Seychelles

Seychelles 2019-22 Home
Seychelles 2019-22 Away
Seychelles 2019-22 GK

With a history of dull templated shirts, nobody expected much from the Seychelles, let alone when they came from a local brand. But Rhino smashed it out of the park! Quality control was…interesting, with several versions showing on the pitch and in collections, but the whole shirt is covered in an ocean pattern with the map of the country on it. Very much the polyester atlas there. Plus, just in case you got bored with the full detail of the country’s many islands, the shoulders have the colours of the flag along them and, it being a lovely flag, the flag itself on the back to add masses of colour to the top of the shirt and keep things lively. Coming in various colours, the design works really well!

Sadly their main tournament use came with some poor results. 2021 & 2023 AFCON qualifers along with 2022 World Cup qualifiers all went poorly, with aggregate losses to Rwanda, South Sudan and Lesotho bringing very early eliminations with a 0-0 described by CAF as “barren” being the only “highlight.” They have gained some more positive results outside of major tournament play, including a 0-0 draw with San Marino giving them some action outside of their region, but their rankings have overall suffered.

Unfortunately, these sorts of results are not unfamiliar to them. They’ve never won a World Cup qualifier in their history, with 2 draws from 16 matches, starting in 2022 qualifiers. AFCON qualifying has tended to go better, albeit sporadic in their early years, but wins and draws are still very much in the minority with their best points total being 6. Similarly, CHAN qualification hasn’t provided much joy, with limited results there too. Regional tournaments haven’t helped much either, with 2 participations in the CECAFA Cup in the early 1990’s bringing 6 losses and the COSAFA Cup only proving a little better, with only a single win in 11 tournaments and no progression. They do redeem themselves somewhat in the Indian Ocean Island Games, however, hosting and winning them in 2011 whilst collecting numerous other semi-final appearances (and silver in 1979).

Their women’s team has barely been active, never touching COSAFA, CAF or FIFA tournament qualification. They have, however, played in minor tournaments, with the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games and triangular tournaments in Singapore and Mauritius. In Mauritius they even shared the title with the hosts. However, they rarely play and still tend to struggle when they do. Men’s youth football has also been rather sporadic, with limited participation in the qualifiers and generally very recent. The U23s managed a second round qualifying appearance for 2004, but the same can’t be said for the U20s or U17s, though few qualifying attempts have been made. The U17s did manage to host the 2001 U17 championship, though lost all 3 matches fairly heavily, scoring only once. They’ve also taken part in the COSAFA youth cups, but never made it past the group stages. Women’s youth football has been even rarer, with no major qualification attempts, but a single U17 COSAFA Cup appearance, which was not repeated after 58 goals conceded in 3 matches.

Futsal has never been an outlet for the Seychelles, but beach soccer absolutely has been. They debuted by hosting the 2015 CAF Beach Soccer Championship, where a 2-1 loss was their closest match. They’ve since entered qualification for 2021 and 2022. 2021 brought their group stage appearance through Madagascar’s withdrawal, though group stage results were worse than in 2015. For 2022 Madagascar didn’t withdraw and Seychelles lost both legs. While not a sterling record, they have been granted World Cup hosting rights for 2025.

Drawn against Rwanda in a preliminary round for 2022 qualification, it was always going to be a difficult ask, with the Rwandans ranked rather far above them. 3 and 7 goal losses, however, proved to be a bit of a disaster and they’d have much preferred a performance which indicated some development. Still some ways to go to see change.