Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met on Sunday in Qatar for the first time, a picture from Turkey's presidency showed.

Erdogan and Sisi have been sparring since the military's 2013 ouster in Cairo of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, personally backed by Erdogan.

A Turkish official confirmed to AFP the handshake in Doha during the opening ceremony for the World Cup.

Turkey has moved to warm ties with some regional foes including Egypt since last year but Cairo has not shown the same level of enthusiasm for a rapprochement as Ankara has.

The picture, however, showed a sincere handshake between the two leaders.

The Egyptian presidency did not comment on the meeting.