The Seychelles national football team

The Seychelles national football team represents Seychelles in international football and is controlled by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF). SFF has been a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1986, and a member of FIFA since 1986. The team's home stadium is the 10,000 capacity Stade Linite situated at Roche Caiman in the outskirts of Victoria, the capital of Seychelles.

History

Football was introduced to the Seychelles in the 1930s. Its first official competition, the Challenge Cup, was organized in 1936 then, in 1941, a championship between five teams was set up with matches of 60 minutes, played barefoot.

In 1969, the president of the Seychelles Football Federation wanted to set up a national team. Engaged on a voluntary basis, Adrian Fisher arrived on the island in September to reorganize Seychelles football. He equipped all the players with shoes, set up modern training techniques and extended the match time to 90 minutes. The newly formed national team play their first matches at a friendly tournament played in Kenya in April 1970. In Seychelles' first match played on a real football pitch, they drew 2-2 against Feisal F.C. then lost 1-2 to Mwengi at Mombasa Municipal Stadium. When Fisher left the Seychelles in 1973, the team had played six games against 4 clubs.

Seychelles play their first meeting against another selection, on March 13, 1974, against Reunion. In this friendly match, the "Pirates", the team's nickname, lost 0-2. Two years later, this time as an independent nation, the Seychelles faced Reunion again, losing 1-4. In September 1977, they played a FIFA-affiliated team, Mauritius, during a tournament played in Reunion, and lost 1-2. The team enjoyed its first victory the following year by winning at home 1-0 against Reunion.

In 1979, Seychelles played their first tournament, the 1979 Indian Ocean Games. They lost their first game 3-0 to Reunion, and won their second game 9-0 to Maldives. In the semi-final, they knocked out Maurit