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Faroe Islands National Football Team

Head coach: Jógvan Martin Olsen
Captain: Óli Johannesen
Top scorer: Todi Jónsson
FIFA ranking: 186

The Faroe Islands national football team is the national football team of Faroe Islands and is controlled by the Faroe Islands Football Association. It is one of the weakest members of UEFA and has never advanced to the finals of any major international competition.

The Faroe Islands had a very poor infrastructure in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The communication with the surrounding world was also very poor. Still football found its way to the islands at a very early stage. Poul Effersøe from the village of Tvøroyri introduced football to his fellow villagers as early as 1889. He had learned to play football in a school in the town of Sorø in Denmark. And hence was the "Tvøroyar Bóltfelag" (TB Tvøroyri) - The Football Club of Tvøroyri, TB founded on 13 May 1892.

Twelve years later, in 1904, "Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag" (KÍ Klaksvík) - The Sports club of Klaksvík, KÍ and "Havnar Bóltfelag" (HB Tórshavn) - The Football club of Tórshavn, HB were founded. KÍ of Klaksvík was founded some two months before HB of Tórshavn was founded. Already in 1905 followed MB Miðvágur, SÍ Sørvágur and VB Vágur, 1906 SÍF Sandavágur, 1913 EB Eiði, 1923 Royn Hvalba, 1926 GÍ Gøta, 1928 LÍF Leirvík, 1936 B36 Tórshavn, 1940 SÍ Sumba, 1946 ÍF Fuglafjørður, 1957 NSÍ Runavík, 1965 Skála ÍF, 1962/68 B68 Toftir, 1968 NÍF Nólsoy, 1970/71 B71 Sandur, 1973 AB Argir, 1975 Fram Tórshavn, 2004 FS Vágar and finally 2006 Undri FF as the youngest football club of the Faroes.

There was no organized league-championship in football in the Faroe Islands before 1942. Prior to 1942, the Faroese clubs played friendly games and some cup games, and some cup-tournaments were held. It was far and long between the matches in the beginning of the twentieth century.

The Faroe Islands gained membership in FIFA and the European body UEFA in 1988. Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands are the only non-sovereign countries who are allowed to be members in UEFA due to historical rights.

Although the national team has been in existence since 1930, neither FIFA nor the Faroes FA considers matches before 1988 as official. Faroe Islands pulled one of the biggest upsets in footballing history, when they beat Austria 1-0 in their first ever competitive international on 12 September 1990. The game, a Euro 92 qualifier, was played in Landskrona, Sweden because there were no grass fields on the Islands. (Their only other point of the campaign was from a draw against Northern Ireland.) During both the Euro 2000 qualifiers and Euro 2004 qualifiers, they also held Scotland to a draw at home (they also drew with Lithuania and Bosnia in 2000, while the draw against the Scots was their only point of the 2004 campaign). However they were beaten 6-0 by Scotland in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. As of 2004, their only other wins in the qualification rounds for the European Championship were in the qualifying for the 1996 tournament, both against fellow minnows San Marino.

On June 2, 2007, in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Italy, the Faroes surprisingly took the sluggish world champions to the limit after netting a 77th-minute goal - only their second score overall in qualifying - in a 2-1 loss. Despite the result, the match nonetheless raised eyebrows.

The team also participates in the FIFA World Cup qualifying since 1992 and the qualification rounds for the 1994 finals, which they finished without scoring any points and having 1-38 goal difference from 10 matches. In the following World Cup qualifying, for the 1998 finals, they improved their record with two victories against Malta, beating them 2-1 in both matches. Their most successful World Cup qualifying so far was the one for the 2002 finals, where they held Slovenia to a 2-2 draw at home and beat Luxembourg twice, 2-0 on road and 1-0 at home. The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying was, however, not really successful for them and they only scored one point from a 2-2 away draw against Cyprus.

Faroe Islands Team
No.	NAME	POS	Height	Weight	Age
1	Jakup Mikkelsen	G	6-0	181	36
16	Meinhardt Joensen	G	-	-	-
2	Pauli Hansen	D	-	-	-
3	Marni Djurhuus	D	-	-	-
4	Atli Danielsen	D	-	-	-
13	Oli Johannesen	D	6-2	187	35
17	Mortan Horg	D	-	-	-
18	Rasmus Nolsoe	D	-	-	-
-	Bergur Midjord	M	-	-	-
6	Rogvi Jacobsen	M	-	-	28
7	Frodi Benjaminsen	M	-	-	29
8	Mikkjal Thomassen	M	-	-	-
9	Jakup a Borg	M	5-11	159	27
12	Samal Joensen	M	-	-	-
19	Suni Olsen	M	-	-	26
5	Jon Roi Jacobsen	S	6-1	161	24
10	Christian Hogni Jacobsen	S	5-11	163	27
11	Andrew av Flotum	S	-	-	28
12	Hjalgrim Elttor	S	-	-	24
14	Christian Lamhauge Holst	S	-	-	-
15	Simun Samuelsen	S	-	-	-

Group B
	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	GD	P
France	7	6	0	1	15	2	13	18
Italy	7	5	1	1	13	6	7	16
Scotland	7	5	0	2	13	6	7	15
Ukraine	6	4	0	2	8	6	2	12
Lithuania	7	2	1	4	4	7	-3	7
Georgia	8	2	0	6	13	14	-1	6
Faroe Islands	8	0	0	8	2	27	-25	0