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Vatican City national football team

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Vatican CityVatican City
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)il Guardia Svizzera Pontificia
(the Pontifical Swiss Guard)
AssociationFederazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio
Head coachItaly Giovanni Trapattoni
(as of 2010)[1]
Home stadiumStadio Pio XII
FIFA codeVAT
First colours
Second colours
First international
Vatican City Vatican City 0–0 Monaco 
(Rome, Italy; 23rd November 2002)
Biggest win
Vatican City Vatican City 9–1 Stazione Carabinieri di Roma Italy
(Rome, Italy; 3rd February 2011)
Biggest defeat
Vatican City 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.[2]

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.[3]

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 Vatican City  Monaco 0 - 0
19-12-2006 Vatican City Vatican City  San Marino 0 - 0[4]
??-10-2010 Vatican City Vatican City  Palestine 1 - 9
07-05-2011 Vatican City 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 Vatican City Italy Nazionale Italiana Religiosi 3 - 0
23-10-2010 Vatican City Vatican City Italy Guardia di Finanza 0 - 1
03-02-2011 Vatican City Vatican City Italy 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 .[5] The current pope, Pope Benedict XVI, is an ardent supporter of FC Bayern Munich since his youth growing up in Bavaria, Germany.[6] 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."[5] 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".[5] 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." [7] 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. [8][9]

Current squad

# Pos. Player
Goalkeepers
1 GK Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 1st Goalkeeper
12 GK Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 12nd Goalkeeper
17 GK Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 17th Goalkeeper
Defenders
2 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 2nd Defender
3 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 3rd Defender
5 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 5th Defender
8 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 8th Defender
14 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 14th Defender
15 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 15th Defender
16 DF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 16th Defender
Midfielders
4 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 4th Midfielder
9 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 9th Midfielder
13 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 13rd Midfielder
18 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 18th Midfielder
21 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 20th Midfielder
23 MF Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 23rd Midfielder
Strikers
6 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 6th Striker
7 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 7th Striker
10 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 10th Striker
11 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 11th Striker
19 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 19th Striker
20 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 20th Striker
22 FW Vatican City VAT Swiss Guard 22nd Striker

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Trapattoni to manage Vatican soccer team". cinews.ie. cinews.ie. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  2. ^ Willey, David (2006-12-19). "Vatican plays down soccer 'joke'". BBC News.
  3. ^ Paul Saffer (2006-12-29). "Pray as you play". UEFA. Retrieved 2009-03-12. [dead link‍]
  4. ^ Willey, David (2006-12-19). "Vatican plays down soccer 'joke'". BBC News.
  5. ^ a b c "Pope: Football a moral guide to life". CNN. 2008-01-10.
  6. ^ "Pope heading to World Youth Day aboard 'Shepherd One'". news.com.au. 2008-07-09.
  7. ^ http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=811643&cc=5901
  8. ^ News.com
  9. ^ David Willey (2006-12-19). "Vatican plays down soccer 'joke'". BBC News. Retrieved 2011-09-03.

Federazione Vaticanese Giuoco Calcio


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