Guinea national football team
The Guinea national football team (French: " Équipe de football du Guinée") represents Guinea in men's international football and it is controlled by the Guinean Football Federation. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals, and their best finish in the Africa Cup of Nations was runners-up in 1976. The team reached the quarter-finals in four recent tournaments (2004, 2006, 2008 and 2015). The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF). History. Guinea made their footballing debut in an away friendly on 9 May 1962, losing 2–1 against Togo . In 1963, Guinea entered its first qualification campaign for an Africa Cup of Nations, the 1963 tournament in Ghana. Drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Nigeria, Guinea drew the first leg 2–2 away on 27 July, and on 6 October won 1–0 at home to win 3–2 on aggregate. They were later disqualified for using Guinean officials in the second leg, and Nigeria went through to the finals in their place. In 1965, Guinea entered the qualifiers for the 1965 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia and was placed in Group A with Senegal and Mali. On 28 February , they lost 2–0 in Senegal before beating them 3–0 at home on 31 March, Senegal's win over Mali allowed them to qualify instead of Guinea. During the 1976 African Cup of Nations the Guinean team finished second to Morocco, only missing out on the championship by a point. In 2001, FIFA expelled the country from the qualification process of the 2002 World Cup and 2002 African Cup of Nations due to government interference in football. They returned to international action in September 2002 after a two-year ban from competition. In the 2004 African Cup of Nations, Guinea reached  the quarter-finals, scoring the first goal against Mali before ultimately losing 2–1, conceding the winning goal in the last minute of the match. Guinea reached the quarter-final stage again in the 2006 tournament, taking the lead against Senegal before losing 3–2. 2008 saw Guinea reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for a third successive tournament, only to suffer a 5–0 defeat against Côte d'Ivoire. In 2012, Guinea beat Botswana 6–1 in the group stage of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, becoming the first side to score six goals in an Africa Cup of  Nations game since Côte d'Ivoire in 1970. The team subsequently exited the tournament at the group stage after a draw against Ghana. On 4 January 2016, CAF lifted a ban on Guinea playing their home international in Guinea after it was declared free of Ebola by the U.N. World Health Organization in December 2015. Results and fixtures. The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled. Players. Current squad. The following 23 players were called up for the friendly matches against South Africa and Zambia on  25 and 29 March, respectively. "Caps and goals are correct as of 24 January 2022 after the match against Gambia." Recent call-ups. The following players have been called up for Guinea in the last 12 months. Team honours. "Last updated 14 August 2017"