The Oman national football team () represents Oman in men's international football and is controlled by the Oman Football Association. Although the team was officially founded in 1978, the squad was formed some time before that and a proper football association was formed only in December 2005. History The mid 1990s under the OFA chairmanship of Sheikh Saif bin Hashil Al-Maskary saw Oman achieve higher results on the Asian stage. Former Omani captain, Hani Al-Dhabit was awarded the RSSSF 2001 World Top Scorer, with 22 goals; the most goals scored by a player who won the World Top Scorer award till date and also being the third Arab and only the first Omani to win the award. The senior team has never qualified for the World Cup but has qualified for the Asian Cup in the years 2004, 2007, 2015 and 2019. They also have reached the Arabian Gulf Cup final four times and have won it for the first time on their third attempt as hosts in 2009. They had to wait for the 2017 edition to win the tournament for the second time in their history. Gulf Cup performance Prior to the newer millennium, Oman generally struggled more in the Gulf Cup, usually finishing in 6th or 7th place even when the cup was held in Oman. It was in 1998 when the national team began to improve its performance and in the 2003 and 2004 Gulf Cups, new talents like Amad Al-Hosni, Ali Al-Habsi, Sultan Al-Touqi, Badr Al-Maimani and Khalifa Ayil may have made the team more successful. In the 2002 Gulf Cup which was held in Saudi Arabia, Oman had once again finished at 5th place but under the captaincy of Dhofar F.C.'s Hani Al-Dhabit, Oman had accomplished something which was never done before in the team's history in the Gulf Cup, defeating 9-time winners Kuwait. The match had ended 3–1 with captain Hani Al-Dhabit scoring a hat-trick. Hani also netted a goal against Bahrain and a consolation goal in a 2–1 loss against Qatar. At the end of the competition, Hani was the only Omani to score goals and was also awarded the "Top Goalscorer" of the competition with a total of 5 goals. In the 2004 Gulf Cup which was held in Doha, Oman reached the final for the first time in the team's history which was eventually lost to the hosts Qatar in