Mauritania National Team: Football Squad, Fixtures and African Kick-Off Times

The Mauritania national team is the men's football side of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, run by the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. They reached their first Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 and went as far as the round of 16 in 2023. If you searched for the Mauritania soccer team, it is the same side, and everything here applies to a reader in Johannesburg as much as to one in Lagos.

Below, you will find who they are, how their qualifying story has gone, how to read the ranking, the records with their years, and when kick-off falls in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT. In my opinion, Mauritania show how far an African football nation can climb when the work is done patiently, a bit like the small buka on a Surulere street that one day has a queue outside it at lunchtime. The fixtures, results and squad sit in the data modules above, and they update after every match.

Who Are Mauritania?

Mauritania are a West African football nation who belong to both CAF and the West African football union, WAFU. The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania runs the men's team.

The team play home matches at the Stade Olympique de Nouakchott.

Have Mauritania Ever Qualified for the World Cup?

Mauritania exited qualifying for the 2002 World Cup against Tunisia and the 2006 tournament against Zimbabwe. Their early campaigns were short ones: in qualifying for the 2002 tournament they went out to Tunisia 5-1 on aggregate, against a side that was a regular at the finals in that era. The first World Cup qualifying win came in November 2003, a 2-1 home victory in the 2006 cycle, before Zimbabwe took the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

Consistency across a long group matters, because World Cup qualifying in Africa rewards the side that keeps collecting points away from home over many months. Mauritania's appearances at AFCON in 2019 and 2023 provide tournament experience to consider alongside their qualifying results. Fans in Accra or Lagos can use the results module to assess Mauritania's World Cup campaigns.

How Far Have Mauritania Gone at the Africa Cup of Nations?

Mauritania have played at the Africa Cup of Nations finals, with 2019 their first tournament and the round of 16 in 2023 their result in that tournament. The door opened on 18 November 2018, when a 2-1 win over Botswana sealed qualification, and in my opinion that is the defining match in the team's story, because it ended more than half a century of waiting that began with the 1963 debut. Corentin Martins was the coach who took them there.

The 2023 run went a step further, out of the group and into the knockout rounds for the first time. Before all that came an unusual chapter in 2014, when CAF disqualified Equatorial Guinea on 3 July for fielding an ineligible player and Mauritania were handed a route back into qualifying for the 2015 edition. How Mauritania fare in later cycles is recorded in the results module, so check it there, because AFCON qualifying reshuffles the groups every cycle.

Who Coaches Mauritania, and How Do They Play?

The current head coach is named in the squad module, which updates when the federation makes an appointment, and the coach's record belongs there too. The modern shape of the team was set in the Corentin Martins era, from 2014 to 2021, when Mauritania turned a squad spread across Europe, North Africa and the domestic league into a side able to reach a tournament. Amir Abdou followed him and was in charge for the 2023 run. In my opinion, the thing to watch for is organisation first: a compact team that makes opponents work hard for every chance, which is how smaller football nations usually trouble the bigger names.

Who Is in the Mauritania Squad?

The Mauritania squad is drawn mostly from clubs in Europe and North Africa, with some players from the domestic league, Ligue 1 Mauritanie, and the full list with clubs sits in the squad module. Players move between leagues often, so the club beside each name is the detail worth checking before a match, especially after a transfer window. A player called up from a Nouakchott club for one camp could be playing abroad by the next.

For readers in the five nations, the squad module is the quickest way to see where Mauritania's threat comes from. If a forward is playing regularly in a strong league, that tells you more about the next qualifier than any old scoreline does. For Nigerian readers, the question I keep coming back to is what a meeting means for the Super Eagles players involved, and against a side this organised it usually asks for patience from the forwards rather than fireworks.

Mauritania Fixtures and Results: What Time Is Kick-Off Where You Live?

Mauritania's latest results and their fixtures, with competition labels, sit in the data modules above, and they update after every match. Nouakchott uses GMT: a Mauritania home fixture listed for 20:00 GMT would reach Lagos at 21:00 WAT, Johannesburg at 22:00 SAST, and Nairobi and Kampala at 23:00 EAT; Accra would share the 20:00 GMT start. Use that Mauritania example to understand the time difference, then read the fixture's listed kick-off for the actual schedule.

For Mauritania results, start with the competition label to distinguish a qualifier from a friendly or a regional tournament. Then check whether Mauritania played at home or away. Supporters following a Nouakchott fixture from Kampala should use EAT, while those watching from Accra can read the GMT listing directly.

What Is Mauritania's FIFA Ranking, and Why Has It Moved?

Mauritania reached 81st in the FIFA ranking in July 2017 and they were ranked 206th from November 2012 to January 2013, while the current figure sits in the ranking module. The gap between those two marks closed in less than five years. In my opinion, the climb came from playing and winning more competitive matches, because the ranking rewards results in qualifiers more generously than results in friendlies, and the Martins years gave Mauritania a steady run of meaningful fixtures.

So, why does the ranking matter now? It decides the pots for AFCON qualifying draws, which shapes whether Mauritania land in a group with the Super Eagles, the Black Stars or Bafana Bafana. A higher ranking means a kinder draw, and a kinder draw means a better chance of reaching the finals. When you check the module, compare Mauritania with the other sides in their group rather than reading the number on its own.

How Did Mauritania Get Here? A Short History

Mauritania played their first international on 11 April 1963, losing 6-0 to Congo-Kinshasa in Dakar. The first goal and the first draw arrived together in 1967, a 1-1 result away in Tanzania, and the first competitive win came on 12 October 1980, when they beat Mali 2-1 in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. For decades after that, the team's matches were mostly qualifiers that ended at the early stages, and the long wait shaped how much the later breakthroughs meant at home.

The modern era starts in 2014. CAF's disqualification of Equatorial Guinea gave Mauritania a way back into the 2015 qualifiers, Corentin Martins took charge the same year, and Mauritania reached 81st in the FIFA ranking in July 2017. The Botswana win in November 2018 sent them to the 2019 finals, and the 2023 tournament brought the first knockout football. The timeline below puts those moments in order for a quick read.

What Are Mauritania's Records, and What Else Have They Played?

Mauritania beat Somalia 8-2 in 2006, in Beirut on 27 December. Among the heaviest defeats in their history are the 6-0 debut against Congo-Kinshasa in 1963 and a 4-0 loss to Guinea on 20 May 1972, and the records module carries the full list as it stands. Appearance and goal records for individual players also sit in that module, because they change with every international window.

Away from AFCON, Mauritania played in the Arab Cup in 1985 and 2021, exiting the group stage at both tournaments. They finished as runners-up in the 1995 Amílcar Cabral Cup, the West African competition, after a 0-0 final that Sierra Leone won on penalties; as hosts in 1980 they finished fourth. Mauritania also enter CHAN, the African championship for players based in their home leagues, which gives Ligue 1 Mauritanie players a stage of their own.

Why Do Mauritania Matter in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda?

Mauritania matter most directly to Nigeria and Ghana, because all three sit in the WAFU zone and share West African qualifying territory. That means the Super Eagles and the Black Stars are more likely to meet Mauritania in regional and AFCON qualifiers than the East and Southern African nations are. In South Africa, interest follows the AFCON draws and the ranking comparisons, since Bafana Bafana could find Mauritania in the same pot or the same group in any cycle.

For Kenya and Uganda, Mauritania are a useful measuring stick: a nation that went from a first AFCON in 2019 to the round of 16 in 2023, which Harambee Stars and Cranes supporters can set against their own campaigns. As for watching, AFCON qualifiers are shown on pay television and streaming sports services across all five countries, but rights change each cycle, so check the broadcaster beside the fixture before match day. Most fans here follow Mauritania through social media highlights and match day live blogs.

Is It the Mauritania Football Team or the Mauritania National Team?

The Mauritania football team and the Mauritania national team describe the same side. Readers in Lagos, Accra and South Africa can use either name when looking for Mauritania's squad or AFCON fixtures. For the other sides on the continent and beyond, our national teams hub lists them all.