Equatorial Guinea national football team

Equatorial Guinea played its first match on 23 May 1975 against China in a friendly, losing 6–2. They did not play another game until entering the 1985 UDEAC Cup in December 1985. They were drawn in a group against the hosts Congo and Central African Republic. They lost 5–0 to the Congo on 9 December and then earned their first draw by drawing 1–1 against the Central African Republic on 14 December. On 16 December, they played a play-off for fifth place against Chad, and lost 3–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw.[2]

Equatorial Guinea would come in fourth in the 1987 UDEAC Cup, losing on penalties in the third place match to Gabon, even though they only scored one goal throughout the tournament in a 1–1 draw against Chad. They also drew 0–0 against Cameroon. On their next attempt, they got sixth place after losing on penalties against the Central African Republic. The next time Equatorial Guinea played the Central African Republic, in 1999, they won, 4–2. It was Equatorial Guinea's first win.[2]

In the late 2000s, the Equatoguinean Football Federation, along with the Gabonese Football Federation, announced a bid to host the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, against bids from other African nations including Angola, Libya and Nigeria. Equatorial Guinea and Gabon won the right to host the games,[3] and two new stadiums were built in Equatorial Guinea: Estadio de Bata in Bata and Estadio de Malabo in Malabo.[4]

The first game in the 2012 African Cup of Nations was Equatorial Guinea's first in a major international tournament, and resulted in a historic 1–0 win over Libya on 21 January 2012 in the opening game of the tournament. An 87th-minute strike from former Real Madrid winger Javier Balboa earned the victory.[5] In the next game, they secured the qualification for the quarter-finals by beating Senegal 2–1,[6] and finished second in their group after losing 0–1 to Zambia.[7] They progressed to the quarter-finals where they were eliminated by the tournament's runners-up Ivory Coast after losing to The Elephants 3–0 thanks to goals from Didier Drogba and Yaya Touré.[8] Various national side players were praised due to their performances in the tournament, including Javier Balboa, Randy, Ben Konaté and Rui, the latter a part of the Team of the Tournament.[9]

Three years later, Equatorial Guinea organized solely the 2015 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, but on this occasion, it was to replace Morocco, which was the original host. In the opener, they drew 1–1 against Congo, with Emilio Nsue opening the scoring. In the second game, they managed to play out a 0–0 draw with Burkina Faso, the runners-up of the previous edition. With these two results, the Nzalang Nacional had to win against its classic rival Gabon in the third match in order to qualify for the quarter-finals. Equatorial Guinea won 2–0 with goals from Javier Balboa (a penalty kick) and Ibán. As Group A's runner-up, the Equatoguinean national team then defeated Tunisia 2–1 with two goals from Balboa, the first being a penalty kick in the final moments of the regular time, and the second was in extra time. In the semi-final, however, they lost 0–3 to Ghana, and in the match for third place, drew 0–0 against DR Congo, ultimately losing 2–4 on penalties. The country finished the tournament in fourth place, being its best international participation to date and helping it reach a historical 49th position in the FIFA rankings.

Equatorial Guinea continued to fail in every qualification in AFCON as the team did not qualify for 2017 and 2019 editions. Likewise, the team had also failed to qualify for 2018 FIFA World Cup. During the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, they were grouped in group J along with powerhouse Tunisia, 2019 AFCON participant Tanzania and North African bedfellow Libya. The Nzalang Nacional performed poorly in their first two games, losing both with one goal margin to Tanzania away and Tunisia at home, and it appeared that Equatorial Guinea would just end up failing as usual as the team had never qualified throughout regular qualification outside hosting the competition twice.[10][11] However, the COVID-19 pandemic led all AFCON qualification suspended until late 2020, when it resumed as Equatorial Guinea faced up against a rising spirit Libyan side that aimed to qualify for the first time since 2012. Despite this, Equatorial Guinea produced an outstanding comeback against Libya in Egypt, beating Libya 3–2 with two late goals by Pedro Obiang and Salomón Obama from being led 1–2 until injury times.[12] The Nzalang Nacional then later hosted the same opponent at home, and like their game in Cairo, the Equatorial Guineans won again, 1–0, by virtual goal from Iban Salvador.[13] Adding with Tunisia managed to beat Tanzania 1–0 in Tunis and drew the same opponent 1–1 in Dar es Salaam, Equatorial Guinea is now having a historic chance to qualify throughout regular qualification for the first time ever in the history, if they can beat Tanzania in the decisive game at home soil.

In recent years, Equatorial Guinea has courted controversy by recruiting foreign players and giving them citizenship despite having little or no ties to the country. In 2009, South African journalist and FIFA archivist Mark Gleeson wrote that it was undermining the integrity of African football.[14]

In late 2005, and at the request of Ruslán Obiang Nsue, a son of President Teodoro Obiang, Brazilian coach Antônio Dumas recruited several Brazilian players to represent the Equatorial Guinea but the CAF and FIFA turned a blind eye, despite complaints from other nations.

In 2012, having lost the first leg of a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualification round 4–0 to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea recruited nine Brazilian players to help overturn the deficit for the second leg. The team did manage to win the match 2–1, but it was not enough to overturn the aggregate and Equatorial Guinea were eliminated from the tournament. DR Congo head coach Claude Le Roy complained that the Equatorial Guinea were acting like the "United Nations of football".

Before the arrival of new coach Andoni Goikoetxea to Malabo, in March 2013, the Equatoguinean board made the squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Cape Verde and again called-up nine Brazilian players.[15] In May 2013, they joined Colombian-born, Ecuadorian-based Jimmy Bermúdez, to who was going to pay him €3,000 for each match he plays.[16]

During the qualifiers, in the series played against Mauritania, the Nzalang Nacional lost 1–0 away and won 3–0 in Malabo, qualifying to the next round to face Uganda. However, the Mauritanian Football Federation Submitted a complaint to CAF about the inclusion of ineligible players by Equatorial Guinea (Some with fake passports and false names), resulting in the expulsion of the Equatorial Guinean team, based on the particular situation of Thierry Fidjeu, while the cases of the other players remained under investigation.

Estadio de Malabo

Equatorial Guinea's home stadium is Estadio de Malabo in Malabo. It can hold up to 15,250 people. Equatorial Guinea played there when they hosted the 2012 African Cup of Nations During their participation in the tournament, they played in this stadium against eventual winners Zambia and runners-up the Ivory Coast. During the national side's participation in the 2012 African Cup of Nations, they also played in the newly constructed Estadio de Bata, in which they played and won both their games in the stadium against Libya and Senegal.[4]

Equatorial Guinea wears a red and white uniform. The kit manufacturer is Errea. When they play in Equatorial Guinea, they wear a solid red jersey and matching shorts with white stripes. The number, FEGUIFUT logo, and Adidas logo are located on the chest. The socks are red with white at the top.[17] When Equatorial Guinea is away, they wear all white shirt with blue stripes.

• CEMAC Cup: 1

2006

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1998	Did not enter									Did not enter
2002	Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	2	5
2006										2	1	0	1	1	2
2010										6	1	0	5	4	10
2014										8	1	2	5	9	17
2018										2	1	0	1	1	2
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total	–	0/21	–	–	–	–	–	–		20	4	2	14	17	36

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations record
Host nation(s) / Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957 to 1968	Part of  Spain
1970 to 1986	Not affiliated to CAF
1988	Withdrew
1990	Did not qualify
1992 to 1994	Did not enter
1996	Withdrew
1998 to 2000	Did not enter
2002 to 2010	Did not qualify
2012	Quarter-finals	7th	4	2	0	2	3	5
2013	Did not qualify
2015	Fourth place	4th	6	2	3	1	5	5
2017 to 2019	Did not qualify
2021	To be determined
2023
2025
Total	Fourth place	2/32	10	4	3	3	8	10

African Nations Championship record

African Nations Championship
Appearances: 1
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2009	Did not qualify
2011
2014
2016
2018	Group stage	15th	3	0	0	3	1	7
2020	Did not qualify
2022	To be determined
Total	Group stage	1/6	3	0	0	3	1	7

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss

2020

Libya  v  Equatorial Guinea

11 November 2021 AFCONQ	Libya	2–3	Equatorial Guinea	Cairo, Egypt
21:00 UTC+2	Al Warfali  55' (pen.) Bettamer  58'	Report	Josete  33' Obiang  90+1' Obama  90+4'	Stadium: Al Salam Stadium[note 1] Referee: Bakary Gassama (Gambia)

Equatorial Guinea  v  Libya

15 November 2021 AFCONQ	Equatorial Guinea	1–0	Libya	Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
20:00 UTC+1	Salvador  27'	Report		Stadium: Estadio de Malabo Referee: Norman Matemera (Zimbabwe)

2021

Equatorial Guinea  v  Tanzania

22 March 2021 AFCONQ	Equatorial Guinea	v	Tanzania
--:-- UTC+1

Tunisia  v  Equatorial Guinea

30 March 2021 AFCONQ	Tunisia	v	Equatorial Guinea
--:-- UTC+1

As of 15 November 2020[20]

Players in bold text are still active with Equatorial Guinea.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Equatorial Guinea national football team.

• Equatoguinean Football Federation (in Spanish)
• Equatorial Guinea at FIFA.com