Qualification history
Having gone close to reaching the second phase in 2010 FIFA World Cup™ qualifying with a narrow 3-2 aggregate loss to Yemen, Maldives will be aiming to fare marginally better this time around. However, their hopes of any breakthrough were dealt a heavy blow by Asia’s preliminary draw for Brazil 2014, which pits them against Iran, against whom they conceded 26 unanswered goals over two legs in qualifying for France 1998. Once again they crossed paths with Iran in qualifying for Brazil 2014. The Maldives made sure history didn’t repeat itself, as they limited to the Iranians to a solitary-goal second-leg win despite losing the opener 4-0, which ruled them out.
Best performance in a FIFA competition: None
Former stars: Mohamed Jameel, Ali Umar
