The Andalusia national football team is the national football team of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...

. They are not affiliated with FIFA or

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, because Andalusia is represented internationally by the

Spain national football team The Spain national football team ( es, Selección Española de Fútbol) has represented Spain in international men's football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football i ...

. It mostly plays only

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es.

History

In the first half of the 1920s, the ''Sur'' regional federation, which encompassed the

region and organised the Campeonato Regional Sur for the local clubs (dominated by

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

), decided to follow the examples of the Catalan and Centro regional federations and selected a representative team for occasional friendly matches, however, they instead made their official debut in a competitive match, in the 1922–23 Prince of Asturias Cup, an official inter-regional tournament organized by RFEF. They participated in two editions, being knocked-out in the semi-finals by the eventual Runner-up on both occasions. During the Iberoamerican Expo in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, 1929, Andalusia played a friendly match against

Club Atlético Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

in Estadio de Heliopolis, known today as Estadio Benito Villamarín. They rarely played again until 1963, when they were invited by the Castilian Federation to its 50-year celebrations, playing against

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

and then Castile. Two years later, during the Andalusia Football Federation's own 'golden jubilee', the regional select played against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

in Estadio Sánchez Pizjuán, Seville. In the early years of the 21st century, Andalusia played an annual fixture, usually each winter, facing the likes of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, Latvia,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. However, other than the regions such as

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

and the Basque Country with leanings towards independence whose matches draw larger crowds, matches were rarely played by the Spanish regions in the subsequent years as they did not prove cost-effective to arrange. The main exception to this situation was when Andalucia faced Madrid for the latter's federation centenary in 2013, a repeat of their 1963 encounter.

Selected Internationals

Coaches

José Enrique Díaz José Enrique Díaz Barrera (born 7 April 1953) is a Spanish Association football, football Coach (sport), manager. Managerial career Born in Seville, Andalusia, Díaz made his managerial debut with Tercera División side Riotinto Balompié, and ...

* Adolfo Aldana * Joaquín Caparrós * Manolo Ruiz Sosa

Notable players

* Kinké * Diego Tristán * José Antonio Reyes

References

External links