THE TRICOLOURS

 

The Andorran national side, known as the Tricolours, selects from the principality's tiny population of around 77,000, the fifth smallest of any UEFA country; only Liechenstein, San Marino, Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands are smaller. It is a landlocked sovereign state, located in the Pyrenees, bordered by Spain and France. Its capital is Andorra La Vella. It is the 16th smallest country in the World, by land and the 11th smallest by population.

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 ever won eight matches.

Though the Andorran Football Federation formed in 1994, and their 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 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.

Their best international result has been a 2-0 wins against Albania, San Marino and Belarus.

Best FIFA Ranking: 125th  and worst 206th.  Overall record: P56 W3 D3 L50 Goals for 17 Against 170 

UEFA ties: P 60 W1 D1 Lost 58 Goals for 14 Against 169

The 2020 UEFA Nations League brings Latvia, Faroe and Malta into their group and the FIFA World Cup includes: Albania, Poland, Hungary, San Marino and England of course. They play England next in the group, at home, on October 9th.

Ildefons Lima, above, at 41 years of age, surpassed Oscar Sonejee's Andorra's record of 130 international caps (with 11 goals) on 16 August 2017, when he played a friendly against Qatar at Burton-on-Trent, England. He first played at 17 years old and his club appearances covers 14 different clubs mainly in Iberia. He played in September v England! and has also scored international goals against the Republic of Ireland (World Cup tie- a 1-4 loss) and Wales (a UEFA tie) in 2014 putting his side ahead. Gareth Bale scored twice, the second after 81 minutes, to defeat them.

Other England matches v Andorra have been:

02 Sep 2006	England v Andorra	W	5-0	UEFA European Championship
28 Mar 2007	Andorra v England	W	0-3	UEFA European Championship
06 Sep 2008	Andorra v England	W	0-2	FIFA World Cup
10 Jun 2009	England v Andorra	W	6-0	FIFA World Cup
05 Sep 2021	England v Andorra	W	4-0	FIFA World Cup*

* On September 5th England won their tie against Andorra 4-0. The Tricolours did rather well despite the defeat and difference in class. On the 8th Sept Hungary beat Andorra 2-1 in the World Cup Qualifier. More fun tonight.