Early years (1940s–1950s) Football was brought to
Qatar during a time which coincided with the initial discovery of oil reserves in
Dukhan in 1940. By 1948, teams were created by expatriate oil workers from countries such as
India, and various Arabian nations. Among the first documented teams in Qatar were a team formed for the Northern Arab Region, and a team formed near the Al-Khatia area of Dukhan. The first tournament in the country was the "Ezz Eddin Tournament", held by the Qatar Oil Company in 1951. In the late 1950s, the name was changed to the "Pukett Cup". With the growing interest in football, The
Qatar Football Association (QFA) was established in 1960, and the QFA joined
FIFA in 1963. Simultaneously during this period, the
Bahrain Football Association were drawing up plans for the establishment of a regional football competition within the
GCC and Qatari officials were involved with the collaboration of this proposal. The plans came to fruition and in March of 1970, when the
Arabian Gulf Cup was inaugurated.
Rise of Qatari football: 1970s–1980s The Qatar national team played its first official match on 27 March 1970 against hosts
Bahrain in the
1970 Gulf Cup, losing 1–2 with Mubarak Faraj scoring the sole goal for Qatar. The newly formed Qatar side gave underwhelming performances in the tournament, coming in last place with a single point, with the highlight of their tournament being a 1–1 draw with rivals
Saudi Arabia in their final match, and player
Khaled Ballan winning the Best Player of the Tournament. In 1972, the next edition of the
1972 Gulf Cup, Qatar again finished last place after suffering 3 straight defeats. The next tournament in
1974 proved to be somewhat of a breakthrough for the Qataris as they achieved their first triumph in international football with a 4–0 victory over
Oman. The team lost to
Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals, where they achieved a 3rd place finish in the tournament, after emerging victorious in a
penalty shoot-out against the
United Arab Emirates, Qatari player
Mohammed Ghanim won the Best Player of the Tournament award. Qatar entered the
1976 AFC Asian Cup qualification for the
AFC Asian Cup which was held in the next year. They were not successful in qualifying, with
Iraq and
Saudi Arabia qualifying. Despite this setback, Qatar went on to finish 3rd place in the
1976 Gulf Cup as the host nation the next year, solidifying themselves as one of the best teams in the
Arab region, with emerging players such as
Mansour Muftah,
Khaled Ballan,
Mohammed Ghanim. The national team participated in the
FIFA World Cup qualifiers match for the
1978 FIFA World Cup. Qatar was set to play the
United Arab Emirates on 11 March 1977, but a last-minute with-drawal of the
Emiratis team from the competition merely postponed Qatar's debut until two days later when
Bahrain were defeated 2–0 in
Doha.
1980s–1990s Qatar debuted for their first AFC Asian Cup in the
1980 AFC Asian Cup under Brazilian head coach
Evaristo. They had qualified for the tournament after topping a relatively easy group composing of
Bangladesh and
Afghanistan. In the main tournament, Qatar was unsuccessful in advancing to the knockout stage, making an early exit from the competition with two defeats, one draw and one win. In 1984, Qatar narrowly lost to
Iraq in the finals of the
1984 Gulf Cup, nonetheless they were named runners-up, one of their most impressive achievements until their
1992 Gulf Cup. They failed to make it out of the preliminary stages of the
1982 and
1986 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds. However, the team qualified for both the
1984 and
1988 editions of the Asian Cup. They fell short of qualifying for the semi-finals of the
1984 tournament, with
Saudi Arabia's
Mohaisen Al-Jam'an's 88th-minute goal against
Kuwait, ensuring a semi-final position for both teams. They also missed out on a semi-final place in
1988, however, they notably defeated
Japan by a score of 3–0.
Golden era: 1990s–2000s Qatar arguably reached its peak in the 1990s, attaining a
FIFA rating of (53) in August 1993. Qatar started off with an emphatic qualifying campaign for the
1990 FIFA World Cup, finishing at the top of their group. However they couldn't advance in the tournament, due to finishing below the
United Arab Emirates and
South Korea in the final round of the qualifiers. In the
1990 Gulf Cup, the national team once again finished runners-up as
Kuwait won the final two matches of the tournament. In 1992, they won the
1992 Gulf Cup on home soil for the first time under the leadership of Sebastião Lapola, despite a 1–0 loss against
Saudi Arabia in their final game.
Mubarak Mustafa, won both the top scorer and man of the tournament awards. They were also named runners-up in the
1996 Gulf Cup. Qatar reached the Asian Zone's final qualifying round for the
1998 FIFA World Cup. After wins against China and Iran, they played their last match against
Saudi Arabia, where a victory would have earned qualification. However, they lost out as Saudi Arabia won 1–0 to reach the finals. As
1998 Arab Cup hosts, they finished runners-up to Saudi Arabia.
2000–2010 They made it to the quarter-finals of the
2000 AFC Asian Cup despite finishing 3rd in their group, but lost to
China in their quarter-final confrontation. They reached the final qualifying round again in 2001 but were defeated by
Bora Milutinovic's China team, who topped the section to progress to their first FIFA World Cup. Frenchman
Philippe Troussier took the manager's job after the
2002 FIFA World Cup in
Korea and
Japan, but was unsuccessful in both the
2004 AFC Asian Cup and the
qualifying campaign for the
2006 FIFA World Cup in
Germany. Troussier was sacked after the World Cup qualifying campaign, and under Bosnian
Džemaludin Mušović, the team won the
Gulf Cup in
2004 and the
under 23 teams' Asian Games gold in 2006. Mušović stepped down after Qatar only earned two points from three matches in the
2007 AFC Asian Cup. The job of coaching the team in qualifying for the
2010 FIFA World Cup fell to Uruguayan head coach
Jorge Fossati, who led the team throughout the first and second AFC rounds up to the third round. After leaving them at the top of their group with only two played matches, Fossati had to undergo stomach surgery. Subsequently, the Qatar Football Association ended their cooperation with him in September 2008, as the QFA claimed he needed too long to recover from surgery.
Bruno Metsu was called up for the job, but Qatar failed to qualify after finishing fourth in their qualifying group.
2010–2020 qualifying rounds. Qatar was announced as hosts of the
2022 FIFA World Cup in December 2010. In 2011, as hosts of the
2011 AFC Asian Cup, they advanced to the quarter-finals. They succumbed to a late 2–3 defeat to eventual champions
Japan after a goal was scored by
Masahiko Inoha in the 89th minute. Also, as hosts, they went on to win the
2013 WAFF Championship after defeating
Jordan 2–0 in the final. The competition was made up primarily of youth and reserve teams, of which Qatar's was the latter.
Djamel Belmadi, the head coach of the B team, replaced
Fahad Thani as the head coach of the senior team as a result of the team's positive performances. 10 months later, Djamel Belmadi led Qatar to gold in the
2014 Gulf Cup. They advanced from the group stages after three draws, going on to defeat
Oman 3–1 in the semi-final, and were victorious in the final against
Saudi Arabia, who was playing in front of a home crowd, by a margin of 2–1. Despite winning the Gulf Cup and finishing the year 2014 with only one defeat, Qatar showed poor form in the
2015 AFC Asian Cup. Qatar was defeated 1–4 by the
United Arab Emirates in their opener. This was continued with a 0–1 loss to
Iran and 1–2 to
Bahrain. Qatar was eliminated in the group stages with no points and placed 4th in Group C. Qatar's campaign in
qualifying for the
2018 FIFA World Cup in
Russia was a surprise. Their start in the
second round of FIFA World Cup qualifying in the
AFC was nearly perfect, with seven wins and only one loss. However, their success in the second round didn't follow them to the
third round. Qatar finished bottom of their group, ensuring they would play their first World Cup match on home soil in 2022, the first team to do so since
Italy in
1934. Qatar continued its poor form in the
2017 Gulf Cup, which was hosted by
Kuwait. Qatar opened the tournament with a 4–0 win against
Yemen, but that was followed by a 1–2 loss to
Iraq and an unconvincing 1–1 draw to Bahrain. Qatar took third place in Group B with four points and was eliminated in the group stage of the competition, which was considered an upsetting of the tournament, especially after winning the 2014 edition. . However, Qatar had an excellent campaign at the
2019 AFC Asian Cup. Their opener saw them defeat
Lebanon 2–0. This was followed by a 6–0 thrashing of
North Korea and a 2–0 win against three-time champions Saudi Arabia, which sealed the team getting first place in the
group. They had a 1–0 win against Iraq in the
Round of 16 and a late win against defending runners-up
South Korea in the
quarter-finals, seeing them through to the
semi-finals for the first time ever, where they defeated the hosts United Arab Emirates 4–0 to set up a final against 4-time winners Japan. Qatar ended up winning the
final 3–1 over Japan, marking their first-ever major tournament title in their history, and capping off one of the most improbable Asian Cup runs in the tournament's history, especially since they conceded only one goal in all their games. Qatar was invited to the
2019 Copa América. They were placed in
Group B with
Colombia,
Argentina and
Paraguay. Their first game was against Paraguay where they came back from a 2–0 deficit to tie it 2–2, but this marked the first time Qatar suffered more than one goal in any major competition since winning the Asian Cup in the UAE. It was followed by a 0–1 loss to Colombia, ending the team's undefeated streak in any major competition to eight. A 0–2 loss to Argentina meant Qatar took the last place in Group B with a single point and was eliminated in the group stage of the competition.
Preparation for the FIFA World Cup as host: 2020–present Despite Qatar having automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup as hosts, they had to play the AFC qualifiers in the second round as part of it also acting as qualification for the
2023 AFC Asian Cup and won 7 of 8 games, conceding only one goal. Qatar was invited for the first time to the
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup. They played in
Group D with
Honduras,
Panama and
Grenada. In December 2020,
UEFA invited Qatar to play
friendlies against the teams in
Group A of the 2022 World Cup qualifying group –
Azerbaijan,
Luxembourg,
Portugal, the
Republic of Ireland and
Serbia – as five teams in one group means one team will not be playing on any given match day. These friendlies did not count in the qualifying group standings. Qatar played their "home" matches in Europe in order to allow short travel times for their opponents. . In the
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Qatar claimed 7 points in
Group D. Their debut was against
Panama with a 3–3 draw, ensuring them their first point. This was followed by a 4–0 victory over
Grenada and a 2–0 win over
Honduras ensuring a quarter-final place where they would face
El Salvador, ultimately securing a semi-final place against the
United States with a 3–2 win. However, against the hosts with its squad made up of the majority of
MLS players, Qatar failed to find the way to the net, in spite of having a penalty in the 60th minute, ultimately conceding a late goal from
Gyasi Zardes to end Qatar's campaign with a 1–0 loss. In the
2021 FIFA Arab Cup, Qatar won all of its group-stage matches and faced
UAE, winning 5–0. They lost 2–1 in the semi-final against
Algeria, eventually placing 3rd. Despite the very successful performance of Qatar in various major tournaments, the
2022 FIFA World Cup held at home proved to be a nightmare for the Qataris. Being automatically drawn into the
Group A as hosts, Qatar started with a 0–2 loss to
Ecuador in the opening match, conceding two goals in the first half from
Enner Valencia, making Qatar the first host country to lose their opening game. The situation did not improve for the Qataris in their second meeting with Senegal, when the Africans beat the Qataris 3–1 to condemn the hosts to an early World Cup exit, becoming the second host country after
South Africa, the
2010 FIFA World Cup hosts, to have such an unwanted record (although they were eliminated only on inferior goal differences to
Mexico after three matches); they became the first host team to be eliminated after two group games and guaranteed to be the worst-host ever, although Ghanaian-born
Mohammed Muntari became Qatar's first World Cup scorer in this game. With Qatar's elimination confirmed, the hosts then fell to the Netherlands 0–2, making an unwanted record as the first hosts to score the fewest goals (1), the first to lose all three group games, and the lowest-ranked team in the tournament (ranked 32nd). 14 months later, they would redeem themselves at the
2023 AFC Asian Cup, also held at home. The Maroons defeated
Lebanon 3–0 to start off their campaign, and they entered the round of 16 as group winners following 2 other successes, all without conceding a goal. They had to overcome
Palestine (2–1) and then
Uzbekistan in the next round (1–1 a.e.t., 3 p.s.o. to 2) to reach the last four, but without convincing. After defeating
Iran narrowly in a 3–2 dramatic semifinal match, they would face off against
Jordan in the final, where a penalty hat-trick by
Akram Afif helped Qatar defeat
Jordan 3–1 to clinch their second successive
AFC Asian Cup, becoming the first team since
Japan to successfully defend their title. On 14 October 2025, Qatar secured qualification for the
2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating the
United Arab Emirates 2–1 at the
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in
Doha,
Qatar. The result marked their first-ever qualification for a World Cup through the standard AFC qualification process, having previously participated in
2022 as hosts. ==Team image==