Andorra

Author: Adam Beaumont

Mysterious historical photos: Women’s football in one of Europe’s smallest states

Andorra is a small principality in the Pyrenees, totally encapsulated by France and Spain, who each have a prince for the country. Their independence was cemented in 1278, with their Constitution only coming into play in 1993. The establishment of the constitution helped pave the way for some forms of international membership (such as the UN), although they’ve been recognised by the IOC since 1975. One of the smallest states in Europe, with a population just below 90,000, Andorra is primarily known for tourism, with a significant portion of that due to skiing. Consequently, they are no footballing powerhouse, but do have a surprisingly deep history in the sport. Few would consider the nation that usually sits towards the bottom of UEFA’s rankings to have played the likes of Brazil, China, the UAE, Cape Verde, Gabon, and even Tahiti!

The beginnings of Andorran football

The origins of football within the microstate don’t appear to have been fully explored, but the strong connections with known footballing powers France and Spain are likely to be the root. While it was fairly widespread across the 1920’s, organisation was not an apparent concern. Immigration from the Spanish Civil War across the late 1930’s brought in numerous Spaniards who boosted the sport’s popularity and led to the first formal steps into the footballing world. There’s evidence to show the initial steps of a football side forming by 1940, with 1942 bringing the actual establishment of FC Andorra, an Andorran club side within the Catalonian league system. They survive to this day, having played through many of the levels of the Spanish leagues, although their current squad contains few Andorrans.

Early data, even on their sole club side, is limited, let alone on those initial forays into women’s football so common across the rest of the continent. The lack of formal organisation in the 1920’s means that female participation (at least at a youth level) is plausible, but impossible to prove. Female spectators are pictured in the principality in 1949, showcasing some level of interest, although again there’s nothing to directly link this to any participation. With women’s football bans coming into place in both France and Spain, the hostility of their neighbours to the sport likely led to a similar dampening of interest, however.

Early women’s football

The first concrete roots of women’s football in Andorra are most likely to have come from Spain, once more. Both the shared language with Catalonia and the direct links with FC Andorra will have helped with this, but also that this was where the Spanish ban was least effective, with Catalan sides flaunting the ban towards its end. At the 1972 International Hotel Festival, an event started in 1967 by the Andorran Hotel Union to foster relations with similar entities in France and Spain, there was a women’s football match played at the main stadium in Andorra. Evidence also exists of a further men’s match in 1974 from the same event. The level of Andorran participation is unclear, as are results or even further context. One of the women’s sides is pictured holding a flag with the word “Barca” clearly visible, indicating that the local presence may have been minimal, but there was something there.

It is unclear how long the International Hotel Festival lasted, with evidence of it existing up to 1976, and unclear if football remained part of it. The 1970’s did bring local football a boost though, with an amateur league forming. Organisation was limited, with no overarching body to administer it, but it was enough to have matches with actual referees. This is likely to have continued at some scale into the 1990’s, with Andorra quick to set up a formal football association after their constitution was ratified. The FAF came into being in 1994, involving some of those players from the amateur leagues. They’d join FIFA and UEFA just 2 years later and their men’s national team would play a full international before the end of that year.

Long archival silence

On the women’s front, the picture is less rosy. After initial petitioning in 1967 and widespread signatures across the country for the ability to exercise political rights, it still took until 1970 for women’s suffrage to be formalised. They wouldn’t be allowed to be elected until 1973, showcasing fairly standard conservatives views of the time. This means that women’s participation in the informal leagues leading up to the FAF’s formation is doubtful. A 1997 report from FIFA listed Andorra as having 3 female employees in the FAF, and as having 37 players “with no previous evidence of interest in women’s sport”.  While the FAF would “like national and international competitions to stimulate growth” they had no responded to enquiries in 1996 and would not attend UEFA’s women’s football confederation in 1998 either. No evidence of these early footballers developing into anything more substantial has been noted.

First nationwide initiatives

A 2008 report from FIFA proves to be the next enlightening source on women’s football development. There, with FIFA’s requirements of spending on women’s football having started in 2004 and rising the following year, the FAF state they have school level play, registration from the age of 6 and some form of youth league in place. An U18 national side is also mentioned, although they notably ignore the questions on when any of these systems were set up and are not listed as participating in any youth Euros qualifiers of the time. Youth friendlies are notoriously hard to track, though these too seem unlikely.

With the growth of the women’s game inevitable at this point, the FAF would set up ENFAF as a club side in a very similar vein to FC Andorra. They would serve as a direct Andorran club in the local Catalonian league system from the 2010/11 season (although the FAF were not willing to confirm the date they were established). As the side hovered around the 6th/7th tier of Spanish women’s football, various youth levels of ENFAF would also compete, with the 2014-15 season solidifying 2 youth teams and an “A” team in the 6th tier at the lowest.

The national team’s late start

2014 would also bring about the first national team matches, with the initial matches being Andorra crossing the border and playing 3 Catalonian league sides. These led to their formal debut in the 2014 UEFA Development Tournament where they would play another side that was yet to participate in qualifiers in Gibraltar, the slightly more established Luxembourg, and, unusually, an Algarve FA representative side as the hosts. A loss to Luxembourg proved the only poor result from the trip and they deemed themselves ready for qualifiers.

A preparatory 4-0 loss by a weakened Andorra side to the Azerbaijan U21s proved a poor omen for the 2017 Euros qualifiers, with their opening 5-3 loss to Malta being the highlight. 8 and 7-0 losses to the Faroe Islands and Georgia would show that they still had some ways to go. After some friendlies across the intervening years, the 2019 World Cup qualifiers proved similar, with Andorra conceding 13 without reply across the 3 matches. The next 4 years would contain only 3 friendly matches for the senior side.

Recent developments

Meanwhile, on the club side of things, ENFAF would join futsal in Catalonia, though this would persist as youth sides ongoing. The A side would be promoted as high as the Preferent (tier 5) for the 2020-21 season, lasting two seasons there before being relegated and ENFAF B would enter the league system in 2021/22, with the pair being in the 6th and 7th tiers respectively since 2022-23. As they have no full scale league in their own country to play in, ENFAF are ineligible for the UEFA Champions League and thus Andorra remain one of the few UEFA members to have never participated.

Local youth leagues did get going across the 2010’s, forming as small scale tournaments (typically 5-a-side). These happen in several age brackets, though participation varies. For the 2022-23 season a senior league was formed for the first time, consisting of 4 sides in 6-a-side football. The expansion of the league to 8 sides in 2024-25 brought it up to 7 players, which would continue for the 10 sides in 2025-26 (1 team withdrawing). Pitches have rotated around the country, with Encamp, La Massana, and Escaldes-Engordany joining the capital in a slightly more limited but similar geographic spread to the men’s league system. While scorelines have been uneven (2024-25 was notable for only having 1 scoreline with 10 goals scored by a single team) and the scale of involved players is still incomparable to even the small men’s league system, the signs of development are there.

Back with the senior national side, their sole friendly post-Covid in 2021 brought their first home international win, with a 4-2 victory over Liechtenstein. This led to 8 matches across the first 18 months of 2022-23, playing the likes of Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands, Tahiti and Saudi Arabia. The inaugural season of the UEFA Women’s Nations League would mark their return to competitive action towards the end of the year and they’ve participated in all matches since. Though results have not been hugely positive, they have amassed 2 wins and 3 draws across their 3 campaigns to date. Friendlies have continued, primarily in double headers against fellow minnows Gibraltar too.

While no national futsal or beach soccer teams have played in the women’s game for Andorra yet, their youth national teams have been active almost as long as the senior side. The U17s debuted to chastening results in the qualifiers for the 2016 tournament, returning only in 2019 qualifiers to similar effect. 2024 qualifiers onwards mark their only other participations, with it being the first time they would compete in consecutive seasons. Their first goal came in November 2024 against Hungary, with their Round 2 performance in those qualifiers making history. A 0-0 draw with Belarus and 1-0 victories over both Israel and Albania would register their first positive U17 results and even promote them for the 2026 qualifiers, which they would return for! They would, however, immediately get relegated in Round 1 for 2026.

The U19 national side have only played in 2022 and 2023 qualifiers to date, becoming the first women’s youth team to appear in consecutive qualifiers. October 2021 brought the first Andorran women’s youth points with a 1-0 win over Moldova and further wins in Round 2 over Georgia (1-0) and Armenia (3-1) in April 2022. 2023 qualifiers contained no such positives.

Overall, Andorran women’s football has had little time in the modern era to develop. There is little clear evidence of much of their history and little/no deeper history for them to build upon. The small population strongly limits the ability ceiling of their teams, but positive results internationally at senior and youth levels, combined with 2 full senior sides at a club level do shows that the sport is well established. Where it goes from here is the question.

Disclaimer

The above is, by necessity, incomplete. While some data exists, the depth of research we prefer for Forgotten Heroines does not appear to be available. The FAF were unresponsive to even simple questions on ENFAF, with more complex queries likely to meet similar results. With thanks to the Catalonian FA for what information they were able to provide.