The Shetland football team represents the islands of

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, in

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. It is not a member of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

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 ...

and is therefore not eligible to enter the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

or the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. The team regularly competes in the

Island Games The Island Games (currently known as the NatWest International Island Games for sponsorship reasons) are biennial international multi-sports events organised by the International Island Games Association (IIGA). Competitor teams each represent d ...

, which it won in 2005, and has a strong rivalry with the representative team of

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. This representative team should not be confused with Shetland FC, which was formed as a separate entity to compete during the mainland's winter season cup competitions - despite being separate entities, the teams share management staff and squad of players.

Venues

Shetland normally play their home matches at Gilbertson Park (capacity unknown, highest attendance approximately 5,000, sometimes referred to as "the Gibbie") in

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

. Some matches, particularly friendlies, are occasionally played elsewhere, often at Seafield (Lerwick) or Harbison Park (

Whalsay Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland. Geography Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...

). They sometimes go on tour to play pre-season friendlies against Highland League clubs in July.

Competitions

Beginning in 1929, Shetland played biennial matches against the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. These were initially played for the Adam Shield (donated by a Glasgow shipbuilding firm) and later for the North Atlantic Cup. The logistics of this required a 14-hour trip by boat trip and a week-long stay for the visiting team. The last such friendly was played in 1990, the same year that the Faroes joined UEFA. Shetland are neither a national team nor do they participate in league competitions, so they do not have many regular games. However, more recently, they have entered some of the cup competitions organized by the North Caledonian Football Association. The latest most noticeable event to take place in Shetland was the

2005 Island Games The 2005 Island Games were the 11th Island Games, and were held in Shetland, Scotland, from July 9 to July 15, 2005. Medal table Sports The sports chosen for the games were: External links Island Games 2005 Island Games Island Island ...

: many of the group matches were played on pitches all around Shetland, and the final was at Gilbertson Park.

2005 Island Games

Match: Final Shetland Islands 2 (0) V 0 (0)

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

Time: 16:00 Date: Friday 15 July 2005 Venue: Gilbertson Park

Group 1 matches

Current squad

This is the squad that competed at the 2020 Milne Cup held in Orkney. Goalkeepers Erik Peterson (C) (Ness Utd), Adrian Morrison (Whitedale) Defenders Andrew Flett (Spurs), Joel Bradley (Celtic), Tomas Smith (Ness Utd), Stuart Copland (Ness Utd), James Farmer (Ness Utd). Midfielders Sam Ward (Spurs), Calvin Leask (Thistle), Ronan Grant (Spurs), James Aitken (Celtic), Jack Clubb (Celtic), John Allen (Scalloway), Lewis Harkness (Spurs). Forwards Greg Tulloch (Whitedale), Paul Molloy (Spurs).

Notable players

* Duncan Bray - inducted in

University of Southern Indiana The University of Southern Indiana (USI) is a public university just outside of Evansville, Indiana. Founded in 1965, USI enrolls 9,750 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. USI offers program ...

Athletic Hall of Fame

Tournament records

Island Games record

N.B. Football was not played at the 2019 games due to lack of pitches in Gibraltar. A replacement tournament was held in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

where the side came 4th.

North Atlantic Cup

''Note: 2 points for a win era.''

Milne Cup

''Including Kirkwall vs. Lerwick'' * 61 Milne Cup wins

Mitchell and Sutherland Shields

Mitchell Shield

* 9 Mitchell shields wins

Sutherland Shield

* 2 Sutherland Shield wins

Selected International opponents

:''Last update: 26 July 2009''

Honours

: **Champions:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

* North Caledonian F.A. **Jock Mackay Cup: ***Winners: 2014–15

References

External links

Shetland matches on Roon ba)Shetlopedia entry on Shetland teamOfficial Shetland FA Page
{{Island Games football teams European national and official selection-teams not affiliated to FIFA Amateur association football in Scotland Sports teams in Scotland Football in Shetland Amateur association football teams