Football Photos - Egypt national football team

The Egypt national football team represents Egypt in association football and is controlled by the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), the governing body for football in Egypt. Egypt's home ground is Cairo International Stadium in Cairo and their head coach is Bob Bradley. They are the current African Champions having won the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations. They are also the most successful African team at Confederation level, winning the ACN seven times: the inaugural ACN in Sudan in 1957, at home in 1959, 1986 and Egypt in 2006, and in Burkina Faso in 1998, Ghana in 2008, and Angola in 2010. Egypt have been as high as 9th in the FIFA World Rankings, making them the first and only Arabic team and one of two African national teams to enter the world top ten. Despite this, Egypt has so far made only two appearances in the World Cup, with no victories.

 

 

 

Football Photos - Israel national football team

The Israel national football team is the national football team of Israel, controlled by the Israel Football Association (IFA).

Israel National Football is the direct successor of the Eretz Yisrael National Team during British Mandate. Israel has competed in FIFA World Cup qualifiers in three different confederations, competing in the Asian Football Confederation and the Oceania Football Confederation before settling in Europe as a member of the Union of European Football Associations in 1994.

The Israeli side qualified for their only FIFA World Cup to date in 1970. Israel also hosted and won the Asian Cup in 1964 and was finalist in 1956 and 1960.

Football has a long and rich tradition in Israel. The game was originally introduced during the time of the Ottoman Empire monarchy. The Palestine/Eretz Yisrael FA was formed in 1928 and joined FIFA in the same year, but at the time the association was made up of Arab clubs, Jewish clubs and clubs representing British policemen or soldiers serving in the region during the British Mandate rule that spanned the period between World War One and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Palestine/Eretz Yisrael national team made its debut against Egypt in 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification, losing 1:7 in Cairo. The team played five international matches, including a friendly match against Lebanon, until the British mandate for Palestine was dissolved.

Upon the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948, the IFA became the official association of the new state. The Israel national team's first match as an independent nation was on September 26, 1948, against the United States. The game was won by the USA 1–3, and in the 20th minute of the game Shmuel Ben-Dror scored the first goal after the creation of the State of Israel.

 

 

Football Photos - Iran national football team

The national football team of Iran represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran. The national football team of Iran, known as the Team Melli, ranks 4th in Asia and 42nd in the world according to the current FIFA World Rankings.

In 1978, Iran made its first appearance in the World Cup after defeating Australia in Tehran to qualify. Iran lost two of their three group stage games against the Netherlands and Peru. However, they managed to create a surprise by drawing 1–1 against Scotland with a late Iraj Danaeifard goal.

After the 1979 Revolution, football was somewhat neglected and cast aside. During the 1980s, the Iranian national team did not feature in World Cup competitions due to the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88) and domestic football suffered the inevitable effects of conflict. The national team withdrew from the Asian qualifiers for the 1982 World Cup, and refused to participate in the qualifiers for the 1986 World Cup because of having to play on neutral ground. The war and political upheavals left Iran without major club competitions until 1989 when the Qods League was established. A year later, the Qods League was renamed the Azadegan League. Despite failing to qualify for either the 1990 or the 1994 World Cups, it was during this period that a number of quality players burst onto the Iranian football scene, laying the foundation for their second stab at World Cup glory in 1998. Iran could count on new talents such as Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Khodadad Azizi, Karim Bagheri and also its goal keeper, Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh.

 

 

 

Football Photos - China PR national football team

The China PR national football team is the national association football team of the People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is colloquially referred to as "Team China"  or "Guózú" ( which means "national football).

The team was founded in 1924 in the Republic of China under the auspices of the China Football Association and joined FIFA in 1931. Following the Chinese Civil War, the CFA was formed in the newly founded People's Republic of China. They remained affiliated with FIFA until 1958, when they withdrew, but they rejoined in 1979. After the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997, and Macau from Portugal in 1999, these two special administrative regions have continued to have their own teams, which play as "Hong Kong, China" and "Macau, China", respectively.

China have been runners-up at the Asian Cup twice: in 1984 and 2004. Although China failed to score a goal in their maiden World Cup appearance in 2002, losing all their matches, just qualifying for the tournament has been considered the greatest accomplishment in their football history.

As football is widely followed in China, national team success is considered to be a source of national pride. Around 300 million people tuned in to broadcasts of China's 2002 World Cup matches with a staggering 170 million new television sets being bought by citizens in order to watch their nation's first World Cup appearance. There were over 250 million viewers for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup Final, the largest single-event sports audience in the country's history.

Football Photos - South Korea national football team

The Korea Republic national football team represents Korea Republic (South Korea) in international football and is controlled by the Korea Football Association. Korea Republic is the most successful Asian football team in the history of the FIFA World Cup having participated in eight World Cup tournaments, which is the most amount of appearances for an Asian country. Korea Republic became the first and only Asian team to reach the semi-final stages, at the 2002 tournament, and also won the first two editions of the AFC Asian Cup.

 

 

Football Photos - Japan national football team

The Japan national football team represents Japan in association football and is operated by the Japan Football Association, the governing body for association football in Japan. Their head coach is Alberto Zaccheroni.

Japan is one of the most successful teams in Asia having qualified for the last four consecutive FIFA World Cup finals with second round advancements in 2002 & 2010 and having won the AFC Asian Cup a record four times with championships in 1992, 2000, 2004 & 2011. To this they add a FIFA Confederations Cup second place in 2001.

The Japanese team is commonly known by the fans and media as Soccer Nippon Daihyō, Nippon Daihyō, or Daihyō as abbreviated expressions. Although the team does not have an official nickname as such, it is often known by the name of the manager. For example, under Takeshi Okada, the team was known as Okada Japan. Recently the team has been known or nicknamed as the "Samurai Blue", while news media still refer it to by manager's last name, as "Zaccheroni Japan", or "Zac Japan".

Japan were the Unofficial Football World Champions for about a year, until a 1-0 defeat at Kim Il-Sung Stadium to North Korea in November 2011 saw them relinquish their title and 20-match unbeaten run.

Football Photos - New Zealand national football team

The New Zealand national football team, nicknamed the All Whites, is the national association football team of New Zealand and is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF). The team plays in an all-white strip rather than the traditional New Zealand sporting black due to a former FIFA regulation that reserved black for the international referee strip. Its nickname is also a play on the New Zealand national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks. The silver fern, a symbol of New Zealand, appears on the All Whites uniform.

The All Whites played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The 2010 New Zealand team is one of only eight in the history of the World Cup to have remained unbeaten through a World Cup Finals competition without winning the trophy.

Because most New Zealand football clubs are semi-professional rather than fully professional, most top New Zealand footballers play abroad for clubs in Europe, in the United States, or in the Australian A-League.

New Zealand formerly battled Australia for top honours in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). However, Australia now plays in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), leaving New Zealand as the only seeded team in the OFC. New Zealand has won the OFC Nations Cup four times – in 1973, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Football Photos - Australia national association football team

The Australia national association football team represents Australia in international association football competitions. Its official nickname is the "Socceroos". The team is controlled by Football Federation Australia (FFA), which is currently a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and also an invitee member of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) since 2006.

Australia is a four-time Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) champion and has been represented at three FIFA World Cup tournaments, in 1974, 2006 and 2010. Australia topped their group in the 2010 World Cup qualification without losing a match and only conceding one goal, and became one of the first nations to qualify for the finals tournament: during the qualification, they reached their highest placing, 14th, in the FIFA World Rankings. However, Australia failed to progress past the group stage in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Football Photos - Paraguay national football team

The Paraguay national football team is controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association (Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol) and represents Paraguay in men's international football competitions. The team has reached the second round of the World Cup on four occasions (in 1986, 1998, 2002 and 2010). The 2010 trip also featured their first appearance in the quarterfinals. Paraguay's only major tournament victories have come in the Copa América, in which they triumphed in 1953 and in 1979.

South Africa 2010 was Paraguay's fourth consecutive trip to the World Cup final tournament, having previously qualified for the final at France 1998, Korea/Japan 2002, and Germany 2006.

Soon after the introduction of football in Paraguay by Williams Paats, the Liga Paraguaya de Futbol (today Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol) was created in 1906. The first national football team was organized in 1910 when an invitation by the Argentine club Hércules of Corrientes was received to play a friendly match. Members of that first national team where F. Melián, G. Almeida, A. Rodríguez, M. Barrios, P. Samaniego, J. Morín, Z. Gadea, D. Andreani, C. Mena Porta, B. Villamayor, M. Rojas and E. Erico. The match ended in a 0–0 draw.

Because of the increasing number of invitations to play matches and international tournaments, the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol decided to officially create the national team and select the striped red and white jerseys that until this date remain as the official colours (taken from the Paraguayan flag). In late 1919 Paraguay accepted the invitation to play the 1921 Copa America and in order to prepare for that occasion a number of friendly matches were played between 1919 and the start of the tournament in 1921. The first of those friendly matches was a 5–1 loss against Argentina, and it marked the first international game by the Paraguayan national football team. When the 1921 Copa America finally arrived, Paraguay surprised everybody by beating then three-time South American champions Uruguay by 2–1, being this the first match in an official competition for the Paraguayan football team. Paraguay eventually finished fourth in the tournament and became a regular participant of the tournament for the next editions.

In 1930 Paraguay participated in the first World Cup, organized by Uruguay. In the first round, Paraguay debuted and lost to the United States (0–3), to then defeat Belgium (1–0) with a goal by Luis Vargas Peña. Only one team was to advance from the group stage, and the U.S. left Paraguay behind.

Football Photos - Peru national football team

The Peru national football team, known as 'el equipo inca', represents Peru in international football competition and is managed by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). The team competes against the other nine members of FIFA's CONMEBOL conference, which encompasses the countries of South America. The traditional colors of the team are white and red, the colors of the Peruvian flag, and the team is commonly known as la Blanquirroja (Spanish for "the white-and-red").

Founded in 1927, the team plays its home matches primarily at the Estadio Nacional in Lima. The team's players' ethnicities reflect of the multicultural society of Peru. Peru has won the Copa América twice, and qualified for four FIFA World Cup tournaments. It has also qualified for two Olympic tournaments where it reached the quarter final stages. Peru's traditional footballing rival is Chile, but the team also has a prominent rivalry with Colombia.

The Peruvian team's performance has been inconsistent, although it is considered to have enjoyed two successful periods in the 1930s and 1970s. Early in its history, Peru participated in World Cup tournaments and enjoyed victories in the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 Copa América, when it was led by Teodoro Fernández, Juan Valdivieso and Alejandro Villanueva . Its 1950s side, which included Alberto Terry and Valeriano López, was considered to be among the top 20 strongest footballing nations of the decade, despite not winning any major tournaments. Peruvian football's successful period in the 1970s brought Peru back to world recognition, with players such as Héctor Chumpitaz, Hugo Sotil, and Teófilo Cubillas. This team qualified for three FIFA World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975.

Peru's 1982 World Cup participation was its last to date: the national team has not since won a major tournament or participated in a World Cup tournament. The team was temporarily suspended from international participation by FIFA in late 2008 due to allegations of corruption involving government sport authorities and the FPF. Peru has currently appointed Uruguayan Sergio Markarián as its head coach and, after achieving third place at the 2011 Copa America, hopes to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Football Photos - Venezuela national football team

The Venezuela national football team is the national football team of Venezuela and is controlled by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. It is nicknamed La Vinotinto (The Burgundy), because of the traditional burgundy color of their shirts.

Venezuela is the only national team in CONMEBOL which has never qualified for a World Cup. Often Venezuela would go through entire qualification tournaments without recording a single win, although this has changed in the last two qualifying rounds. Until 2011, their best finish in Copa América was fifth in their first entry, in 1967.

When playing at home in official games they usually rotate between three stadiums: the Polideportivo Cachamay, in Puerto Ordaz; the Estadio José Antonio Anzoátegui, in Puerto La Cruz; and Estadio Pueblo Nuevo, in San Cristóbal. In friendly matches they tend to rotate between the rest of the stadiums in the country.

The Unofficial Football World Championship, and the related Nasazzi's baton title, was briefly held by Venezuela in 2006.

Unlike other South American nations, and akin to Caribbean nations, baseball is extremely popular in Venezuela, which diverts athletic talent away from football, contributing to its historic lack of success in CONMEBOL competitions. It is only recently with the spread of the World Cup's popularity in nations where football was not the primary sport (Japan, the United States, Australia, etc.) that the national team found incentives to increase player development and fan support.