Andorra's first official game was a 6–1 defeat in a friendly match toEstonia in 1996. Since the qualifying rounds for theUEFA Euro 2000 tournament, Andorra have competed in qualifying for everyEuropean Championship andFIFA World Cup but have had very little success. They have only won thirteen matches since becoming recognised by FIFA in 1996.
Though the Andorran Football Federation formed in 1994,[3] and thedomestic league started in 1995, the national team could not participate in major championships until it gained affiliation with governing bodiesFIFA andUEFA in 1996.[3][4] Because the European qualifiers for the1998 FIFA World Cup were already underway, Andorra could not take part in them by the time the association joined FIFA and UEFA. The national team played its first match againstEstonia inAndorra La Vella and lost 6–1.[5]
Andorra's first match in a FIFA-sanctioned competition was a 3–1 loss toArmenia on 5 September 1998 in a qualifier forUEFA Euro 2000. Andorra lost all ten qualifiers for the tournament.[6] The team particularly struggled in away matches; each loss was by at least three goals.[6] Andorra scored only three goals, two of which were penalties,[6] and two of which were in the away matches.[6] Andorra conceded 28 goals,[6] and their biggest defeat of the qualifiers was a 6–1 away loss toRussia.[6]
For their first World Cup qualifying campaign, Andorra were drawn in a group withCyprus,Estonia,Ireland, theNetherlands andPortugal.[7] They lost their opening match 1–0 to Estonia. In the next game, they lost 3–2 to Cyprus but scored their first World Cup qualifying goals.[7] They were again defeated by Estonia, this time 2–1.[7] They lost all their matches and their only away goal was in a 3–1 loss against Ireland.[7] Their worst defeat was 7–1 to Portugal on a neutral ground inLleida,Spain.[7] Andorra finished the campaign with no points and conceded 36 goals in ten matches.[7]
In the team's qualification campaign forUEFA Euro 2004 they again lost every game. They scored their only goal in a 2–1 away loss toBulgaria.[8] In this competition the scores were closer than before as they lost 3–0 to Bulgaria,Croatia andBelgium, 2–0 twice toEstonia, 2–0 to Croatia and 1–0 to Belgium.[8]
By Andorran standards, qualification for the2006 FIFA World Cup was successful. They won their first competitive game 1–0 at home against Macedonia. Andorra midfielderMarc Bernaus, who played in theSpanish second division, received a long throw in off his chest and volleyed in a goal early in the second half.[9] After the game, Macedonia coachDragan Kanatlarovski resigned and called the game "a shameful outcome, a humiliation."[10] Andorra also drew two matches, 0–0 in Macedonia and 0–0 at home againstFinland.[11]
In theUEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, Andorra again lost every game.[12] The closest game was against Russia, a 1–0 defeat on 21 November 2007. Their biggest defeat was a 7–0 loss to Croatia in Andorra La Vella, which is their worst defeat in UEFA competitions[13] and matched their loss to theCzech Republic as their largest losing deficit. Andorra scored only two goals and conceded 42 in a total of 12 games.[12] In2010 World Cup qualifying, Andorra lost all ten matches.[14] For the tournament, they scored three goals, in defeats toBelarus andKazakhstan, and conceded 39 goals, including six in a defeat toEngland, the largest margin in the group.[14]
Qualifying for UEFA Euro 2012 ended in familiar fashion; they lost all ten matches, scoring only one goal and conceding 25; their best results were two one-goal losses toSlovakia and a 3–1 loss in Ireland.[15] The2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament was even more disastrous. Andorra lost all their matches while conceding 30 goals and not scoring.
During2016 UEFA Euro qualifying, Andorra again lost all of its ten games but scored four goals, setting a national team record for goals scored in a European Championship qualifying group. On 22 February 2017, Andorra beat San Marino away 2–0 in a friendly match, ending with 12 years and 132 days without winning any match.[16] On 9 June 2017, Andorra beat Hungary 1–0 in a World Cup home qualifier with a goal byMarc Rebés, their first victory in a competitive match since 2004.[17] Thanks to these two wins and a draw against theFaroe Islands on 6 July 2017, Andorra progressed 57 positions in theFIFA rankings to 129th, its second best position ever.[18] On 21 March 2018, Rebés scored the only goal of a friendly win overLiechtenstein in Spain, giving Andorra their third victory of the last 13 months and sixth of all time.[19]
In 2018, Andorra made its debut in the newly createdUEFA Nations League. They played in Group 1 ofLeague D, where they finished at the bottom of the group with four ties and two losses, finishing unbeaten at home.[citation needed]
On 11 October 2019, Andorra won 1–0 againstMoldova in theUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying competition, thus ending a 56-match winless run in Euro qualifiers.[20] One month later, the team earned one more point after an away draw againstAlbania, thus avoiding for the first time to end a qualifying round in the last position.[citation needed]
On 7 December 2020, after the draw for the2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Andorra was given an opportunity to achieve further success in official competition as it was placed inGroup I where it found among its five opponentsSan Marino, the lowest placed team in the last pot and which it has faced before that only once in a friendly match (away on 22 February 2017, for a 2–0 victory). Their other opponents wereAlbania (against whom they drew 2–2 away inUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying),Hungary (whom they beat at home 1–0 in the2018 World Cup qualifiers),Poland andEngland. On 2 September 2021 Andorra achieved a 3rd success in the qualifiers of a World Cup, at home againstSan Marino (2–0). On 12 October 2021 Andorra achieved a 4th success in a World Cup qualifier, beatingSan Marino again in the return match (3–0). It was also a first in several respects: it is the largest Andorran victory in its history, but also the first time that the Pyrenean selection managed to score 3 goals in the same game and won an away match; finally it also succeeded for the first time in its history to sign 2 successes in the same qualifying phase and pocket 6 points. However, they lost all their games against their four other opponents and finished second to last in the group with 6 points, with a record of 2 wins and 8 losses.
On 25 March 2022 Andorra defeatedSt. Kitts and Nevis at home (1–0), recording its first win against a non-European team. Three days later, Andorra defeated another non-European side with another 1–0 win at home to Grenada. On 10 June 2022, in the2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, Andorra won at home againstLiechtenstein (2–1), withJesús Rubio scoring a spectacular goal with a 60-meter lob on the second Andorran goal,[21] thus signing its first success in this competition for its third participation. This success also means that the Pyrenean team has achieved at least one victory in each of the official competitions in which it has taken part. On September 22, they beat Liechtenstein, 2–0, in Vaduz - this was their first away win in the Nations League. The Pyrenees team totaled 8 points at the end of this edition thanks to two home draws againstMoldova (0–0) and theLatvia (1–1), finishing undefeated at home and losing only two away games against the Latvians and Moldovans, which is its best record in the group stage of any competition.
Construction is underway on a new home stadium, Nou Estadi Encamp, which is due to be opened in June 2025.[23]
Andorra have occasionally played home matches outside their borders. For example, Andorra hosted France and England in the 2000 European Championship, 2008 European Championship and 2010 World Cup qualifiers in theEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys inBarcelona, which was the home ofRCD Espanyol between 1997 and 2009.[24][25]
Andorra's lopsided win–loss record gives them a lowly reputation in world football. The nation has only won seven competitive fixtures, four World Cup qualifying matches against Macedonia in October 2004 and Hungary in June 2017, both by 1–0; San Marino in September and October 2021 by 2–0 at home and 3–0 away at Serravalle (their biggest ever win), a single European Championship qualifying match at home against Moldova in October 2019 by 1–0 and two UEFA Nations League matches against Liechtenstein in June and September 2022 by 2–1 at home and 2–0 away at Vaduz; and six friendly games, three of them by 2–0 against Belarus in April 2000 and Albania in April 2002 at home and San Marino in February 2017 away, as well as three wins by 1–0 margin against Liechtenstein at neutral venues in March 2018 and against St. Kitts and Nevis and Grenada at home in March 2022.
With the fourth smallest population of any UEFA country,[26] until the admission of Gibraltar, the talent pool is small. Players are predominantly amateurs because the Andorradomestic league is only part-time. Since Andorra began playing in 1996, their average FIFA ranking is 163.[27]
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