Vatican City national football team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Vatican City women's national football team.

The Vatican City national football team (Italian: Selezione di calcio della Città del Vaticano) is the football team that represents Vatican City under the control of the Vatican Amateur Sports Association, headquartered in the Vatican's Cortile di San Damaso.^[2] The Vatican City football association was founded in 1972. Its current president is Domenico Ruggiero.^[3][4] Massimiliano Strapetti, an Italian, is the current head coach.^[3]

Vatican City

Association	ASD Vaticano
Head coach	Massimiliano Strappetti[1]
Home stadium	Campo Pio XI
FIFA code	VAT
First colours Second colours
First international
Unofficial  Vatican City 3–0 Austrian journalists (1985) Official  Vatican City 0–0 San Marino Amateurs  (Rome, Italy; 22 November 1994)
Biggest win
Unofficial  Vatican City 9–1 Station Carabinieri of Rome (Rome, Italy, 3 February 2011) Official  Vatican City 4–3 China U23  (Rome, Italy; 25 October 2008)
Biggest defeat
Unofficial Borussia Mönchengladbach 21–4 Vatican City  (Mönchengladbach, Germany; 13 August 2016) Official  Palestine 9–1 Vatican City  (al-Khader, Palestine; 12 June 2011)

The team played its first match in 1985, a 3–0 victory against a representative of Austrian journalists.^[5] In 2018, the Vatican also created a women's representative team.^[6]

Overview

Albert II, Prince of Monaco greeting team in June 2013

A carousel in the Cortile del Belvedere in 1565, 44 years after the first Calcio Fiorentino match was held in the Vatican.^[7]

Jersey worn by Vatican City in April 2017 during its friendly match with Monaco

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II established a Vatican sports department with the aim of "reinvigorating the tradition (of sport) within the Christian community".^[8] In 2006, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone suggested that the Vatican could field a team of men from Catholic seminaries. About the prospect, the cardinal stated, "If we just take the Brazilian students from our Pontifical universities we could have a magnificent squad." The cardinal also noted that in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, there were 42 players in the final round who attended Salesian training centres worldwide.^[9] For example, Marcelino, Spanish hero of the 1964 European Nations' Cup, was a former seminarian. It was Bertone's proposal that the Vatican's players, even if accepted by UEFA, would be drawn from the population within the Catholic Church worldwide, not just citizens of Vatican City. He was unclear at the time whether the Vatican would grant these players Vatican citizenship to make this possible.^[10]

With the smallest population of any nation, approximately 900, it is difficult to form a squad. The Vatican City squad consists entirely of employees of the Vatican: police officers, postal workers, government officials and members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, the Vatican's de facto army, charged with protecting the pope. Since most Vatican citizens are members of the Swiss Guard, they cannot be amassed in large numbers for a long time. Therefore, the national team has played only a few rare international matches, often drawing a fair amount of interested press.^[3] When Vatican City played its first match in 2002, only one player, Marcello Rosati, had a Vatican passport. In 2010, Vatican City was invited to participate in the Viva World Cup by the N.F.-Board and were expected to participate^[11] but were unable to do so because they could not assemble a 15-man roster.^[12] In total, Vatican City have played only four full international matches against other nations, one draw and three defeats to Monaco in 2002, 2011, 2013, and 2014 respectively.

In addition to its full international matches, the team has played a friendly match, its first, against the San Marino reserve team in 1994.^[13] The final score of that match is believed to be a 0–0 draw but Steve Menary's book 'Outcasts: The Lands that FIFA Forgot' states that Vatican insiders told him that the match ended 1–1.^[14] In 2010, the Vatican organized a team to play a friendly game against Palestine. However, the team was made up of Catholic priests and was not considered the Vatican City national team.^[15] In 2006, the Vatican City played SV Vollmond, a team from Switzerland, at Stadio Petriana with Vatican City prevailing 5–1.^[9][16] The team has also competed against a representative team from the Diocese of Limburg.^[17] In September 2016 the team participated in a triangular tournament at the Manlio Scopigno Stadium in Rieti to raise funds for earthquake victims. Former Italian international Simone Perrotta also participated in the tournament.^[18]

In April 2019 it was announced that the team had signed its first-ever sponsor, Poderi di San Pietro, a family-owned winery in Milan. The agreement was reached after ensuring that the organization met the strict ethical criteria established by the team. Previously, the Association was approached by a sports betting organization offering a very large sponsorship but was rejected for not aligning with those ethical standards.^[19]

The Vatican's stance on football

Vatican footballing history began on 7 January 1521 when the first match of Calcio Fiorentino was played in the Vatican in the Cortile del Belvedere, in the presence of Pope Benedict XV. The first Vatican league was created in 1973 and was first won by employees of L'Osservatore Romano, the newspaper of the Holy See.^[7]

The Vatican has typically expressed strong support for football. Pope John Paul II was reportedly a goalkeeper in his youth in Poland, and an ardent supporter of Cracovia Kraków.^[20] Late German pope Pope Benedict XVI was an ardent supporter of Bayern Munich since his youth growing up in Bavaria, Germany.^[21] Benedict is quoted as saying, "The sport of football can be a vehicle of education for the values of honesty, solidarity and fraternity, especially for the younger generation."^[20] In October 2007, the Pope was presented with a #16 shirt (in reference to the sixteenth use of his papal name) by Serie B side Ancona after Benedict supported their initiative to become a "beacon of morality" by adopting an "innovative, ethical model of practising football".^[20]

In 2010, Benedict and the Vatican reaffirmed their belief that football should be a beacon of morality by lashing out at Serie A after matches for the upcoming season were scheduled at 12:30pm on Sundays to appease pay-per-view companies wishing to spread out Serie A matches over the weekend. The Vatican previously questioned the league's decision to play matches on Sundays at all, but "I consider this a truly harmful development," Monsignor Carlo Mazza told Tuttosport. "Putting people in front of the television screen at 12.30 CET, when they are having lunch with their families, to me seems like a 'pitch invasion' on life."^[22] Additionally, on 18 December 2006, Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See, stated, but only in jest, that he did not preclude the possibility that the Vatican, in the future, could put together a football team of great value, that could play on the same level as, Roma, Internazionale and Milan or Genoa.^[23][24] The current Argentinian pope, Pope Francis is an ardent fan of his hometown club San Lorenzo,^[25] and exhibited disappointment when Argentina lost the 2014 World Cup final against Germany.^[26]

FIFA membership

Vatican City is one of only nine fully recognized sovereign states the national teams of which are not FIFA members. The others are the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom (though the UK's four "home nations"—England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—have individual FIFA teams each of which is also a member of the IFAB).^[3]

In 2006, UEFA spokesperson William Gaillard told a media outlet that he saw no reason why Vatican City should not have a national team in international competitions. He said, "We already have states of 30,000 citizens like San Marino, Liechtenstein, and Andorra. If the Vatican wants to become a member of UEFA all it has to do is apply. If it meets the requirements, it will be accepted". At that time Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone insisted that the Vatican's football future lies only in amateur games and competitions.^[27]

In May 2014, Domenico Ruggerio, president of the national football association, reinforced Bertone's words from eight years prior, stating that "I prefer to be amateur...To join FIFA, at that level, will be like a business" after stating "The important message of friendship and love is demonstrated by the sport — the real sport, not the business that is in football these days...It is not just important to win a match; it is how you carry yourself." Therefore, that, he added, meant that "the ethos of the Vatican’s soccer team was at odds with FIFA membership."^[3]

In an April 2019 interview Danilo Zennaro, football director of Vatican City, told the St. Galler Tagblatt that the association would also not seek membership in an alternate confederation like ConIFA because of "political reasons" such as the diplomatic strife that would ensue from being in the same organization as breakaway regions and disputed territories.^[28]

In May 2022, the association celebrated the conclusion of its fiftieth anniversary. Despite a history of contrary comments, among the topics discussed was the possibility of the association joining UEFA. It was revealed that Pope Francis spoke with UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin about the possibility when the latter visited the Pope ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 final.^[29]

Kit

In the past, the kit has been provided by Diadora. The shorts were all white while the top is solid yellow with a narrow blue and white line around the right upper quadrant of the body.^[30] The team's kit was then provided by Sportika SA until July 2021. The kit had an image of Saint Peter's Basilica ghosted on the front.^[31]

In July 2021 the association introduced a new kit by Joma. For the first time, the kits became readily available to the public as they were sold in the gift shop of the Vatican Museums with the profits benefitting Pope Francis's works of charity.^[32] The kit included a badge on the arm commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Vatican football association.^[29]

Complete international results

No.	Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	Vatican City scorers	Ref.
1	22 November 1994	Campo Pio XI, Rome	San Marino Amateurs	0–0	Friendly
2	23 November 2002	Stadio Pio XII, Albano Laziale	Monaco	0–0	Friendly		[33]
3	25 October 2008	Campo Pio XI, Rome	China U23	4–3	Friendly	Unknown	[34][35]
4	7 May 2011	Stadio Pio XII, Albano Laziale	Monaco	1–2	Friendly	Quarto	[33]
5	12 June 2011	Al-Khader Stadium, al-Khader	Palestine	1–9	Friendly	Unknown
6	22 June 2013	Stade Municipal Cap-d'Ail, Cap-d'Ail	Monaco	0–2	Friendly		[33]
7	10 May 2014	Campo Pio XI, Rome	Monaco	0–2	Friendly		[33]
8	29 April 2017	Campo Pio XI, Rome	Monaco	0–0	Friendly		[33]
9	23 March 2019	Campo Pio XI, Rome	Raetia	2–2	Friendly	Unknown	[36]
10	24 April 2022	A.S.D. Polisport Capoliveri, Capoliveri	Elba	2–4	Friendly	Unknown	[37]

Head-to-head record

As of 24 April 2022

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
Elba	1	0	0	1	2	4	−2	0.00
China U23	1	1	0	0	4	3	+1	100.00
Monaco	5	0	2	3	1	6	−5	0.00
Palestine	1	0	0	1	1	9	−8	0.00
Raetia	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	0.00
San Marino Amateurs	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	10	1	4	5	10	24	−14	10.00

Source: Results

Unofficial results

No.	Date	Venue	Opponents	Score	Competition	Vatican City scorers	Ref.
1	1985		Austrian journalists	3–0	Friendly	Unknown
2	1985		Selection of UN officials	3–3	Friendly	Unknown
3	3 February 2006	Campo Pio XI, Rome	SV Vollmond	5–1	Friendly	Unknown	[38]
4	18 June 2007		Nazionale Italiana Religiosi	3–0	Friendly	Unknown
5	23 October 2010		Guardia di Finanza	0–1	Friendly
6	3 February 2011	Rome	Station Carabinieri of Rome	9–1	Friendly	Unknown
7	10 August 2014	Mönchengladbach	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–8	Friendly	Unknown	[39]
8	14 May 2015		Nazionale Sindaci Italiana	5–3	Friendly	Unknown
9	17 June 2015	Campo Pio XI, Rome	Lutherstadt Wittenberg	1–0	Friendly	Unknown
10	20 June 2015	Campo Pio XI, Rome	FC Azzurri Schaan	2–2	Friendly	Unknown	[40]
11	12 May 2016	Campo Pio XI, Rome	Associazione Italiana Arbitri Seregno	1–1	Friendly	Unknown
12	13 August 2016	Mönchengladbach	Borussia Mönchengladbach	4–21	Friendly	Unknown
13	7 November 2016	Stadio Pietro Fortunati, Pavia	Fondazione Ospedale San Matteo	1–2	Friendly	Unknown	[41]
14	17 June 2017	Arthur-Lambert-Stadion, Wittenberg	Lutherstadt Wittenberg	0–2	Friendly		[42]
15	16 June 2018	Sportanlage Rheinwiese, Schaan	FC Azzurri Schaan	1–8	Friendly	Pouti	[43]
16	30 March 2019		Atlético Pop United	2–2	Friendly	Unknown
17	10 June 2019		WEINELF	1–1	Friendly	Unknown
18	15 June 2021	Centro Sportivo Ciriaci, Rome	Rappresentativa OPBG	2–3	Friendly	Unknown
19	21 November 2021	Formello Sports Centre, Rome	World Roma Federation	7–7	Friendly	Unknown
20	17 June 2023	Campo Pio XI, Rome	KSV Johannisthal	7–1	Friendly		[44]
21	12 October 2024	Käthe Tucholla Stadium, Berlin	KSV Johannisthal	2–3	Friendly		[45]

Final results

Up to matches played on 12 October 2024.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
Vatican City	31	8	10	13	71	94	−23	25.81
Total	31	8	10	13	71	94	−23	25.81

Source: Results

• Source(s): Sport in Vaticano, Sport in Vaticano, RSSSF, ELO

Coaches

The team has been managed by Giovanni Trapattoni in the past.^[46][47][48] His first match as manager was played on 23 October 2010 when Vatican City faced a team composed of Italian financial police.^[49]

Giovanni Trapattoni coached the team in 2010.

• Saverio Di Pofi
• Giovanni Trapattoni
• Gianfranco Guadagnoli
• Massimiliano Strappetti
• Omar Courtz

Historical kits

1990s Home

1998 Home

1998 Away

2000s Home

2000s-2010s

2008 Home

2011 Home

2016 Home

2016 Away

2020 Home

Special Pope Fratelli Tutti

50 year FA anniversary

Sources:^[50][51]

See also

• Sport in Vatican City
• Campionato della Città del Vaticano
• List of football clubs in Vatican City
• Index of Vatican City-related articles

Notes

1. "Chi siamo". Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
2. Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
3. Montague, James (12 May 2014). "A Friendly Game for a Beatific State". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
4. "Vaticano". fedefutbol.net. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
5. Ferrera, Elena. "VATICANO NEL PALLONE CON SQUADRE PAPALI" (in Italian). altrenotizie.org. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
6. Wimmer, Anian Christoph. "Abortion, LGBT activists disrupt Vatican women footballers' debut". catholicherald.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
7. Mattei, Giampaolo. "Lo scudetto vaticano? Ai Gendarmi E per gli Svizzeri". vatican.va. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
8. "Vatican Cup lifts spirits in Rome". FIFA. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
9. Saffer, Paul. "Pray as you play". Retrieved 19 March 2012.
10. Relano, Alfredo (20 December 2006). "Lo que el Vaticano quiere es Selección" (in Spanish). opinion.as.com. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
11. Colchester, Max (June 2010). "The World Cup For Everyone Else". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
12. Parada, Gonzalo. "La Selección de fútbol del Vaticano vuelve al verde césped" (in Spanish). gamacero.blogspot.com. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
13. "Vatican Football". The Path Less Traveled. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
14. "Praying for a win – the Vatican City at World Cup 2014?". Six Balls Between Us. 19 September 2010. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
15. Willey, David (19 December 2006). "Vatican plays down soccer 'joke'". BBC News.
16. "Fussball im Vatikan" (in German). 1. FC Ratzinger. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 15 May 2014.
17. Pradelli, Christian. "Trap ct della nazionale vaticana Sfiderà la Guardia di Finanza il 23/10" (in Italian). Sport Media Set. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
18. "Terremoto Centro Italia - Venerdì a Rieti la Nazionale italiana sindaci partecipa a triangolare di solidarietà" (in Italian). anci.it. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
19. Gerevini, Maria (4 May 2018). "Per la "nazionale" del Papa ora c'è uno sponsor (di)vino" (in Italian). corriere.it. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
20. "Pope: Football a moral guide to life". CNN. 10 January 2008.
21. "Pope heading to World Youth Day aboard 'Shepherd One'". news.com.au. 9 July 2008.
22. "Vatican slams Serie A Sunday lunchtime kick-offs". ESPN. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
23. "Vatican team will have the hand of God". Agence France-Presse. 18 December 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2007.
24. David Willey (19 December 2006). "Vatican plays down soccer 'joke'". BBC News. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
25. "Pope Francis to celebrate birthday with visit from his favourite football team". Catholic Herald. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
26. "Former Pope Benedict Please With Germany's World Cup Victory, Hopes Argentina 'Recovers Soon'". The Christian Post. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
27. "Vatican squashes soccer team idea". Italy Magazine. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
28. Lemmenmeier, Adrian (2 April 2019). "Abseits der Fifa: Der Fussball-Verband nicht anerkannter Staaten wächst – auch ein Team aus Graubünden ist dabei" (in German). St. Gallen Tagblatt. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
29. "Sport: presentata la maglietta per i 50 anni dell'Associazione ASD Sport in Vaticano. Card. Gambetti (vicario), "creare fraternità per vincere la partita della vita"" (in Italian). agensir.it. 17 May 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
30. "First half goals secure Monaco win against Vatican City". Non-FIFA Football. 23 June 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
31. "2017 Kit". Doing the 116. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
32. "THE OFFICIAL TEAM SHIRT IS FOR SALE AT THE VATICAN MUSEUMS". Sport in Vaticano. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
33. "World Football Elo Ratings: Vatican City". Eloratings.net. World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
34. "Vatican : Un pape, une équipe de foot, un observatoire". 13 March 2013.
35. "Le saviez-vous ? Le Vatican dispose d'une équipe nationale de football". 18 February 2022.
36. "Die FA Raetia duellierte sich mit der Papst-Elf". 24 March 2019.
37. "Elba Island – CONIFA profile". CONIFA. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
38. Keller, Giorgio (28 July 2005). "Vatican goes Serie A and try International!". Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
39. "Calcio Estero, Germania batte Vaticano 8-1: Gol di una guardia svizzera". 2014.
40. "Vatikan Fussballmeisterschaft 2018 / 2019".
41. "Rappresentativa Calcistica Dipendenti Vaticani History". sportinvaticano.com/storia-rappresentativa-dipendenti-vaticano/. Sports in the Vatican. Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
42. "Wenn der Vatikan Fußball spielt…". 18 June 2017.
43. "Vatikan ging in Schaan mit 8:1 unter". 19 June 2018.
44. "Vatikan-Fußballerinnen verlieren erstes internationales Spiel" (in German). vaticannews.va. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
45. "Kein Spielglück" (in German). Dom Radio. Retrieved 14 October 2024.
46. "'Lose well rather than win badly' - How Vatican City are taking on the world and losing". goal.com.
47. "Football thrives in Vatican City". fifa.com.
48. "The things they say: Giovanni Trapattoni". FIFA. Archived from the original on 31 May 2011. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
49. "Trapattoni betreut Vatikan-Auswahl" (in German). fussball24.de. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
50. "Vatican City". 25 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
51. "1990s". Facebook.

External links

• Vatican City men's national football team international games at RSSSF (in English)
• Official website
• (in Latin and Italian)
• CSI – Centro Sportivo Italiano (in Italian)
• Clericus Cup (in Italian)