Benin

Benin 2013-16 GK

A standard Airness GK template that they used across a few nations, Benin included. There’s a sort of bubble shaped fade effect going down the front and some yellow accenting on the elbows and down the sides. Badge and logo are decent quality but there is a bit of a disconnect between the top of the shirt and the sleeves in comparison to the fade. By no means perfect, but a decent shirt and certainly better than some of their stranger outfield kits!

Photos of this exact design are hard to come by but it appears the U17s used it for quite a while. Main use of these templates was across the 2015 AFCON qualifiers though. Drawn in the preliminary qualifying round, Benin won 1-0 at home and lost by the same margin away, being forced into penalties against Malawi. They missed their first and final spot kick to be knocked out at the first hurdle.

This is slightly unusual for Benin. While not one of Africa’s most successful teams, they have been to 4 AFCONs to date, and look set to go to a 5^th in 2021. Before 2019, they had 1 draw from 9 games but the 2019 tournament brought them knockout football, with 3 group stage draws, a successful penalty shootout (after yet another draw) against Morocco and a narrow 1-0 loss against eventual runners-up Senegal. They’ve never been to a World Cup, coming closest for the 2010 tournament where they were 3 points and 6 goals behind Ghana for the qualification spot. Despite trading wins with Ghana, their goal difference against Sudan was worse and they only took a solitary point off Mali. They’ve only entered recent CHANs and have been a close match against Togo and Nigeria but never qualified.

As a women’s side, Benin are largely inactive. They beat Malawi 1-0 over 2 legs in 2006 AFCON qualifiers, got two 1-1 draws against the Ivory Coast and won the subsequent penalty shoot-out before losing both legs to Mali to fall at the final qualification hurdle. They didn’t play between 2007 and 2018 but had some good friendlies and a 2006 friendly tournament where they did fairly well. The men’s youth teams have had some good results (and a few bans for ineligible players…) with 3^rd place at their home 2005 U20 AFCON and a group stage exit in 2013. Otherwise, they tend to have close results, with a few near misses at U20 and U17 level. Women’s youth football has been much rarer, with a failed attempt to qualify for the 2006 U20 AFCON appearing to be their only appearance. They lost 2-1 and 1-0 to DR Congo in the first round.

Neither futsal nor beach soccer have proven to be an outlet for Benin, with no CAF tournament appearances in either.

Drawn in a group with DR Congo, Madagascar and Tanzania (all 4 were at the last AFCON, 3 in the knockout stages!), Benin have a very tough route to Qatar 2022. Definitely a chance for them to take their group but it won’t be an easy task.