Faroe Islands women's national football team

Faroe Islands national team in 2013

The FSF was founded on 13 January 1979[2] and a women's national league began play in 1985.[3] The first Faroese women's national team games took place in June 1986, with two defeats to Iceland. The matches, a 6–0 defeat at Kópavogsvöllur and a 2–0 defeat at Akranesvöllur, predate the Faroe Islands' membership of FIFA and UEFA but are listed as full internationals at both FIFA.com and the official website of the Football Association of Iceland (KSÍ).[4][5]

The Faroe Islands joined FIFA on 2 July 1988[2] and the male national team played its first official match—a 1–0 defeat against Iceland—on 24 August 1988.[6] Membership of UEFA followed on 18 April 1990 and the Faroe Islands' male team entered its first major international competition later that year: the qualifying rounds for the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship.[2]

A women's team was formed to take part in the 1997 UEFA Women's Championship qualification tournament, which began in September 1995. Páll Guðlaugsson was appointed as coach. The Faroe Islands were competing at class B, in a regionalised group alongside Belgium, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The group winners would not qualify for the final tournament but would play-off against a last placed team from A class for promotion to the higher grade.[7]

The Faroe Islands staged all their home games at the national stadium of the time, Svangaskarð in Toftir. On 24 September 1995 they lost their first ever home match 2–0 to Ireland.[8] The following month, another 2–0 defeat, to Belgium in Brussels, preceded a 7–1 loss in Scotland where Sólvá Joensen scored the team's first ever goal.[9] Two days later, on 25 October 1995, the Faroe Islands beat Wales 1–0 at Farrar Road in Bangor to record their first ever victory. Helga Ellingsgaard scored the decisive goal on 35 minutes,[10] while opposition coach Sue Lopez lamented her team's failure to convert any of their 20 shots at goal.[11]

The next match was a 3–1 defeat in Dublin, Ireland's third goal coming in the last minute. In 1996 the Faroe Islands finished their campaign with three home games, but lost them all. The first, on 18 May 1996, was a 9–0 defeat to group winners Belgium which remains the Faroe Islands' joint record defeat. Scotland and Wales departed Toftir with 3–0 and 1–0 victories, respectively, as the Faroe Islands finished bottom of the group with three points, having scored three goals and conceded 27.

The FSF scrapped their women's national team after the tournament, as they were unwilling to fund travel to away fixtures. They did enter competitions at youth level, which were not played on a home and away basis but were mini-tournaments staged in a single location to keep costs down.[12]

When the senior women's national team was relaunched in 2004 after an eight-year hiatus, their first match was a 2–1 friendly defeat to Ireland. Irish coach Noel King named an experimental team which lacked his leading players from Arsenal Ladies.[13] The game was staged in Klaksvík on 12 October 2004, the day before the nations' senior men's teams met at Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

In the next match, a return friendly with Ireland at the Oscar Traynor Centre in Dublin, Rannvá B. Andreasen put the Faroe Islands ahead after six minutes. Ireland hit back to win 2–1.

The Faroe Islands' first matches back in UEFA competition came in November 2006, at the UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying series. At a preliminary round mini-tournament held in Strumica, Macedonia, Malena Josephsen's injury time goal in the first match was not enough to avert a 2–1 defeat to Wales. The team was eliminated after another defeat, 1–0 to Kazakhstan. In the final match the Faroe Islands beat hosts Macedonia 7–0 at Stadion Kukuš to record an all-time record win.

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

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Fixtures

2020

Faroe Islands  v  Northern Ireland

18 September 2020 Euro Qualifying	Faroe Islands	0–6	Northern Ireland	Torshavn
		Report	Furness  19' Magill  24', 90' Wade  27', 56' K. McGuiness  38'	Stadium: Tórsvøllur

Faroe Islands  v  Belarus

22 September 2020 Euro Qualifying	Faroe Islands	0–2	Belarus	Torshavn
		Report	Shlapakova  56' Olkhovik  79'	Stadium: Tórsvøllur

Wales  v  Faroe Islands

22 October 2020 Euro Qualifying	Wales	4–0	Faroe Islands	Newport, Wales
	Ward  33' Harding  58', 61' Woodham  67'	Report	Sevdal  55'	Stadium: Rodney Parade

Norway  v  Faroe Islands

26 November 2020 Euro Qualifying	Norway	Cancelled[14]	Faroe Islands	Drammen
20:00		Cancellation		Stadium: Marienlyst Stadion

Northern Ireland  v  Faroe Islands

30 November 2020 Euro Qualifying	Northern Ireland	5–1	Faroe Islands	Belfast, Northern Ireland
	Furness  6' K McGuinness  27' McCarron  56' C McGuinness  77' Langgaard  88' (o.g.)	Report	Tórolvsdóttir  4'	Stadium: Seaview Referee: Hristiyana Guteva (Bulgaria)

Regional

• Island Games: Winners

2001, 2003, 2005

• Women's Baltic Cup: Winners

2016[23]

• Faroe Islands women's national under-17 football team
• Faroe Islands women's national under-20 football team
• Faroe Islands national football team

• Official website
• FIFA profile