The 2030 FIFA World Cup in Spain, Portugal & Morocco is only about 45 moons away (depending on your own set of lunar circumstances) and it promises to be a real doozy. World Cup history is a tale resplendent with stories of triumph against the odds, childhood dreams coming true and unsung heroes becoming legends. As well as dumb idiot losers, wanker fuck-ups and teams that are just total bullshit.
But how shall ye learn about these legends, losers and teams that are just total bullshit? Well look no further my wayward friend as I, together with the Almighty Wheel (There is only One Wheel, The Roundest One, and FAFO is its Prophet), profile all 211 FIFA member associations eligible for World Cup qualification. Today, I take a look at Oman, which is yet to qualify for a World Cup.
🇴🇲 OMAN
Is Mountain Dew not a sports drink?
Nickname: Al-Ahmar (The Reds)
FIFA Ranking: 81 (Oct 2026)
Qualified for World Cup Finals: Never
Best WC result: FIFA itself identifies the Brazil 2014 campaign as Oman’s closest World Cup attempt. They reached Asia’s final qualifying round and entered their last match against Jordan needing only a draw to finish third and reach the Asian playoff; Jordan beat them 1–0, finishing one point ahead.
FIFA World Cup 2026 result: Did not qualify: Oman got extraordinarily deep again. They finished fourth in the third round with 11 points, snatching the final playoff position from Palestine through a 97th-minute penalty in a 1–1 draw. AFC In the fourth round they drew 0–0 with Qatar and lost 2–1 to UAE, finishing bottom of the three-team group with one point and finally being eliminated.
WATCH: 🇴🇲 OMAN — WHEEL OF NATIONS – FAFO: World Cup 2030 Weekly Wheel of Nations – pt. XX – October 5th, 2026:
The fizzy pool of yellow known as Mountain Dew is consumed in such copious amounts by Omanis that it even gets referred to as “the alcohol of Oman”. But while this pee-coloured abomination brings happiness to all when enjoyed socially, its wretchedness as a hydration fluid for athletic performance is well documented. Yet this information seems to not have been communicated throughout the Omani national team, even though all it would really take is for the coaching squad or doctors or whoever to take one look across at the opposing dugout and note that Mountain Dew is not a normal thing for professional sports teams to smash. If only The Reds had been replenishing their fluids all these years with more established, less discredited sports drinks, and not the highly viscous bottle of sick known as ‘The Dew’, perhaps they wouldn’t keep failing to get over the final hurdle every four years in World Cup qualifying.
Last three qualifying campaigns
2026: Won their second-round group ahead of Kyrgyz Republic and Malaysia, finished fourth behind South Korea, Jordan and Iraq in the third round, then went out in the three-team fourth-round playoff against Qatar and UAE. NBC Sports
2022: Reached the final Asian round, famously opened it by beating Japan 1–0 away, and eventually finished fourth with 14 points — one behind Australia. JFA
2018: Finished second to Iran at 4–2–2 but their 14 points weren’t enough to qualify as one of the four best runners-up.
Live Workflow – Spotify Playlist:
One to watch: Oman’s improved ranking in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index
With a heavy-handed and torturey approach to prosecution, Oman was ranked among the safest nations in the world in 2020 in terms of impact of terrorism. Thanks to its comprehensive condemnation of idealogical extremism and a zero-tolerance approach to crime of any sort, (along with prosecution and sentencing powers being held by the Sultanate) Oman sat equal-dead last in the GTI rankings that measure Terrorism’s perniciousness affects on nation states.
However in 2020 cost them their strong position and they’ve now slipped to 43rd 🙁 . Keep fighting terrorists, or more accurately, don’t keep fighting terrorists, because Oman’s got Qatar, Kuwait, Singapore, Morocco, Croatia, Vietnam, Mauritius and Uruguay in its anti-terrorism sights (all jointly ranked 100th in the 2026 index – meaning no recorded terrorism in the five year window. You got this, Oman!
The highpoint: Snatching a playoff spot into the final round of qualifying for 2026 World Cup in the last minute from another FIFA Member Association
AND:
Falling One point shy of kind-of-shitty-kind-of-not-shitty Australia, World Cup 2022 qualifying
Oman’s World Cup 2022 qualifying was its most impressive to date, and the team fell just one point of short of taking third place in the group and a playoff spot against UAE. Sadly, one point shy of kind-of-crappy-but-kinda-not Australia, who ended up qualifying after a penalty win over Peru, is a great sign for its future.
A sporting experience you’ve gotta go to that’s uniquely local and awesome (and doable): Omani camel racing at Al Fulaij
I considered the much stranger Omani bull-butting tradition, where two enormous bulls lock horns until one retreats. It’s genuinely distinctive to the Batinah coast — but there are two problems: Oman prohibited using animals for such entertainment in 2020, yet events have continued unofficially, and a spectator was killed by a runaway bull in 2025. That’s not something I’m comfortable calling our recommended sporting experience. Gulf News
Instead: go to a proper Omani camel race.
And specifically, if timing works, His Majesty the Sultan’s Camel Racing Cup at Al Fulaij Racecourse in Barka. The 2026 edition ran over five days with the final featuring six races and traditional performances.
This isn’t a tourist demonstration. Oman has a full domestic camel-racing calendar: the 2026/27 season runs from September into March, with races in Barka, Adam, Thumrait and elsewhere. Times of Oman Camel racing is sufficiently culturally significant in Oman that UNESCO inscribed the practice, jointly with the UAE, as intangible cultural heritage. Intangible Cultural Heritage
One unique natural experience to see/visit/experience: Khareef in Dhofar
This beats Wadi Shab for me.
Go to Dhofar during the khareef, roughly June–September.
While much of Arabia is being absolutely roasted, moist monsoon winds hit southern Oman. Fog and drizzle cover the Dhofar Mountains and the normally dry slopes turn green, waterfalls flow and temperatures around Salalah drop dramatically. Oman’s meteorological service describes the transformation as a distinctive consequence of the Indian monsoon. Directorate General of Meteorology
And this isn’t something tourists invented. It’s a genuine regional pilgrimage: Salalah Airport handled more than 686,000 arriving and departing passengers from June through August 2026 during khareef. Civil Aviation Authority Oman
Throw in the wild Boswellia sacra frankincense trees around Wadi Dawkah — part of UNESCO’s Land of Frankincense — and southern Oman becomes much stranger than the stereotypical Arabian landscape.
OR Wadi Shab… HECK YEEESSSSSSSS:
One town/city/neighbourhood the locals love: Nizwa
es, tourists know it. But it hasn’t become a museum town pretending to be Omani.
It’s the old interior capital, historically an important religious, commercial and craft centre, surrounded by date plantations and the Hajar Mountains. The killer is Friday morning at Nizwa Souq, when farmers and traders still arrive from surrounding communities for the livestock auction. Oman Observer
Go early. Sellers parade goats, sheep and cattle around the circular market while buyers shout bids. Then you’ve got dates, pottery, spices, silver, khanjars and Nizwa Fort surrounding it.
That’s considerably more revealing of Oman than another modern Gulf-city experience.
Food you’ve gotta have: shuwa
Shuwa is meat — usually lamb or goat — heavily marinated with spices and dried lime, wrapped in leaves and palm-frond sacks and lowered into a communal underground tanoor, where it cooks slowly for roughly 12–24 hours or longer. Times of Oman
And the really important bit is that it’s occasion food. Particularly Eid. Food writer Dina Macki says many northern Omanis would identify shuwa as the national dish, and describes whole villages gathering, singing and dancing as their individual sacks go into the communal pit. National Geographic
So don’t just find restaurant shuwa.
Get invited to someone’s Eid.
Admittedly, this makes our tourism recommendation slightly more complicated.
A drink you’ve gotta smash: Omani kahwa (with dates)
Kahwa isn’t merely coffee from Oman. It’s practically a social protocol.
Omani coffee is generally lightly roasted and flavoured with cardamom, sometimes saffron, cloves or rosewater, poured from a dallah into tiny handleless cups and accompanied by dates or Omani halwa. Oman Observer
The interesting part is drinking it properly. Your host repeatedly gives you small pours; when you’ve had enough, gently shake the cup rather than simply handing it back. Oman Observer
Omani educational material describes the kahwa-and-dates ritual as essentially universal hospitality from homes to offices. Sultan Qaboos Institute
Karak may be what plenty of people grab day-to-day, but kahwa tells you far more about Oman.
The Wedding Banger – Oman’s unofficial anthem:
Al Zadjali is a Muscat-born Omani singer whose Ayyar album became his breakthrough across the wider Gulf and Arab world; Omani reporting has described him as the country’s leading popular singer. الوطن The title track remains his biggest streaming song — Anghami currently shows 4.6 million plays and more than 94,000 likes. Anghami
There is at least anecdotal Omani evidence of Al Zadjali being booked to perform throughout weddings, but that’s not enough for me to label Ayyar specifically the Omani wedding song. منتديات عروس
There is another fascinating musical rabbit hole here: in Dhofar, Al-Bar’ah is traditional sung poetry, drumming and dancing performed at weddings, with two men dancing with khanjars. UNESCO recognises it as intangible heritage. Intangible Cultural Heritage
So:
Recorded song: “Ayyar.”
Actual wedding tradition worth understanding: Al-Bar’ah.
3 Legends
Sport — Ali Al-Habsi: Easy winner. 137 Oman caps, first Omani footballer to establish himself in Europe, Premier League goalkeeper and part of Wigan’s astonishing 2013 FA Cup-winning side. Oman itself describes him as its most successful international footballer. FM Government
Music — Salim Rashid Suri: The “Singing Sailor.” Born in Sur around 1910, he travelled aboard trading ships between Oman, India, East Africa and the Gulf, learned and reshaped ṣawt music, recorded in India, lived in Bahrain and eventually became regarded as an Omani national musical icon. His entire life basically tells the story of Oman as an Indian Ocean crossroads. Qatar Digital Library
Culture — Jokha Alharthi: Omani novelist and academic whose Celestial Bodies became the first Arabic-language novel to win the International Booker Prize in 2019. The novel uses one Omani family to explore enormous changes in the country, including marriage, slavery, wealth, gender and modernisation. The Booker Prizes
🫠 FAFO Favourites
Sport — Fatma Al Nabhani: This might actually be the first person I’d approach. She was the first professional women’s tennis player to emerge from the Gulf, spent years competing internationally and retired before moving towards coaching; in 2026 she participated in the WTA’s Coach Inclusion Programme. The National Her story gives you a much broader question than tennis: “What is it like trying to become a professional athlete when nobody from your part of the world has shown you the route?”
Music — Salah Al Zadjali: He’s not merely useful because we picked Ayyar. He’s a Muscat-born singer, composer and arranger who has consciously incorporated elements of Omani musical heritage into contemporary Khaleeji pop. الوطن Five minutes: “What does Omani music sound like that the rest of the Arab world doesn’t have?”
Culture — Dina Macki: This is a very strong FAFO target. British-born, Omani-Zanzibari chef, writer and presenter whose Bahari became the first globally published Omani cookbook. Her family background spans Oman, Zanzibar, Iran, Bahrain and Iraq, and her work explains why Omani food contains Indian, Persian, East African and Arabian influences. National Geographic
And she gives you an absolutely perfect Wheel question:
“If I come to Oman and eat one thing that actually explains the country, what should I eat?”
Learn the lingo & speak like a local!
