This includes Somali-U17’s victory at the Cecafa Championship staged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was the first-ever win by a Somali national team at a tournament staged outside the country.

He has promised to improve the standards of football by growing the sport at the grassroots.

“Football is unity, football is love, football is the development and we want to pacify the country and unite the Somali people through football,” he told Nation Sport.

“We are now eyeing participation at the U20 tournament in Algeria. The recent historic achievements we made in Ethiopia have given us encouragement to scale greater heights Inshallah.”

Mr. Ali Shiine that he will lobby the government, Confederation of African Football (Caf) and Fifa to invest in sports infrastructure in the country.

Somalia is known to have diverse football talents including players who can easily dribble and pass the ball around the pitch.

Football development has to some extent however been curtailed by political and security concerns that have bogged the country for the past decade.