Mombasa Stars’ goalkeeper called up to the Somalia national football team

Mombasa Stars’ goalkeeper Aleeley Sheikh Saeed is one of the 24 players that Somali national football team coach Moroccan Rachid has called up to do duty for the Ocean Stars as they hope to kick start their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign with back to back games against Mozambique and Botswana.

Saeed was part of the Chapa Dimba Allstars team that toured Spain five years ago.

Saeed also highlights the wholesale changes Rachid has made in the goalkeeping department as along with him, Ismail Ilyas (Dekedaha) and Abdi Samad (Waxool) have also been called up to replace Mustaf Yusuf, Abdiraham Jama, and Ibrahim Ahmed.

While Jama and Ahmed have been dropped from the team, Mustaf Yusuf’s absence follows the announcement of his retirement from the national team in March 2024 after his howler gifted eSwatini a goal during their 2-2 draw in the second leg of the 2025 Afrcian Cup of Nations Preliminary Round encounter.

NEW SOMALIA NATIONAL FOOTBALL SQUAD 🇸🇴⚽️ pic.twitter.com/HvzdrljBOa

— SOMALI ATHLETE (@SomaliAthlete) May 21, 2024

There is also no place in the team this time round for former AFC Leopards and Sofapaka midfielder Ibrahim Ilyas Mao as the Kinondoni KMC player is not one of the players that Rachid has retained from the squad that did duty from the last international break during which the Ocean Stars suffered early elimination from the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers following a 5-2 aggregate loss to eSwatini.

The team is also strengthened with the inclusion of another player with Kenyan connection, attacking midfielder Handwalla Bwana. Bwana, who is a free agent, was born in Mombasa in June 1999 and spent six years of his childhood at the Kakuma Refugee Camp before his family settled in the US in 2010. Bwana is currently a free agent having spent the last nine years playing for various clubs in the US since joining the Seattle Sounders Academy in 2015.

HANDWALLA 🇸🇴⚽️ DOES HE START? MAXAAD KA SUGAYSAA? pic.twitter.com/j1cFnPduDd

— SOMALI ATHLETE (@SomaliAthlete) May 22, 2024

Another Kenyan-born player, defender Abdi Salim who plays for Orlando City has also been called-up and is one of the 10 players to retain their place from the previous squad. The others are: Issa Abdulkadir, Ahmed Abdullahi, Abel Gigle, Saadiq Feisal, Ismail Liban, Mukhtar Abdi, Sakariya Hassan, Ahmed Yusuf, and Isse Adam.

The full squad 

Goalkeepers: Aleeley Sheikh Saeed (Mombasa Stars, Kenya), Ismail Ilyas (Dekedaha, Somalia) and Abdi Samad (Waxool, Somalia)

Defenders: Abdi Salim (Orlando City, USA), Ahmed Abdullahi (Horseed, Somalia), Issa Abdulkadir (Elman, Somalia), Abel Gigle (Corregesse, Italy), Mohamud Ali (Atherton, England), Fuad Mohamed (EIF, Finland), Saadiq Feisal (Grorud), Ismail Shirwa (Werribee City)

Midfielders: Abdulsamed Abdullahi (FK Decic Tuzi, Montenegro), Abdullahi Osman (Perth Soccer, Australia), Mohamed Omar (San Antonio, USA), Ismail Liban (Antona Magic, Australia), Zakariya Nur (Cumberland United, Australia), Mukhtar Abdi (Spakenburg, Netherlands),

Forwards: Handwalla Bwana (Free agent), Sakariya Hassan (Hastag United, England), Mohamed Awad (Sliema Wanderers, Malta), Yusuf Ahmed (Avondale Heights, Australia), Ahmed Yusuf (Avondale Heights, Australia), Isse Adam (MCC, Somalia)

After suffering early elimination from the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Somalia will be hoping for redemption in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign which did not get off to a desired start in November last year as they lost 3-1 away to Algeria and 1-0 in their home match against Uganda during the first two matchdays of the qualifiers.

The two losses left them bottom of Group G but the group – which also comprises Botswana, Guinea, and Mozambique – remains open as it is only Algeria who maintains a 100% going into Matchday 3 of the qualifiers. The other four teams in the group - Botswana, Guinea, Mozambique, and Uganda – have three points each from the accumulation of one win and one loss.

Somalia can turn their campaign around with a win away to Mozambique in Matchday 3 on June 7, 2024, and victory in their Matchday 4 home match against Botswana three days later. Both matches will be played at Estádio do Zimpeto in Maputo as Somalia does not have a stadium which meets CAF’s and FIFA’s standards for hosting international football matches.

However, playing away from home is not a new thing to the Somali national football team. The Ocean Stars have not played a match in Somalia since October 19, 1986, when they drew 0-0 with Uganda in an AFCON 1988 qualifier match played at the Mogadishu Stadium.