Andorra national football team

Andorra

Nickname(s)	Tricolors (The Tricolours)
Association	Andorran Football Federation (Federació Andorrana de Futbol)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Koldo Álvarez
Captain	Márcio Vieira
Most caps	Ildefons Lima (137)
Top scorer	Ildefons Lima (11)
Home stadium	Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella
FIFA code	AND
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	164 1 (21 December 2023)
Highest	125 (September 2005)
Lowest	206 (December 2011)
First international
Andorra 1–6 Estonia (Andorra la Vella, Andorra; 13 November 1996)
Biggest win
San Marino 0–3 Andorra (Serravalle, San Marino; 12 October 2021)
Biggest defeat
Czech Republic 8–1 Andorra (Liberec, Czech Republic; 4 June 2005) Croatia 7–0 Andorra (Zagreb, Croatia; 7 October 2006) Portugal 7–0 Andorra (Lisbon, Portugal; 11 November 2020)

The Andorra men's national football team (Catalan: Selecció de futbol d'Andorra) represents Andorra in association football and is controlled by the Andorran Football Federation, the governing body for football in Andorra. The team has enjoyed very little success due to the Principality's tiny population, the fifth smallest of any UEFA country (only Liechtenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands are smaller).

Andorra's first official game was a 6–1 defeat in a friendly match to Estonia in 1996. Since the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament, Andorra have competed in qualifying for every European Championship and World Cup but have had very little success. They have only won thirteen matches since becoming recognised by FIFA in 1996.

History

Though the Andorran Football Federation formed in 1994, and the domestic league started in 1995, the national team could not participate in major championships until it gained affiliation with governing bodies FIFA and UEFA in 1996. The national team played its first match against Estonia in Andorra La Vella and lost 6–1.

Andorra's first match in a FIFA-sanctioned competition was a 3–1 loss to Armenia on 5 September 1998 in a qualifier for UEFA Euro 2000. Andorra lost all ten qualifiers for the tournament. The team particularly struggled in away matches; each loss was by at least three goals. Andorra scored only three goals, two of which were penalties, and two of which were in the away matches. Andorra conceded 28 goals, and their biggest defeat of the qualifiers was a 6–1 away loss to Russia.

For their first World Cup qualifying campaign, Andorra were drawn in a group with Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal. 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. They were again defeated by Estonia, this time 2–1. They lost all their matches and their only away goal was in a 3–1 loss against Ireland. Their worst defeat was 7–1 to Portugal on a neutral ground in Lleida, Spain. Andorra finished the campaign with no points and conceded 36 goals in ten matches.

In the team's qualification campaign for Euro 2004 they again lost every game. They scored their only goal in a 2–1 away loss to Bulgaria. In this competition the scores were closer than before as they lost 3–0 to Bulgaria, Croatia and Belgium, 2–0 twice to Estonia, 2–0 to Croatia and 1–0 to Belgium.

By Andorran standards, qualification for the 2006 World Cup was successful. They won their first competitive game 1–0 at home against Macedonia. Andorra midfielder Marc Bernaus, who played in the Spanish second division, received a long throw in off his chest and volleyed in a goal early in the second half. After the game, Macedonia coach Dragan Kanatlarovski resigned and called the game "a shameful outcome, a humiliation." Andorra also drew two matches, 0–0 in Macedonia and 0–0 at home against Finland.

In Euro 2008 qualifying, Andorra again lost every game. 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 and matched their loss to the Czech Republic as their largest losing deficit. Andorra scored only two goals and conceded 42 in a total of 12 games. In 2010 World Cup qualifying, Andorra lost all ten matches. For the tournament, they scored three goals, in defeats to Belarus and Kazakhstan, and conceded 39 goals, including six in a defeat to England, the largest margin in the group.

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 to Slovakia and a 3–1 loss in Ireland. The 2014 World Cup qualifying tournament was even more disastrous. Andorra lost all their matches while conceding 30 goals and not scoring.

During 2016 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. On 9 June 2017, Andorra beat Hungary 1–0 in a World Cup home qualifier with a goal by Marc Rebés, their first victory in a competitive match since 2004. Thanks to these two wins and a draw against the Faroe Islands on 6 July 2017, Andorra progressed 57 positions in the FIFA rankings to 129th, its second best position ever. On 21 March 2018, Rebés scored the only goal of a friendly win over Liechtenstein in Spain, giving Andorra their third victory of the last 13 months and sixth of all time.

In 2018, Andorra made its debut in the newly created UEFA Nations League. They played in Group 1 of League D, where they finished at the bottom of the group with four ties and two losses, finishing unbeaten at home.

On 11 October 2019, Andorra won 1–0 against Moldova in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying competition, thus ending a 56-match winless run in Euro qualifiers. One month later, the team earned one more point after an away draw against Albania, thus avoiding for the first time to end a qualifying round in the last position.

On December 7, 2020, after the draw for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Andorra is given an opportunity to achieve further success in official competition as it is placed in Group I where it will find among its five opponents San Marino, the lowest placed team in the last pot and which it has faced before that only once in a friendly match (away on February 22, 2017, for a 2–0 victory). Their other opponents are Albania (against whom they drew 2–2 away in Euro 2021 qualifying), Hungary (whom they beat at home 1–0 in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers), Poland and England. On September 2, 2021, Andorra signs a 3rd success in the qualifiers of a World Cup, at home against San Marino (2–0). On October 12, 2021, Andorra signs a 4th success in a World Cup qualifier, beating San Marino again in the return match (3–0). It is 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 March 25, 2022, Andorra defeated St. 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 June 10, 2022, in the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, Andorra won at home against Liechtenstein (2–1), with Jesús Rubio scoring a spectacular goal with a 60-meter lob on the second Andorran goal, 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 against Moldova (0–0) and the Latvia (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.

Stadium

From 1996 until 2014, Andorra played their home matches at the Comunal d'Andorra la Vella, in the capital city of Andorra la Vella. This stadium has a capacity of 1,800 and also hosts the matches of club sides FC Andorra and the Andorran Premier League. On 9 September 2014, the national team began playing at the new Estadi Nacional with a capacity of 3,306.

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 the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, which was the home of RCD Espanyol between 1997 and 2009.

Reputation

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, until the admission of Gibraltar, the talent pool is small. Players are predominantly amateurs because the Andorra domestic league is only part-time. Since Andorra began playing in 1996, their average FIFA ranking is 163.

Kit suppliers

Kit provider	Period
Reusch	1996–2000
Reebok	1998–2004
Diadora	2004–2006
Joma	2006–2008
Adidas	2008–2018
Macron	2018–2022
Errea	2022–present

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

2024

Manager history

Players

Current squad

The following players were included in the squad for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against Israel on 21 November 2023.

Caps and goals correct as of 21 November 2023, after the match against Israel.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Josep Gómes	3 December 1985	82	0	FC Santa Coloma
12	GK	Iker Álvarez	25 July 2001	22	0	Villarreal B
13	GK	Xisco Pires	25 January 1998	2	0	La Solana
2	DF	Bryan Olivera	5 October 2004	1	0	Calamocha
5	DF	Max Llovera	8 January 1997	68	1	San Cristóbal
15	DF	Moisés San Nicolás	17 September 1993	77	0	FC Santa Coloma
17	DF	Joan Cervós	24 February 1998	53	1	San Cristóbal
19	DF	Adrián da Cunha	16 May 2001	0	0	UE Santa Coloma
20	DF	Kiko Pomares	21 September 1998	8	0	Marchamalo
21	DF	Marc García	21 March 1988	67	0	Ordino
3	MF	Marc Vales	4 April 1990	92	5	Europa
4	MF	Marc Rebés	3 July 1994	63	3	Pas de la Casa
6	MF	Éric Vales	18 August 2000	11	0	Bilje
7	MF	Marc Pujol	21 August 1982	113	4	Ordino
8	MF	Márcio Vieira (captain)	10 October 1984	127	2	Marco
23	MF	Jordi Rubio	1 November 1987	66	0	Pas de la Casa
9	FW	Aarón Sánchez	5 June 1996	32	0	UE Santa Coloma
10	FW	Ricard Fernández	19 March 1999	38	1	Bilje
11	FW	Ot Remolins	25 February 2004	1	0	Collado Villalba
14	FW	Jordi Aláez	23 January 1998	57	3	Cerdanyola
16	FW	Àlex Martínez	10 October 1998	51	1	La Solana
18	FW	Izan Fernández	3 October 2001	6	0	Azuqueca
22	FW	Víctor Bernat	17 May 1987	20	1	Penya Encarnada

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Andorra squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Eric de Pablos	8 March 1999	9	0	UE Santa Coloma	v. Belarus, 18 November 2023
DF	Txus Rubio	9 September 1994	43	1	Inter d'Escaldes	v. Romania, 15 October 2023
DF	Aleix Viladot	26 June 1997	1	0	Ordino	v. Romania, 15 October 2023
DF	Ildefons Lima RET	10 December 1979	137	11	Retired	v. Switzerland, 12 September 2023
DF	Albert Alavedra RET	26 February 1999	28	0	Retired	v. Switzerland, 12 September 2023
DF	Joel Guillén	28 August 2001	7	0	Binéfar	v. Switzerland, 12 September 2023
MF	Ludovic Clemente	9 May 1986	46	0	UE Santa Coloma	v. Israel, 19 June 2023
MF	Albert Reyes	24 March 1996	4	0	UE Santa Coloma	v. Israel, 19 June 2023
MF	Xavier Vieira	14 January 1992	12	0	Ordino	v. Kosovo, 28 March 2023
MF	Luis Blanco	15 January 1990	4	0	Esperança	v. Kosovo, 28 March 2023
FW	Albert Rosas	19 August 2002	15	4	Betis B	v. Switzerland, 12 September 2023
Notes INJ = Withdrew due to injury PRE = Preliminary squad / standby RET = Retired from the national team

Records

As of 21 November 2023

Players in bold are still active with Andorra.

Most appearances

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Ildefons Lima	137	11	1997–2023
2	Márcio Vieira	127	2	2005–present
3	Marc Pujol	113	4	2000–present
4	Óscar Sonejee	106	4	1997–2015
5	Marc Vales	92	5	2008–present
6	Josep Ayala	84	1	2002–2017
7	Josep Gómes	82	0	2006–present
8	Manolo Jiménez	79	1	1998–2012
9	Koldo Álvarez de Eulate	78	0	1998–2009
10	Cristian Martínez	77	5	2009–present
	Moisés San Nicolás	77	0	2012–present

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Ildefons Lima	11	137	0.08	1997–2023
2	Cristian Martínez	5	77	0.065	2009–present
	Marc Vales		92	0.054	2008–present
4	Albert Rosas	4	15	0.267	2021–present
	Óscar Sonejee		106	0.038	1997–2015
	Marc Pujol		113	0.035	2000–present
7	Jesús Lucendo	3	29	0.103	1996–2003
	Emiliano González		37	0.081	1998–2003
	Jordi Aláez		57	0.053	2016–present
	Marc Rebés		63	0.048	2015–present

Competition records

FIFA World Cup record

Year	Final tournament								Qualification
	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pos.	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1994	Not a FIFA member								Not a FIFA member
1998	Did not enter								Did not enter
2002	Did not qualify								6th	10	0	0	10	5	36
2006									7th	12	1	2	9	4	34
2010									6th	10	0	0	10	3	39
2014									6th	10	0	0	10	0	30
2018									6th	10	1	1	8	2	23
2022									5th	10	2	0	8	8	24
2026	To be determined								To be determined
2030
2034
Totals	0/25	–	–	–	–	–	–		—	62	4	3	55	22	186

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks; correct as of 31 March 2021 after the match against Hungary.

UEFA European Championship record

Year	Final tournament								Qualification
	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pos.	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960 to 1996	Did not enter								Did not enter
2000	Did not qualify								6th	10	0	0	10	3	28
2004									5th	8	0	0	8	1	18
2008									7th	12	0	0	12	2	42
2012									6th	10	0	0	10	1	25
2016									6th	10	0	0	10	4	36
2020									5th	10	1	1	8	3	20
2024									5th	10	0	2	8	3	20
2028	To be determined								To be determined
2032
Totals	0/19	–	–	–	–	–	–		—	70	1	3	66	17	189

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks; correct as of 17 November 2019 after the match against Turkey.

UEFA Nations League record

UEFA Nations League record
Season	Division	Group	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	P/R	Rank
2018–19	D	1	6	0	4	2	2	9		53rd
2020–21	D	1	6	0	2	4	1	11		55th
2022–23	D	1	6	2	2	2	6	7		53rd
2024–25	D	To be determined
Totals			18	2	8	8	9	27	53rd

Head-to-head record

Key

	Positive balance (more Wins)
	Neutral balance (Wins = Losses)
	Negative balance (more Losses)

Last match updated was against Israel on 21 November 2023. Goal difference used to determine placement if results totals of two opponents are identical.

Team	From	To	P	W	D	L	Win %	GF	GA	GD
Estonia	1996	2016	12	0	0	12	0%	5	28	–23
Latvia	1997	2022	11	0	4	7	18.18%	2	23	–21
Moldova	2011	2022	8	1	2	5	25%	4	10	–6
Armenia	1998	2011	8	0	1	7	6.25%	2	20	–18
Albania	2000	2021	7	1	1	5	21.43%	4	11	–7
Iceland	1999	2019	7	0	0	7	0%	0	18	–18
Belarus	2000	2023	6	1	1	4	25%	4	12	–8
North Macedonia	2004	2011	6	1	1	4	25%	1	9	–8
Hungary	2012	2021	6	1	0	5	20%	3	17	–14
Israel	2006	2023	6	0	0	6	0%	3	18	–15
Russia	1999	2011	6	0	0	6	0%	2	21	–19
Romania	2004	2023	6	0	0	6	0%	1	21	–20
Netherlands	2001	2013	6	0	0	6	0%	0	21	–21
Croatia	2003	2009	6	0	0	6	0%	0	24	–24
Portugal	1999	2020	6	0	0	6	0%	1	29	–28
Azerbaijan	1998	2016	5	0	4	1	40%	1	2	–1
Faroe Islands	1999	2020	5	0	2	3	20%	0	4	–4
Republic of Ireland	2001	2021	5	0	0	5	0%	3	15	–12
Cyprus	2000	2015	5	0	0	5	0%	3	17	–14
France	1998	2019	5	0	0	5	0%	0	14	–14
Liechtenstein	2012	2022	4	3	0	1	75%	5	2	+3
Malta	2000	2020	4	0	3	1	37.5%	3	5	–2
Kazakhstan	2008	2018	4	0	1	3	12.5%	2	11	–9
Switzerland	2016	2023	4	0	0	4	0%	2	10	–8
Turkey	2013	2019	4	0	0	4	0%	0	10	–10
Belgium	2002	2015	4	0	0	4	0%	1	14	–13
Ukraine	1998	2009	4	0	0	4	0%	0	17	–17
England	2006	2021	4	0	0	4	0%	0	25	–25
San Marino	2017	2021	3	3	0	0	100%	7	0	+7
Poland	2012	2021	3	0	0	3	0%	1	11	–10
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2015	2022	2	1	0	1	50%	1	1	0
Cape Verde	2018	2020	2	0	1	1	25%	1	2	–1
Gibraltar	2021	2022	2	0	1	1	25%	0	1	–1
Georgia	2018	2018	2	0	1	1	25%	1	4	–3
Kosovo	2023	2023	2	0	1	1	25%	1	4	–3
Finland	2004	2005	2	0	1	1	25%	0	3	–3
Slovakia	2011	2011	2	0	0	2	0%	0	2	–2
Wales	2014	2015	2	0	0	2	0%	1	4	–3
Bulgaria	2002	2003	2	0	0	2	0%	1	5	–4
Lithuania	1998	2009	2	0	0	2	0%	1	7	–6
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2015	2015	2	0	0	2	0%	0	6	–6
Czech Republic	2005	2005	2	0	0	2	0%	1	12	–11
Grenada	2022	2022	1	1	0	0	100%	1	0	+1
China	2004	2004	1	0	1	0	50%	0	0	0
United Arab Emirates	2018	2018	1	0	1	0	50%	0	0	0
Equatorial Guinea	2015	2015	1	0	0	1	0%	0	1	–1
Indonesia	2014	2014	1	0	0	1	0%	0	1	–1
Qatar	2017	2017	1	0	0	1	0%	0	1	–1
Austria	2022	2022	1	0	0	1	0%	0	1	–1
Gabon	2003	2003	1	0	0	1	0%	0	2	–2
Brazil	1998	1998	1	0	0	1	0%	0	3	–3
Spain	2004	2004	1	0	0	1	0%	0	4	–4
TOTAL	1996	2023	206	13	27	166	12.86%	69	503	–434

Notes:

• FIFA-unofficial match on 19 February 1998 between Andorra – Czech Republic (0–1) is not included.