Guinea national football team

The Guinea national football team is a professional national team of Guinea. Nicknamed as Syli nationale, meaning “National Elephant”, the team is controlled by the Federation Guineenne de Football. The team was never qualified for the World Cup finals and at the Africa Cup of Nations, they did reach the finals, but came second. They reached the quarter finals in 3 successive matches, in 2004, 2006 and in 2008.

The head coach of the team is Michel Dussuyer and the captain of the team is Kamil Zayatte. So far, the top scorer of the team has been Pascal Feindouna with 29 goals. The home stadium of the team is Stade du 28 Septembre.

The team of Guinea made their football debut on 2nd October 1960 at the West African Games held in Nigeria. They lost this match by 4-1 to Nigeria team. The next match played by Guinea team was a home friendly match held on 16th December 1962, which they lost by 3-2 against their first European opponent team, East Germany.

The following year, in 1963, the team entered their first qualification campaign for an Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. The game was a draw against Nigeria on 27th July and on 6th October, they won by 1-0 at home to win 3-2 on aggregate. Later, the team was disqualified for using Guinean officials in the second leg, with the Nigeria team reaching finals in their place.
In 1965, Guinea team entered qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, getting placed in Group A with Senegal and Mali team. On 28th February 1965, they lost by 2-0 in Senegal prior to which they defeated the Senegal team by 3-0 at home match held on 31st March. Senegal’s victory over Mali allowed the team to get qualified instead of Guinea team.

=== Major Highlights ===

The team was the champion team of Amilcar Cabral Cup five times, in 1981, 1982, 1987, 1988 and in 2005.