List of national football teams facts for kids

Map of the World with the six confederations.
     AFC - Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia
     CAF - Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa
     CONCACAF - Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football in North, Central and South America
     CONMEBOL - Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in South America
     OFC - Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania
     UEFA - Union of European Football Associations in Europe and Asia

As of June 2010, there are 208 football associations affiliated to FIFA. The associations are divided into six confederations. The confederations formed by continent. The confederations are:

• Asia — Asian Football Confederation - AFC
• Africa — Confederation of African Football - CAF
• North America — Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football - CONCACAF
• South America — Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol - CONMEBOL
• Oceania — Oceania Football Confederation - OFC
• Europe — Union of European Football Associations - UEFA

Members of FIFA affiliated confederations

AFC (Asia)

Due to the geographical size of Asia, the AFC is subdivided into five sub-federations:

• West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) – represents nations at the western extremity of the continent, except Iran.
• East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) – represents nations in Northeast Asia, plus Guam and Northern Mariana Islands.
• Central Asian Football Federation (CAFF) – represents nations in Central Asia, plus Iran.
• South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) – represents nations in South Asia.
• ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) – represents nations in Southeast Asia, plus Australia.

CAF (Africa)

Due to the geographical size of Africa, CAF is divided into five regional federations:

• Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) – represents nations generally regarded as forming the regions of East Africa and some nations of Central Africa.
• Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) – represents nations generally regarded as forming Southern Africa, as well as island states off the coast of Southern Africa.
• West African Football Union/Union du Football de l'Ouest Afrique (WAFU/UFOA) – represents nations in West Africa.
• Union of North African Federations (UNAF) – represents nations regarded as forming North Africa.
• Union des Fédérations du Football de l'Afrique Centrale (UNIFFAC) – represents some of the nations that form Central Africa.

CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)

The CONCACAF federation is divided into three regional federations that have responsibility for part of the region's geographical area:

• Caribbean Football Union (CFU) – represents all nations in the Caribbean.
• North American Football Union (NAFU) – represents the teams of Canada, Mexico and the USA.
• Union Centroamericana de Fútbol (UNCAF) – represents the seven nations of Central America.

CONMEBOL (South America)

OFC (Oceania)

UEFA (Europe)

National teams not affiliated to FIFA confederations

The national football teams included in this section are not members of FIFA, or of any of its affiliated continental confederations. The teams are not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or any continental confederation championships. FIFA's statutes do not allow member teams to compete against these sides without FIFA's prior permission.

This section lists:

• 6 teams representing sovereign states who are members or observers of the United Nations.
• 6 teams representing states which are not members of the United Nations.

Unaffiliated United Nations states

There are seven United Nations member and observer states which are not members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Six of them, however, have fielded national teams in unofficial friendlies, Olympic-level tournaments (such as the Pacific Games or Micronesian Games), or in tournaments held outside the auspices of FIFA. These teams are listed below. Some of these teams have been run by a football federation in their country of origin, while others have only been organized informally.

•  Micronesia
•  Monaco¹
•  Palau
•  United Kingdom²
•  Vatican City

1: National governing body is a member of ConIFA
2: The United Kingdom national team has only played unofficial friendly matches under the name "Great Britain". Otherwise, the United Kingdom is represented in FIFA- and UEFA-organized football by the teams of its constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (these teams are listed in the UEFA subsection above). See also Great Britain Olympic football team.

The Marshall Islands and Nauru are the only UN member states with no recorded national football teams.

Unaffiliated non-UN states

There are eleven states with limited international recognition, de facto sovereign states, and associated states who are not members or observers of the United Nations. Four of these have national teams which are listed above: the Republic of China, which is a member of FIFA and the AFC (as Chinese Taipei); the Cook Islands, which is a member of FIFA and the OFC; Kosovo, which is a member of FIFA and UEFA; and Niue, who has no membership in FIFA but is an associate member of the OFC.

None of the remaining seven de facto sovereign or partially recognized states are members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Six of them, however, have fielded national teams in non-FIFA football matches and unofficial friendlies:

•  Abkhazia
•  Artsakh
•  Northern Cyprus¹
•  Somaliland
•  South Ossetia
•  Western Sahara

1: in addition to participating in non-FIFA football tournaments and in unofficial matches against FIFA-affiliated nations, Northern Cyprus participated in the 1980 Islamic Games football competition.

The national associations representing all six of these teams are members of ConIFA, an organization for teams representing unrecognized states, subnational regions, and stateless minorities. Another de facto sovereign state, Transnistria, is also a member of ConIFA. To date, however, it has no recorded national football team.

Others

FIFA's entry criteria state that:

Any association which is responsible for organising and supervising football in all of its forms in its country may become a member of FIFA. Consequently, it is recommended that all member associations involve all relevant stakeholders in football in their own structure.

—FIFA, FIFA Statutes April 2016

The main condition for joining FIFA is thus general international recognition as a nation state and membership of the UN. However, this rule is not applied retroactively, and 26 of FIFA's members are not internationally recognised sovereign nations.

Non-sovereign associations may still join FIFA or its affiliated confederations in specific circumstances. FIFA have offered exceptions for associations representing a dependency where the application apply for membership is authorised by the association in its parent state. The New Caledonia team was admitted under this regulation in 2004 on the grounds of the distance of New Caledonia from its 'parent' nation, France. The applications for membership by Gibraltar, a territory of the UK and Kosovo, a sovereign state with limited international recognition, were both initially rejected by FIFA in line with the above policy. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected this decision and both teams were accepted in May 2016.

A variety of other national, separatist, sub-national, pseudo-national, and ethnic teams have formed international football organizations outside FIFA's jurisdiction, and play in international tournaments against each other. Two organisations have been created as alternatives to FIFA. The older of the two, the N.F.-Board (Nouvelle Fédération-Board), was founded in 2001 to promote international football among sovereign nations, unrecognised nations, regions and stateless peoples that are not members of FIFA, and to assist in their possible future membership of FIFA. A total of 49 member associations nations were listed on the N.F. Board's website as of March 2016, although at least one of these (Monaco) is no longer a member. In 2013, a new organisation, the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), was founded to carry on this work, with a number of its members having previously been affiliated to the NF-Board. ConIFA was founded with the aim of regularising non-FIFA international football, by having a two-year international tournament cycle, with the ConIFA World Football Cup in even numbered years, and continental tournaments in odd-numbered years.

In some cases, participation in non-FIFA football has been a first step for teams who later sought (and in some cases, achieved) the right to participate in matches sanctioned by FIFA or one of its affiliated continental confederations. For example, both Kosovo and Gibraltar played in non-FIFA football tournaments before being recognized by FIFA and UEFA. Similarly, the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, whose national team has been active in non-FIFA football for decades, has applied to join UEFA.

Former national football teams

These national teams no longer exist due to the dissolution of the nation or territory that they represented. Only national teams that were once members of FIFA are listed below.

Preceding team	Successor team(s) (inherited position/results)	Other successor team(s)	Notes
Czechoslovakia	Czech Republic	Slovakia	Represented Czechoslovakia until its dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Competed as Representation of Czechs and Slovaks for the remainder of their 1994 World Cup qualifying games.
Saar		West Germany	Represented the Saarland Protectorate from 1950 to 1956 before its union with the Federal Republic of Germany.
West Germany	Germany		Represented West Germany between 1950 and 1990, before reunification with East Germany.
East Germany		Germany	Represented East Germany between 1952 and 1990, before reunification with West Germany.
Ireland	Northern Ireland	Republic of Ireland	Represented Ireland from 1882. On the secession of the Irish Free State (later Republic of Ireland) from the United Kingdom in 1922, the team continued picking players from across Ireland until 1953 when it became Northern Ireland under pressure from FIFA.
Malaya	Malaysia		Represented the Federation of Malaya from 1953 until its union with Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore to form Malaysia in 1963. Singapore, which gained independence in 1965, retained its preexisting national team.
Tanganyika	Tanzania		Represented Tanganyika until its union with Zanzibar as Tanzania in 1964. Zanzibar is an associate member of CAF and so is not a member of FIFA.
Mandatory Palestine	Israel	Palestine	Represented the British Mandate for Palestine from 1934 until the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. A team representing the Palestinian territories was formed in 1953 and was admitted into FIFA in 1998.
South Vietnam	Vietnam		Represented South Vietnam from 1949 until 1975. North and South Vietnam maintained separate football teams from 1954 to 1975. The current Vietnam national football team is considered a successor of the South Vietnam team as North Vietnam was not a FIFA member.
North Yemen	Yemen		Represented North Yemen from 1965 until its union with South Yemen in 1990.
South Yemen		Yemen	Represented South Yemen from 1965 until its union with North Yemen in 1990.
United Arab Republic	Egypt	Syria	Represented the United Arab Republic from 1958 to 1961 until the secession of Syria. Was considered a continuation of the previous Egypt national football team, which became its successor team. The team continued to be known as the United Arab Republic until 1970.
Soviet Union	CIS	Estonia  Latvia  Lithuania	Represented the Soviet Union from 1924 until its dissolution in 1991. This was considered a continuation of the team that had previously represented the Russian Empire.
CIS	Russia	Armenia  Azerbaijan  Belarus  Georgia  Kazakhstan  Kyrgyzstan  Moldova  Tajikistan  Turkmenistan  Ukraine  Uzbekistan	Represented the Commonwealth of Independent States and Georgia from January 1992 until the end of the Euro 1992 tournament, in order to take the Soviet Union's place in that competition.
Yugoslavia	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Macedonia  Slovenia	Represented Yugoslavia between 1920 and 1992, before the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Slovenia
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, later renamed as Serbia and Montenegro	Serbia	Montenegro	Represented the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, known as Serbia and Montenegro after 2003, from 1992 until its dissolution into Serbia and Montenegro in 2006. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and its national team was accepted into UEFA and FIFA in 2016.
Netherlands Antilles	Curaçao	Aruba  Bonaire  Sint Maarten	Aruba became a separate nation in 1986 and was recognized by FIFA in 1988. The former team represented the Netherlands Antilles until the dissolution of the country in 2010. Formerly known as "Curaçao", this name was restored in March 2011 when the new constituent country of Curaçao took the Netherlands Antilles' place in FIFA and CONCACAF. The teams representing Bonaire and Sint Maarten are full members of CONCACAF, but not of FIFA.

New names

In addition to the above, other nations have been renamed:

•  Congo →  Congo-Léopoldville in 1960 →  Congo-Kinshasa in 1963 →  Zaire in 1971 →  DR Congo in 1997
• British Gambia →  Gambia in 1965
•  British Guiana →  Guyana in 1966
•  Burma →  Myanmar in 1989
•  Cambodia →  Khmer Republic in 1970 →  Kampuchea in 1975 →  Cambodia in 1979
•  Ceylon →  Sri Lanka in 1972
•  Curaçao →  Netherlands Antilles in 1958 →  Curaçao in 2011
•  Czechoslovakia (1918–1939) → Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939 →  Czechoslovakia in 1945 →  Representation of Czechs and Slovaks in 1993
•  Dahomey →  Benin in 1975
•  Dutch East Indies →  Indonesia in 1945
•  Germany →  West Germany in 1950 →  Germany in 1990
•  FR Yugoslavia →  Serbia and Montenegro in 2003
• FLN team →  Algeria in 1962
• French Somaliland →  Djibouti in 1977
•  French Togoland →  Togo in 1960
•  Gold Coast →  Ghana in 1957
•  Irish Free State →  Republic of Ireland in 1949
•  Ivory Coast →  Côte d'Ivoire in 1983¹
• Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes → Yugoslavia in 1929
• Madagascar →  Malagasy Republic in 1958 →  Madagascar in 1975
• Middle Congo →  Congo-Brazzaville in 1960 →  Congo in 1992
•  New Hebrides →  Vanuatu in 1980
•  Northern Rhodesia →  Zambia in 1964
•  Nyasaland →  Malawi in 1966
• Portuguese Guinea →  Guinea-Bissau in 1975
•  Russian Empire →  Soviet Union in 1923
•  Southern Rhodesia →  Rhodesia in 1964 →  Zimbabwe in 1980
• Surinam →  Suriname in 1954
•  United Arab Republic →  Egypt in 1971
•  Upper Volta →  Burkina Faso in 1984
•  Western Samoa →  Samoa in 1996

1: Still commonly called Ivory Coast in English-speaking countries