Somalia might be a war-torn country and suffering from a crumbling infrastructure that is the legacy of two decades of civil strife, but to their credit the country keep entering the FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers.

The problem is that they are unable to play at home. The capital Mogasidhu has not seen an international match since 1986. It has meant that for the last three FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns Somalia has played without its home advantage.

In the preliminary round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers they played just a single game against Djibouti and were beaten by a late goal.

In the African preliminary qualifying round matches for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, they were drawn against Ghana and lost 7-0 on aggregate. The matches were played in Accra and Kumasi.

In the qualifying campaign for Korea/Japan 2002, Cameroon ousted the Somalis when they won both legs (played in Cameroon) 3-0.

Somalia's first participation in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers time was for the 1982 edition, when Somalia went out on the away goals rule after drawing two matches against Niger. The second leg was played in Mogadishu on 27 July, 1980 and ended 1-1. It is the only time a FIFA World Cup qualifier has been played in the country on the horn of Africa.