Burkina Faso received an unexpected free pass into the group stage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification process, when their opening round contestant, the Central African Republic, withdrew from the competition.

This gave the West Africans, who were at that stage ranked 14th on the continent, the certainty that their name would be in the hat when the Preliminary Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany was made.

They got off to a flying start, beating Ghana 1-0 in their opening match and laying down a marker for their Group 2 adversaries South Africa, Cape Verde Islands, Congo DR and Uganda.

The victory train began to come off the rails with two defeats to Cape Verde, and with a record of two wins and three losses, Burkina Faso were up against it at the half-way stage.

Frenchman Bernard Simondi took over the coaching reins from Ivica Todorov and made the team harder to beat at home, even recording wins over South Africa and Congo DR, but in the end it was not quite enough, and the likes of Abdoulaye Cisse, Moumouni Dagano, and Wilfred Sanou went no further in the competition.

Although football was already practiced at the turn of the century in the British colony of Gold Coast (now Ghana), this sport did not appear until the mid-1930s in the area of today's Burkina Faso.

Only after the Second World War and the restoration of Upper Volta as a colony in 1947 clubs were founded in the capital, which had their origins in various cultural, ethnic, religious groups or other organizations of society.

For the first time, official games took place on a sports field surrounded by seccos (a kind of straw walls) on the site of today's cinema Ciné Sanyon.

Under its successor, Adrien Tapsoba, the association adopted new statutes and became a member of FIFA and CAF, but after conflicts over the creation of new regional leagues, the federation was disbanded politically in 1965 and an interim leadership under Naon Charles Somé was instituted until the overthrow of the President Maurice Yaméogo was in office a year later.

This turbulent phase in the history of the country culminated in 1983 in the revolution of Thomas Sankara, whose vision of a new society did not want to exclude football and its structures.

Under Sankara, the name of the country was changed in Burkina Faso, union presidents at the time of the revolution were Nurukyor Claude Somda and Pierre Guigma.

Also, his successor Honoré Traoré declared his resignation in 2002, as well Seydou Diakité in July 2007, who wanted to allow the association a fresh start, after the national selection in qualifying for Africa Cup 2008 had disappointed.

On April 20, 2010, the association announced that because of high debts, which were estimated by local media at 400 million CFA francs (about 610,000 euros), the accounts were blocked and the premises were confiscated.

[9] The first international match of the Upper Voltaic selection was played on April 13, 1960 in the Jeux de la Communauté in Madagascar and ended with a 5-4 victory against Gabon.

During the engagement of the German Otto Pfister Obervolta was able to participate as a replacement for the Ivory Coast in 1978 for the first time at an African Cup and draw attention despite three defeats in the preliminary round internationally.

Only with the revolution of the Thomas Sankara 1983 began a massive promotion of the football sport, which serve the public health and which should help the country abroad to reputation.

After Sankara's fall, the national team - trained in the meantime by the German Heinz-Peter Überjahn - the fruits of this continued even under the current since 1987 President Blaise Compaoré promotion yet.

The following players were in the squad for the 2017 FIFA World Cup against Botswana on 5 September 2015: Germain Sanou, Abdoulaye Soulama, Mohamed Koffi, Bakary Koné, Steeve Yago, Paul Koulibaly, Narcisse Bambara, Jonathan Zongo, Préjuce Nakoulma and Charles Kaboré.

Thus, Étoile Filante has its roots in the northeast of the city (Dapoya, Paspanga, Koulouba), ASFA-Yennenga in the southwest (Bilbalogho, Gounghin, Cissin) and US Ouagadougou comes from Larle.

[20] Racing Club Bobo-Dioulasso's Cup quarter-final match against RC Kadiogo Ouagadougou on July 18, 2007, revealed the age-related issues of Burkinabe players.

Violent incidents occurred at the end of the 2006/07 season, when US Yatenga Ouahigouya's play against US Ouagadougou supporters of the home team provoked a disruption of the game by throwing objects.

The first club affected by this new arrangement was Santos FC in tenth place in the 2006/07 season, the following year AS-SONABEL Ouagadougou fell victim to the scheme.

Unclear playing rights of players of the Deuxième Division and thus ratings of individual games led to controversy, which were resolved by a compromise; All six participants in the promotion round automatically climbed into the first league.

In the same year, Master Silures Bobo-Dioulasso made it to the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Champions, defeated there the Guinean representative Hafia FC (Conakry).

The greatest success of a youth selection Burkina Faso succeeded under coach Rui Vieira with the title at the U-17 Africa Cup 2011 in Rwanda.

Under its successor, Adrien Tapsoba, the association adopted new statutes and became a member of FIFA and CAF, but after conflicts over the creation of new regional leagues, the federation was disbanded politically in 1965 and an interim leadership under Naon Charles Somé was instituted until the overthrow of the President Maurice Yaméogo was in office a year later.

This turbulent phase in the history of the country culminated in 1983 in the revolution of Thomas Sankara, whose vision of a new society did not want to exclude football and its structures.

Also, his successor Honoré Traoré declared his resignation in 2002, as well Seydou Diakité in July 2007,[29] who wanted to allow the association a fresh start, after the national selection in qualifying for Africa Cup 2008 had disappointed.

[8] On April 20, 2010, the association announced that because of high debts, which were estimated by local media at 400 million CFA francs (about 610,000 euros), the accounts were blocked and the premises were confiscated.

[34] As part of FIFA's Goal Program, five new projects (2001, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013) included the construction of a new association building, a training center for the various national teams and a seat for the regional leagues.