that too few places had been reserved for Africa and Asia, along with all fourteen other African nations that had initially entered qualifying. Liberia next entered qualifying in
1982 against
Guinea after receiving a bye in the first round. They lost 1–0 over the two legs and were eliminated. In
1986, Liberia was again eliminated without having scored a goal, falling 4–0 to
Nigeria. In
1990, Liberia won its first FIFA qualifying match defeating
Ghana to progress to the second round. Despite finishing second in their group, Liberia failed to advance to the final qualification round, ending two points behind group winners
Egypt. In
1998, Liberia beat
Gambia in the first qualification round, but finished twelve points adrift of
Tunisia in their group. In
2002, Liberia had their strongest qualifying campaign, however, a loss against
Ghana in their penultimate group game gave
Nigeria the opportunity to overtake them and secure the only qualification spot. == Team image ==