Guinea made their footballing debut in an away friendly on 9 May 1962, losing 2–1 against Togo.[3] In 1963, Guinea entered its first qualification campaign for an Africa Cup of Nations, the 1963 tournament in Ghana. Drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Nigeria, Guinea drew the first leg 2–2 away on 27 July, and on 6 October won 1–0 at home to win 3–2 on aggregate. They were later disqualified for using Guinean officials in the second leg, and Nigeria went through to the finals in their place. In 1965, Guinea entered the qualifiers for the 1965 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia and was placed in Group A with Senegal and Mali. On 28 February, they lost 2–0 in Senegal before beating them 3–0 at home on 31 March, Senegal's win over Mali allowed them to qualify instead of Guinea.[4]
In 2001, FIFA expelled the country from the qualification process of the 2002 World Cup and 2002 African Cup of Nations due to government interference in football.[7] They returned to international action in September 2002 after a two-year ban from competition.[8] In the 2004 African Cup of Nations, Guinea reached the quarter-finals, scoring the first goal against Mali before ultimately losing 2–1, conceding the winning goal in the last minute of the match.[9] Guinea reached the quarter-final stage again in the 2006 tournament, taking the lead against Senegal before losing 3–2.[10] 2008 saw Guinea reach the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations for a third successive tournament, only to suffer a 5–0 defeat against Côte d'Ivoire.[11]
On 4 January 2016, CAF lifted a ban on Guinea playing their home international in Guinea after it was declared free of Ebola by the U.N. World Health Organization in December 2015.[14]
