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 by group winners Belgium which remained the Faroe Islands' joint record defeat until 2019. 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 a record win which stood until 2015.
Team image
Home stadium
The Faroe Islands women's national football team plays their home matches on the Tórsvøllur.
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.
On 28 November 2012 two of the players of the Faroe Islands women's national team set a world record. For the first time ever a parent and child played together in a football match for their country.[23]Bára Skaale Klakkstein has played for many years now on the national team, Eyðvør has played for the U17 and U19 national teams, but on 28 November 2012 both mother and daughter played together in a friendly match against Luxembourg. The Faroe Islands won 6–0. Eyðvør was born on 5 September 1995 and was 17 years old when playing this match which was her first for the national team. The mother, Bára Skaale Klakkstein, was born on 24 March 1973[24] and was 39 years old, when she played the match against Luxembourg. Mother and daughter have played together on the KÍ women's best team since 2010.[25]
^From Euro 2025 onwards a new qualifying format was introduced, linked to the Women's Nations League where teams are divided into leagues with promotion/relegation between the leagues at the end of each cycle.
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