Vatican Men’s National Team Results
| Date | Versus | W/L | Score |
| Non-FIFA National Teams | |||
| Monaco | L | ||
| Monaco | L | ||
| Monaco | L | ||
| Monaco | L | ||
| Monaco | L | ||
| San Marino | |||
| Club Teams | |||
| St. Pauli | L | ||
| 2006 | SV Vollmond (Swi) | W | 5-1 |
| 2015 | Lutherstadt Wittenberg (Ger) | W | 1-0 |
| Azzurri Schaan (Lie) | L | 1-8 | |
| Weisweiler Elf (Ger) | L | 1-8 | |
| Non-FIFA Autonomous Provinces | |||
| 2019 | Raetia | D | 2-2 |
Vatican City Women’s National Team Results
| Date | Versus | W/L | Score |
| 2019 | Mariahilf (Aut) | postponed |
Report
The Vatican City plays its own brand of soccer, with a blue card introduced in the 8-team Vatican City Football League to combat persistent fouling, whereby a player receiving the card spends 5 minutes in the sin-bin.
It is not a member of FIFA, one of nine sovereign Nations that aren’t, but has played International matches against Monaco (five times, losing every time, and only scoring one goal), as well as matches against club sides, including German Anarchist team St. Pauli, and other German teams Leisweiler Elf, losing 8-1, and Lutherstadt Wittenberg, a 1-0 win.
It has also played Swiss side SV Vollmond, winning 5-1 and Liechtenstein’s 8th Division side Azzurri Schaan, losing 8-1. In 2019 the Vatican City men’s team played Raetia, a Swiss province that speaks the fourth language in Switzerland (German, French and Italian are the other three), although it has never entered the CONIFA World Cup alongside non-recognised countries such as Northern Cyprus and Kurdistan.
In 2019 the Vatican City launched a Women’s National Team, with the blessing of Pope Francis, although the team’s first match against Austrian team Mariahilf was cancelled at the last minute due to protests in the stands against the Roman Catholic Church’s stance on Gays and Women.
Contrary to popular belief, anyone who is resident in 801-strong population of the Vatican City is eligible to play in both the League and National teams, not just Catholic Priests. [References: 1-2]
References
Websites
[1] Goal (2019) “Lose well rather than win badly” [Internet] Available from: https://www.goal.com/en-ie/news/lose-well-rather-than-win-badly-how-vatican-city-are-taking/1u4d1m5lgfts14s8ykzbjl6j2 [Accessed 4 August 2020]
Magazines
[2] Anon. (2011) “Vatican City” World Soccer December 2011. pg.
Images
[3] Goal (2019) “vatican-city-raetia-2019” [Internet] Available from: https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/GOAL/a4/bb/vatican-city-raetia-2019_12zpmmrubs0gf1l8oy4kvjovsf.jpg?t=1426553537&quality=60&w=800 [Accessed 4 August 2020]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Richard Conville, Conor Lynch, Maurice Lynch, Simon Brennan and Gordon Brennan.
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 22 July 2020
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2019-2020
You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.