| Association | Faroe Islands Football Association |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Lars Olsen | ||
| Asst coach | John McDonnell | ||
| Captain | Fróði Benjaminsen | ||
| Most caps | Óli Johannesen (83) | ||
| Top scorer | Rogvi Jacobsen (10) | ||
| Home stadium | Tórsvøllur and Svangaskarð | ||
| FIFA code | FRO | ||
| FIFA ranking | 116 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 94 (December 1992) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 198 (September 2008) | ||
| Elo ranking | 160 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 143 (July 1991) | ||
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| First international | |||
| Pre-1988: Shetland 5–1 Faroe Islands (Lerwick, Shetland; June 9, 1930) Post-1988: Iceland 1–0 Faroe Islands (Akranes, Iceland; August 24, 1988) |
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| Biggest win | |||
| Unofficial: Faroe Islands 6–0 Greenland (Sauðárkrókur, Iceland; 2 July 1980) Faroe Islands 7–1 Åland Islands (Tórshavn, Faroe Islands; July 12, 1989) Official: Faroe Islands 3–0 San Marino (Toftir, Faroe Islands; May 25, 1995) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Pre-1988: Iceland 9–0 Faroe Islands (Keflavík, Iceland; July 10, 1985) Post-1988: Yugoslavia 7–0 Faroe Islands (Belgrade, Yugoslavia; May 16, 1991) Romania 7–0 Faroe Islands (Bucharest, Romania; May 6, 1992) Faroe Islands 0–7 Norway (Toftir, Faroe Islands; August 11, 1993) Faroe Islands 1–8 Yugoslavia (Toftir, Faroe Islands; October 6, 1996) |
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The Faroe Islands national football team represents the Faroe Islands in association football and is controlled by the Faroe Islands Football Association, the governing body for football in the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands became a member of FIFA in 1988 and UEFA in 1990 and are the third smallest UEFA country. Faroe Islands have never advanced to the finals of the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championship. They took part in the Island Games in 1989 and 1991 and won both tournaments. They also took part in the Nordic Football Championship for the first time in 2000–01, but the competition hasn't been played since. In the Faroe Islands the team is known as the landsliðið. Home matches are played at the Tórsvøllur or Svangaskarð.
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The Faroe Islands gained membership of FIFA on 2 July 1988 and joined UEFA on 18 April 1990.[1]
Although the national team has been in existence since 1930, neither FIFA nor the Faroese FA considers matches before 1988 as official.[2] The first official victory was a 1–0 win, in friendly against Canada in 1989. 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 pitches 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). The nation's only other wins in European Championship qualifying were in the 1996 tournament, with two wins against San Marino until they won against Estonia in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying on June 7, 2011.
The team has participated in FIFA World Cup qualifying since 1992. They finished the qualification rounds for the 1994 finals without scoring any points and having 1–38 goal difference from 10 matches. In qualification 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 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 a success for the team and they only earned a single point from a 2–2 away draw against Cyprus.
On 2 June 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 in a 2–1 loss. Overall, their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign was disastrous, as they conceded 43 goals and scored only four (all of which were scored by the same player, Rógvi Jacobsen, and half of which were against Italy) en route to losing all twelve matches.
During the summer of 2008 the Faroese side played two friendlies. First they lost 4–3 to Estonia on 1 June 2008, and this match has been credited at the only official international in which the Faroese side scored 3 goals and lost. Later they lost 5–0 to Portugal.
The Faroe Islands began the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying round with a 2–0 loss to Serbia. However, in the match against Romania a few days later, the Faroes' defence held out for almost an hour, but the match ended with a 1–0 defeat. Their next match, against Austria on 11 October 2008, ended 1–1, giving the Faroe Islands their first qualifying point for four years.
After announcing the squad to the matches against Austria and Lithuania, coach Jógvan Martin Olsen announced that he was to step down after three years in charge.
On March 22, 2009 the Faroe Islands played Iceland in a Friendly match and beat them 2–1. It was the first time they had ever won against Iceland.
On April 5, 2009 former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr was appointed new manager of the team.[3] On September 9, 2009, Faroe Islands recorded their first competitive win since the 2002 World Cup qualification stage after beating Lithuania 2–1.[4]
On 11 August 2010, the Faroe Islands came close to an away win in Estonia during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers. The Faroes took the lead in the first half with a goal by Jóan Símun Edmundsson. The score was still 1–0 after 90 minutes played, but Estonia scored twice during stoppage time and Faroe Islands lost the match 2–1.
Two Months later, on October 12, 2010, the Faroe Islands drew 1–1 with the higher ranked Northern Ireland at the Svangaskard Stadion, Toftir. Striker Christian Holst scored for the Faroes in the 60th minute, before Kyle Lafferty equalised 16 minutes later for the visiting side, earning a point for both teams.
On 7 June 2011, the Faroe Islands defeated Estonia 2–0 at Svangaskarð. Captain Fróði Benjaminsen opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 43rd minute, before Arnbjørn Hansen then secured the win with a follow up after another Benjaminsen penalty. It was the Faroe Islands first UEFA Euro qualification win since 1995.
Faroe Islands were drawn against Kerr's former employers, the Republic of Ireland in Group C for the 2014 World Cup Qualifying. The other teams in the group are Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Kazakhstan.
On October 26 2011 Brian Kerr stepped down as coach of the Faroese national team, after Faroe Islands Football Association (FSF) announced that "it was not possible to agree a new contract with Brian Kerr".[5]
On November 8 2011 the Faroese Football Association announced that an agreement had been reached with the 50 year old former Danish captain and European Champion from 1992, Lars Olsen, to become the next coach of the Faroe Islands. Lars Olsen is the third Dane to coach the Faroe Islands after Allan Simonsen and Henrik Larsen.[6]
1. Óli Johannesen (83)
2. Jákup Mikkelsen (71)
3. Fróði Benjaminsen (66)
4. Jens Martin Knudsen (65)
5. Julian Johnsson (62)
6. Jákup á Borg (62)
7. John Petersen (57)
8. Allan Mørkøre (54)
9. Rógvi Jacobsen (52)
10. Øssur Hansen (51)
1. Rógvi Jacobsen (10)
2. Todi Jónsson (9)
3. Uni Arge (8)
3. John Petersen (8)
5. Fróði Benjaminsen (5)
The squad named for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Italy and Serbia on 2 and 6 September 2011.[8]
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The following players have also recently been called up to the Faroe Islands squad.