Syria

1936–1969: The beginnings

The Syrian Football Federation was founded in 1936, 10 years before independence from the French in 1946. It has been affiliated with FIFA since 1937 and has been a member of AFC since 1969. In 1939, Syria played its first unofficial matches under the name of Damascus XI with Beirut XI in Beirut, resulting in a 5–4 win. Over the following years, the two teams competed in 16 unofficial matches until 1963, with the Damascus XI winning seven, drawing two, and losing seven.

Syria's first official football match took place on 26 April 1942, against Lebanon, as part of the Coupe Hauteclocque. The game, held at the AUB field in Beirut, ended in a 2–1 victory for "the Qasioun Eagles", in front of 3,000 spectators. The Coupe Hauteclocque, a trophy donated by French diplomat Jean de Hauteclocque in 1939, was intended to be a regular fixture between Lebanon and Syria. Although two matches were initially planned, only the Beirut fixture was played. The cup became a point of contention, as the Syrian Football Association had retained possession of it since 1939. Syria later played two additional friendly matches against Lebanon in 1947, winning 4–1 in Beirut on 4 May, and 1–0 in Aleppo on 18 May.

Syria took part in their first FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 1950, as one of the first teams in the region to do so. They played their first qualifying game against Turkey in Ankara, which ended in a 7–0 defeat on 20 November 1949. Five days later, on 25 November, Syria lost 8–0 against Greece in Athens.

At the 1951 Mediterranean Games in Alexandria, on 12 October 1951, one of Syria's biggest defeats was recorded against Egypt which ended with a score of 8–0 for the Pharaohs.

The first medal for the national team was silver at the 1953 Arab Games, when they were defeated in the final by Egypt (4–0). At the 1957 Arab Games in Beirut, they advanced to the finals after the semi-final defeat of Morocco, in which they defeated Tunisia with goals scored by Shamas and Awadis Kaoulakian 3–1.

In the FIFA World Cup 1958 qualifiers, the Syrian football team was defeated by the Sudan in the first round of the playoffs. Between 1958 and 1961, the team combined with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic national team, although the team's records are attributed only to Egypt by FIFA. Syria reached the finals in the FIFA Arab Cup twice: in 1963 (beaten by Tunisia) and 1966 (beaten by Iraq).

In the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualifiers they were one of two teams from the Asian zone (the other being Israel) to be allocated to the European qualifying zone and were originally placed with Spain and the Republic of Ireland. However, they joined the Asian and African boycott of the 1966 qualifiers, due to the decision of FIFA to allocate just one place between Asia and Africa.

1970s: Successes in Arab competitions

In the 1970s, they regularly participated in the Palestine Cup, which served as a substitute for the Arab Cup. At the 1972 Palestine Cup, they placed fourth when they lost 1–3 to Algeria. At the 1973 Palestine Cup, they advanced from the group stage to the semifinals, where they eliminated Algeria after penalties (0–0, pen. 3–2). In the final of the cup, they clearly lost to Tunisia 0–4.

In the 1974 Kuneitra Cup, "the Qasioun Eagles" entered the knockout phase after the group defeat of Sudan, Libya, Palestine and North Yemen. In the semifinals of the cup, they defeated Tunisia (3–1), but in the final, they lost to Morocco after a penalty shootout.

For the 1974 FIFA World Cup, they finished second in the group in the 1st round of the qualification, behind Iran, insufficient to advance to the next round.

At the 1975 Palestine Cup, they eliminated Libya in the group stage, but lost to Iraq in the semifinals 0: 4 and in the bronze medal match with Sudan 0–1. In 1976, Damascus hosted the Arab Games, whose football tournament was played at the Abbasiyyin Stadium, where the home Syrian team won bronze medals.

In the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification, the "Qasioun Eagles" did not go through the first round, as despite losing one victory over Saudi Arabia (2–0) they lost both matches to Iran, finishing in third place in the group.

1980–1996: Milestones and missed opportunities

The Syrian team made it to the 1980 Olympics thanks to Iran, as the team withdrew due to the American-led boycott of the Olympics. Despite losing 0–3 to Algeria and 0–5 to the GDR, they gained experience from big matches. However, the most valuable result in the tournament was a draw with a strong Spain 0–0.

The Syrian team took part in the three editions of the AFC Asian Cup in the 1980s. In the 1980 AFC Asian Cup, they finished 3rd out of 5 in the group stage, behind North Korea and Iran, ahead of China and Bangladesh.

In the 1984 AFC Asian Cup, they finished 4th out of 5 in the 1st round, ahead of South Korea, behind Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In the 1988 AFC Asian Cup, they finished 3rd out of 5 still in the 1st round, behind China and Saudi Arabia, ahead of Kuwait and Bahrain. The two Syrian scorers were with one goal each: Walid Nasser and Walid Al-Hel. They were finalists in the FIFA Arab Cup in 1988 (beaten by Iraq).

For the qualifiers of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, they finished last in the group stage behind Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. As for the qualification round of the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Syria came very close to a qualification which would have been historic, since it passed the 1st round ahead of Kuwait and North Yemen, beat Bahrain and lost in the final qualifying round to Iraq 1–3 on aggregate, with the only Syrian goal scored by Walid Abu Al-Sel.

One of the greatest successes of "the Qasioun Eagles" in the 1980s was the participation in the finals of the 1987 Mediterranean Games, which took place in Latakia, and the defeat of the France team 2–1.

In the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the national team placed second in the first round after losing to Saudi Arabia 4–5 (goal scorers: Mahrous, Jakalan, Al-Nasser and Helou).

In 1992, the Arab Games were held in Syria, which included the Arab Cup In this tournament, the Syrian national team led by Virgil Dridea placed 4th after advancing to the semifinals (losing to Egypt 4–3 on penalties) and losing in the bronze medal match with Kuwait 1–2.

During the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, they led the qualifying group after winning over Taiwan and Oman, but due to draws with Iran (0–0 and 1–1, goal scored by Abdul Latif Helou), they did not advance to the second round.