History
Syria participated in the 1950 and 1958 World Cup qualifiers,one of the first teams in the region to do so. Between 1958 and 1961, the team combined with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic national football team, although the team's records are attributed only to Egypt by FIFA. In the 1966 World Cup qualifiers they were one of two teams from the Asian zone (the other being Israel) to be allocated to the European qualifying zone and were originally placed with Spain and the Republic of Ireland. However, they joined the Asian and African boycott of the 1966 qualifiers, due to the decision of FIFA to allocate just one place between Asia and Africa.
Syria's best showing was in the 1986 qualifiers when they reached the final qualifying round only to lose to Iraq.
Syria have competed in five Asian Cups, the last being 2011, but on each occasion were eliminated before reaching the quarterfinals. They have been disqualified from the 2014 World Cup due to the use of an ineligible player.
Read more about this topic: Syria National Football Team
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—Henry James (1843–1916)