<\/p>\n
The Somalia national football team, the Ocean Stars, recorded a remarkable double victory over Bahrain in November 2025, winning both international friendly matches as part of preparations for the FIFA Arab Cup qualifying campaign.<\/p>\n
The first match was played on 17 November 2025<\/strong> at the Bahrain National Stadium, where Somalia came from behind to defeat the hosts 2\u20131<\/strong>. Bahrain opened the scoring through Mohamed Al-Romaihi before Mohamed Omar brought Somalia level. Issa Adam then scored the decisive goal to complete Somalia\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n The victory was particularly significant as it marked Somalia\u2019s first international win since 2019<\/strong>, according to the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). The match was also used by both teams as preparation for their upcoming FIFA Arab Cup qualifying fixtures.<\/p>\n Four days later, on 21 November 2025<\/strong>, Somalia defeated Bahrain again, this time by 1\u20130<\/strong> in Riffa. The result gave the Ocean Stars two consecutive victories against the same opponent during the November international window.<\/p>\n The two victories came during the early stages of Yusuf Ali Nur\u2019s return as head coach of the Somalia national team<\/strong>. Nur was appointed in March 2025 and took charge of a team undergoing a rebuilding process, with a younger squad and several players from the Somali diaspora being integrated into the national setup.<\/p>\n FIFA highlighted the development of Somalia\u2019s squad under Nur, describing the team as being in a new cycle and noting the influence of experienced players such as Abel Gigli within the younger group.<\/p>\n The Bahrain victories provided an important boost to that rebuilding project. They demonstrated Somalia\u2019s ability to compete against a higher-ranked opponent and, more importantly, to produce consecutive positive results.<\/p>\n At the time of the first match, CECAFA reported that Bahrain were ranked 90th<\/strong> in the FIFA rankings while Somalia were ranked 202nd<\/strong>, making the 2\u20131 victory a notable result for the Ocean Stars.<\/p>\n Yusuf Ali Nur continued in charge of Somalia into 2026. During the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, the Confederation of African Football (CAF)<\/strong> referred to Nur as Somalia\u2019s head coach following the team\u2019s progress against Mauritius.<\/p>\n CAF reported that Somalia displayed defensive discipline and growing confidence under Nur during the two-legged preliminary-round tie. Somalia advanced after a 0\u20130 draw in both legs and a 4\u20132 victory on penalties<\/strong> in the second leg.<\/p>\n The progression reflected the continued development of a national team that had begun rebuilding under Nur the previous year.<\/p>\n The victories over Bahrain represented more than two friendly-match results. They provided an important moment of confidence for Somali football and for a national team seeking to establish greater consistency at international level.<\/p>\n Under Yusuf Ali Nur, Somalia have increasingly focused on combining locally based players with members of the Somali football diaspora, while giving younger players opportunities to gain international experience.<\/p>\n The consecutive victories in Bahrain therefore became an important milestone in the Ocean Stars\u2019 rebuilding process and one of the strongest results of Somalia\u2019s recent international football campaign.<\/p>\n With FIFA and CAF competitions providing increasingly important opportunities for Somalia, the results against Bahrain offered a positive foundation for the team\u2019s continued development under Yusuf Ali Nur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Somalia national football team, the Ocean Stars, recorded a remarkable double victory over Bahrain in November 2025, winning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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New Era Under Yusuf Ali Nur<\/h2>\n
Recognition from CAF<\/h2>\n
Building Confidence in Somali Football<\/h2>\n