Vatican City national football team

Vatican City

Shirt badge/Association crest
Head coach	Giovanni Trapattoni (as of 2010)
Home stadium	Stadio Pio XII
First colours Second colours
First international
Vatican City 0–0 Monaco (Rome, Italy; 23rd November 2002)
Biggest win
Vatican City 9–1 Stazione Carabinieri di Roma (Rome, Italy; 3rd February 2011)
Biggest defeat
Vatican City 1–2 Monaco (Rome, Italy; 7th May 2011)

The Vatican City national football team is the football team that represents Vatican City. They are one of only seven fully recognised sovereign states whose national team is not a FIFA member. The others are Monaco, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau.

Overview

The Vatican City have played only two full international games, against Monaco in 2002 and 2011, and a friendly game against San Marino.

In 2006, the Vatican City played SV Vollmond, a team from Switzerland, on a small field just outside of the Vatican; Vatican City prevailed 5-1.

The Vatican City squad consists of the Swiss Guards (voluntary military force drawn from male Swiss citizens) and museum guards (Italian citizens). Since only members of the Swiss Guard can get the citizenship of the Vatican and they cannot be amassed in large numbers for a long time, the national team can play only a few rare international matches, often drawing a fair amount of interested press.

Selected internationals

Full Internationals

23-11-2002	Vatican City	Monaco	0 - 0
19-12-2006	Vatican City	San Marino	0 - 0
??-10-2010	Vatican City	Palestine	1 - 9
07-05-2011	Vatican City	Monaco	1 - 2

Catholicus Cup

In 2007, the Catholicus Cup was played; this was intended as a "supercup" for representative teams following the Clericus Cup. The four teams included the Vatican national team, a team representing Italian priests and laity (Nazionale Italiana Religiosi), and two religious colleges. The final was contested between the Vatican and the NIR, and saw the Vatican run out 3-0 winners.

Other Games

18-06-2007	Vatican City	Nazionale Italiana Religiosi	3 - 0
23-10-2010	Vatican City	Guardia di Finanza	0 - 1
03-02-2011	Vatican City	Stazione Carabinieri di Roma	9 - 1

The Vatican's Stance on Football

The Vatican has typically expressed strong support for football. Former Pope John Paul II was reportedly a goalkeeper as a youth in Poland . The current pope, Pope Benedict XVI, is an ardent supporter of FC Bayern Munich since his youth growing up in Bavaria, Germany. Pope Benedict XVI 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." In October 2007, the Pope was presented with a #16 shirt (for Pope Benedict XVI) by A.C. Ancona of the Italian Serie B after Pope Benedict XVI supported their initiative to become a "beacon of morality" by adopting an "innovative, ethical model of practising football". In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI 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." 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.

See also

• List of football clubs in Vatican City