Although being part of the Middle East, which is often known for its success in Asian football, Yemen is not considered as a very successful team compared to their neighbors. Despite having youth teams participate in big tournaments, notably their under-17 team who played in one FIFA U-17 World Cup, Yemen has remained under the shadow of other Arab teams, often failing to qualify for major tournaments. Since the Yemeni Civil War erupted in 2015, Yemen has been unable to play at their home ground. Against all odds, Yemen managed history and become the last Arab team in the Middle East to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup.^[1] They made their tournament debut in 2019.

Asian Cup performance

AFC Asian Cup record										Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1984	Did not qualify									4	0	0	4	2	18
1988										5	1	3	1	5	5
1992										Did not enter
1996										4	1	0	3	2	8
2000										4	2	0	2	14	5
2004										6	2	1	3	15	15
2007										6	2	0	4	5	13
2011										6	2	1	3	7	9
2015										6	0	0	6	3	18
2019	Group stage	23rd	3	0	0	3	0	10		18	6	5	7	16	23
2023	Did not qualify									11	1	3	7	6	25
2027	To be determined									4	2	1	1	6	3
Total	Group stage	1/11	3	0	0	3	0	10		69	18	12	39	75	131

2019 Asian Cup

Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iran	3	2	1	0	7	0	+7	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7
3	Vietnam	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	0	10	−10	0

7 January 2019 (2019-01-07)

20:00

Iran	5–0	Yemen
Taremi 12', 25' Dejagah 23' Azmoun 53' Ghoddos 78'	Report

Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Attendance: 5,301

Referee: Ryuji Sato (Japan)

12 January 2019 (2019-01-12)

17:30

Yemen	0–3	Iraq
	Report	M. Ali 11' Resan 19' Abbas 90+1'

Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah

Attendance: 9,757

Referee: Fu Ming (China PR)

16 January 2019 (2019-01-16)

20:00

Vietnam	2–0	Yemen
Nguyễn Quang Hải 38' Quế Ngọc Hải 64' (pen.)	Report

Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain

Attendance: 8,237

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)