Since 1993, Slovakia has qualified for four major international tournaments: the2010 FIFA World Cup,UEFA Euro 2016,UEFA Euro 2020, andUEFA Euro 2024. Slovakia qualified for the former tournament after winning theirqualifying group, where they progressed beyond the group stage after a 3–2 victory againstItaly, before bowing out of the tournament following a 2–1 defeat in the knockout stage against the eventual runners-upNetherlands. It was the first time the newly-independent national team had ever played in a major football competition, having played in everyFIFA World Cup qualifying campaign since1998 and everyUEFA European Championship qualifying campaign since1996. Slovakia came close to secure a berth at the2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany after finishing second in their group ahead ofRussia and behindPortugal, before drawing withSpain in their qualification play-off, in which the Slovaks lost by a wide margin on aggregate (1–5, 1–1).
The first official match of the firstSlovak Republic was played inBratislava againstGermany on 27 August 1939, and ended in a 2–0 victory for Slovakia. The Slovaks played numerous friendly matches during the Second World War, all againstAxis-aligned nations.[10]
After the Second World War, the national football team was subsumed into the team ofCzechoslovakia, and for over 50 years Slovakia played no matches as an independent country. During this period, they contributed several key players to the Czechoslovak team, including the majority of the team that won theUEFA Euro 1976 (eight of the eleven players who defeated West Germany in the final were Slovak).[11]
Slovakia's first official international after regaining independence was a 1–0 victory inDubai over theUnited Arab Emirates on 2 February 1994. Their first home match was a 4–1 victory againstCroatia in Bratislava on 20 April 1994. Slovakia suffered their biggest defeat since independence (6–0) on 22 June 1995 inMendoza againstArgentina. Their biggest victories (7–0) have come againstLiechtenstein in 2004 as well asSan Marino (twice) in 2007 and 2009.
Slovakia attempted qualifying for a major championship as an independent team for the first time inEuro 1996 qualifying, but finished in third place in their qualifying group, behindRomania andFrance, recording wins againstPoland,Israel andAzerbaijan, twice. In the1998 World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia finished fourth in their six-team group with five wins, one draw, and four defeats. Their first four games in this were all wins, one of them against their Czech neighbors, helping the team reach their highest FIFA World Ranking to date, 17th.
Slovakia participated in theFIFA World Cup for the first time as an independent nation after finishing in first inGroup 3 of 2010 World Cup qualification ahead ofSlovenia,Czech Republic,Northern Ireland, and Poland. On 14 October 2009, they clinched qualification with a 1–0 away victory against Poland.[12][13][14][15] On 24 June 2010, at the tournament proper, Slovakia finished second in thegroup stage after defeatingreigning championsItaly in a game whichESPN dubbed "epic": the game saw three goals being scored after the 80th minute, two by Italy and one by Slovakia, as well as a disallowed goal by Italy flagged offside by "the tightest of decisions". The result led Slovakia to theknockout stage and eliminated Italy, who finished last in the group.[16] The result of this match meant that for the first time in World Cup history, both finalists from theprevious tournament had been eliminated in the first round, champion Italy and runner-up France.[17][18][19][20]
In the round of 16, Slovakia played theNetherlands in the round of 16, falling behind 2–0 only to score a late goal from the penalty spot by strikerRóbert Vittek, the last kick of the game in a 2–1 defeat.[21] Despite elimination, Vittek's goal returned to the top of the goalscoring charts joint top withDavid Villa until Villa himself later scored againstPortugal inSpain's 1–0 victory in the same stage of the tournament.
In theUEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, Slovakia was drawn against Russia, theRepublic of Ireland,Armenia,Macedonia andAndorra. The campaign in South Africa boosted team performance ahead of the qualifiers, which started in September with two 1–0 wins against Macedonia atŠtadión Pasienky and Russia away. However, in October, they were easily beaten in Armenia (3–1) and drew 1–1 against the Republic of Ireland at home. In February 2011, the team was stunned in a 2–1 friendly defeat againstLuxembourg and could only beat group minnows Andorra by one goal. Despite creating better chances, Slovakia earned a goalless draw with Ireland away. Four days later, after creating chances in a goalless first half, Slovakia conceded four goals to Armenia in a match that eliminated the team. In the final two group matches, Slovakia was beaten at home by Russia (1–0) and drew 1–1 in Macedonia, finishing in a mediocre fourth-place position and scoring only seven goals in the entire process. For the first time since theEuro 1996 qualifying process, Slovakia finished a qualifying campaign with a negative goal differential. As a result of this outcome, coachVladimír Weiss left his job after four full years, being replaced by his assistantsMichal Hipp andStanislav Griga, although both themselves were later replaced due to poor results.
By late June, former Czechoslovakia national team footballerJán Kozák became the head coach after the unsuccessful qualifying campaign with a victory inBosnia and Herzegovina followed by two defeats to Bosnia andGreece.[22]
A celebration of Slovak players after the match against Russia atUEFA Euro 2016
In theUEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, Slovakia was drawn against Spain,Ukraine,Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg. Slovakia began the qualifying campaign with a 1–0 victory against Ukraine inKyiv. On 9 October 2014, Slovakia beat Spain 2–1 in a shock victory and claimed the first place.[23] Slovakia's 3–1 victory over Belarus confirmed their status as group leaders. Later on, they won 2–0 against Macedonia in thePhilip II Arena, beat Luxembourg with a score of 3–0 inŽilina, and beat Macedonia 2–1 on 14 June 2015, also inŽilina. The next matches were a 2–0 defeat against Spain, a goalless draw against Ukraine, and a shocking 0–1 home defeat against Belarus. Slovakia finished qualification by defeating Luxembourg 4–2 and got the second place, qualifying to their fourthEuropean Championship, first as an independent nation.[24][25][26]
Slovakia was drawn in Group B ofEuro 2016 alongside England, Russia, andWales. Slovakia began their tournament against Wales whereOndrej Duda scored Slovakia's first goal in the history of the European Championship in an eventual 2–1 defeat. Slovakia defeated Russia 2–1 with goals fromVladimír Weiss III andMarek Hamšík,[27] then a goalless draw againstEngland to advance to the round of 16 as one of the tournament's best third-placed teams.[28][29][30][31] They were eliminated at this stage by 2014 FIFA World Cup championGermany with a 3–0 defeat.[32]
During the qualification campaign for the2018 World Cup, Slovakia was drawn inUEFA Group F. They were third in the group after the penultimate match ended in a 1–0 defeat toScotland, who moved up to second place. Slovakia won their final group match 3–0 againstMalta, and overtook Scotland after they failed to beat Slovenia,[33][34] but they missed out on a play-off place as the other second teams' results went against them, meaning Slovakia finished as the worst group runners-up.[35][36]
Slovakia qualified for theUEFA Euro 2020 after a difficult away victory againstNorthern Ireland.[37] Being drawn with Spain,Sweden. andPoland in group E, Slovakia beat Poland 2–1.[38] However, Slovakia subsequently lost to Sweden 0–1 before getting thrashed by Spain 5–0, thus finishing third with the worst goal difference due to scoring own goals as a result of their performance. Slovakia was eliminated in the group stage for the first time ever.
The country finished third in2022 World Cup qualifying behind Croatia and Russia, the latter of which would be banned from the final tournament due to the country'sinvasion of Ukraine. Despite the third-place finish in the group, the team dropped points to footballing minnowsCyprus and Malta.
After numerous poor results[clarification needed] in theUEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, formerNapoli coachFrancesco Calzona was appointed as the manager on 30 August 2022.[39] This meant Slovakia was placed as low as the fifth pot for thequalifying phase of the tournament, the worst position the country has ever been in and realistically must qualify directly forUEFA Euro 2024.[40] Slovakia was drawn into a group with Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Iceland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. After a poor goalless draw in the first match against Luxembourg, the team won seven and lost two matches in total, both being narrow losses against Portugal (0–1 at home and 3–2 away). As a result, Slovakia qualified automatically forEuro 2024 by finishing second in theirqualifying group.[41][42][43]
The team was drawn inGroup E of Euro 2024, together withBelgium, Ukraine, and Romania. InFrankfurt on 17 June, Slovakia produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament by beating Belgium 1–0.[44][45]
Slovakia's home kit since 1993 has been blue, which was temporarily changed from blue to white from 2020. The players were either a set of white jerseys, shorts, and socks – or a set of blue jerseys, shorts and socks. A combination of a blue jersey and white shorts has also been used in some matches.Puma supplied the kits from February 2012 until 2016.[49] In 2016,Nike took over the supply of the national team, which it had previously done from 1995 to 2005.[citation needed] In 2024, Italian brandMacron became the kit supplier for Slovakia.[50]
The following table shows Slovakia's all-time international record, correct as of 17 November 2025 after a match againstGermany. Records with defunct teams are marked initalics.
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