Mauritania

Mauritania 2013 Away
Mauritania 2019-21 Home

So, we have ourselves a classic Adidas template, this sort of cut away of a mountain peak design across the front and top of the shirt. The deep green of Mauritania works pretty well here, though the white main body of the shirt clashes somewhat with it. Might work better with yellow? But that’s all there really is to it, not one of the greater examples, mainly notable for the unusual colour.

Mauritania’s relationship with kits is somewhat fragmented, with a lot of variety in short spaces of time. Their relationship with photographs is also fragmented, but more in the sense that there don’t seem to be many of them. They definitely used it in a series of 2013 friendlies wherein they drew 0-0 with Canada and Oman and beat Canada 1-0 but that is possibly the limit of its use. Hardly a staple of their history.

In contrast their AB Sport shirts are more stable and well known. Fading yellow camouflage stripes across the front, a subtle red pattern across the shoulders and rear of the shirt, some red accenting and what looks like “Mauritania” in Arabic written on the sleeve cuffs and rear of the collar. There’s detail to it, it stands out and is fairly definitively Mauritanian. Can’t ask for a lot more than that, though material quality isn’t great. Good shirts, particularly considering how template-y they’d previously been.

Designed for their AFCON debut in 2019, Mauritania would be drawn in a group with Mali, Tunisia and Angola. An opening 4-1 defeat to Mali was a chastening start to major tournament life, but they managed to recover with two respectable 0-0 draws to finish off their group stage. It wasn’t enough to lift them off of bottom place, with gaol difference consigning them there, but it was a solid first attempt.

Mauritania’s footballing history is somewhat messy, with a wide range of tournaments and very much mixed participation. For instance they first entered World Cup qualification in 1978 but then didn’t do so again until 1998! Their record in World Cup qualification is dismal, with very few wins, typically exiting in the 2 legged knockouts CAF favour. AFCON qualifiers also play the “did not enter” and “withdrew” game a lot. Often not brilliant there either, their recent form has been much better, leading to 3 AFCON qualifications in a row! Yet to register their first win at a finals, this is still a positive sign. They’ve managed 3 CHAN qualifications without major impact and turned up to 2 WAFU Nations Cup with similar lack of impact. Their Arabian tournament performances have been very spotty and similarly unspectacular. Their main historic positives come from the old Amílcar Cabral Cup, with two 4^th place finishes in the 1980’s and even a penalty shootout final loss as they hosted it in 1995. A title eluded them, however.

Very new to women’s football (2019), Mauritania are yet to win or draw a match. They’ve taken part in a friendly tournament against primarily youth sides in Spain, the 2020 UNAF Tournament, a WAFU tournament and WAFCON qualifiers without success to date. Not exactly a household name yet, hopefully things will improve, with some narrow results showing a little promise. Men’s youth football is as spotty as the senior side, with several withdrawals and non-participations. They’ve never formally qualified for a youth AFCON, often getting knocked out at the first hurdle, but did debut in the 2021 AFCON as hosts. Narrow losses to Uganda and Cameroon, along with a win over Mozambique proved insufficient to progress any further. They’ve had a few results in UNAF, with a 2^nd and 3^rd at U19/20 level and one of each of 1^st-4^th at U16/17 level. Their sole U15 appearance is best left unmentioned. They’ve never played a women’s youth international to date, always withdrawing before doing so, but being involved in the draw shows it should only be a matter of time.

They’ve never played beach soccer or futsal to date, but are set to debut in futsal in 2024 AFCON qualifiers. Only time will tell how that goes.

Drawn in a group with the reasonable sides of Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and Zambia, Mauritania were expected to struggle. They did so, managing respectable home draws to Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea, but losing their other 4 matches to leave them with only 2 points. AFCON remains their highlight…