Oman - Oman Football Association
The Oman Football Association is the governing body of football in Oman. It was founded in 1978, has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation since 1979 and of FIFA since 1980. Oman Football Association is a relatively young member of the football fraternity. They were founded in 1978 and the following year, joined AFC before making the FIFA family in 1980.
Overview
Despite being a young association, their achievement at the youth level is impeccable. In the AFC U-17 Championship 1996 and AFC U-17 Championship 2000 AFC U-16 Championship, they became champions of Asia and representing Asia in the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Ecuador, they managed a record high fourth place finish. Also in the same tournament Mohamed Amor Al Kathri was awarded most valuable player and was given the golden ball, scoring most individual goals.
At the senior level, success has been far and few. However, lately they seemed to have announced their arrival at the senior events. They reached the 2004 AFC Asian Cup final rounds and did well against Asian champions Japan. Later in 2007 they reached the 2007 AFC Asian Cup once again, but just went to the group stages. In the Gulf Cup, they reached the final twice, only to lose to Qatar national football team and later, UAE national football team; before winning it as hosts in 2009.
Players such as Imad Ali Al-Hosni have been impressive and are looked at as the future of Omani football. In addition, Oman is looking to take advantage of FIFA's assistance in the GOAL project to further develop the game in Oman. Also Goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi is leading the path of Omani football to Europe, being the first Omani to play in the Premier League. Along with Al-Habsi, Khalifa Ayil has sparked interest from Arsène Wenger of Arsenal.
Oman has a total of 45 clubs divided into three divisions. The First Division has 12 clubs, Second Division has 13 clubs while the Third Division has 20 clubs.
Individual Awards
Team Awards and Achievements
Omani League Teams 07-08
Oman Football Association related pages
Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China PR, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea DPR, Korea Repulic, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oman_Football_Association