The Qatar national football team () nicknamed The Maroons, represents Qatar in international football, and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association and AFC. They play their home games at Khalifa International Stadium and Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. The latter is considered the home stadium. Qatar is a member of both the FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The team won the Arabian Gulf Cup in 1992, 2004 and 2014. They have appeared in ten Asian Cup tournaments and won it once in 2019, beating Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea in the process, conceding just one goal. Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup and therefore qualified automatically for what was their first appearance in the finals. It was the first time an Arab nation hosted the competition. On 26 November 2022, Qatar were the first team to be eliminated from the World Cup; subsequently, they became the worst performing host nation in the history of the FIFA World Cup, not winning a single game. Qatar has footballing rivalries with Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. History Pre-1970 Football was brought to Qatar during a time which coincided with initial discovery of oil reserves in Dukhan in 1940. By 1948, expatriate oil workers played the first official football match in Qatar. The Qatar Football Association was formed in 1960, and the QFA joined FIFA in 1963. Simultaneously during this period, the Bahrain Football Association were drawing up plans for the establishment of a regional football competition within the GCC and Qatari officials were involved with the corroboration of this proposal. The plans came to fruition and in March 1970 the Arabian Gulf Cup was inaugurated. 1970–1980 The Qatar national team played its first official match on 27 March 1970 against hosts Bahrain, losing 1–2 as Mubarak Faraj scored the sole goal for Qatar. The newly formed Qatar national team posted underwhelming results in the first Gulf Cup tournament, coming in last place with a single point, with the highlight of their tournament being a 1–1 draw with the Saudis in their final match. In the next edition of the Gulf Cup in 1972, Qatar was again relegated to last place after suffering 3 straight defeats. The next tournament in 1974 proved to be somewhat of a break-through for the Qataris as they achieved their first triumph in international football with a 4–0 victory over Oman. The Qataris