# Galicia national football team

The Galicia national football team is the official football team of Galicia. It is organised by the Galician Football Federation. The team is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and is, therefore, only allowed to play friendly matches.

## History
### Early years

The first game of the Galician national football team took place on 19 November 1922 in Coia, Vigo, beating the Centro team (which encompassed Madrid and the wider Castile region) 4–1 in the quarter-finals of the 1922–23 Copa del Príncipe de Asturias, an official inter-regional tournament organized by RFEF;– This was at a time when there was no national club championship per se, Galician teams would play each other in the Galician Championship and the winner would then go on to face the other regional champions in the Copa del Rey. Galicia then beat the South team in the semi-finals again by a score of 4–1, with the star of the game being local hero Ramón González. Their surprising campaign arose a wave of enthusiasm among the Galician fans, which prompted the Galician federation to organize several friendlies in January and February of 1923, as a warm-up for the final that would be held on the 25th February, and Galicia excelled, winning all 5 games with at least 3 goals scored in each, including an 8-2 win over an English Royal Navy XI and a 7-1 win over a Ferrol/A Coruña XI, the latter of which coming just 7 days before the final, with Ramón González showing great goalscoring form with a hat-trick, but unfortunately, he was unable to play in the final due to injury, and without him, they ended up losing to Asturias 1-3, despite scoring first thanks to Balbino. Three months later they lost for a second time, this time to a Lisbon XI (1-2). However, later political developments in Spain made it impossible for the Galicia national football team to take part in official competitions. Hence, after the Copa del Príncipe de Asturias was discontinued in 1924, all games were merely friendlies. The Galician national football team as such ceased all activity during the time of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship (1936–1975).

### Revival in 2000s

The project was retaken in the early 1980s, and the first match of the Galician national team after the dictatorship was supposed to be played on 24 July 1980 in Compostela against the Basque Country, but the players ended on holiday instead. In 1982, before the World Cup in Spain, there was an attempt to organize a match against Cameroon, but they failed in their efforts. Galicia had to wait 20 years to finally play again, facing the powerful Uruguay on 29 December 2005. Fernando Vázquez, a former Mallorca and Betis coach, was chosen as the coach, and he formed a Galicia XI which had the likes of Diego López, Ricardo Cabanas and José Luis Deus. The San Lázaro stadium was packed for the occasion and surprisingly, they found themselves 3-0 up with 10 minutes to go with goals from Deus (2) and Nano, and even though Uruguay scored two late goals in a 3-2 Galician win, the Galician fans were very pleased with the team's performance. In December 2006, another game was contested against Ecuador, played in Riazor in A Coruña and Galicia held them to a 1–1 draw. The following year, against Cameroon, the result was the same, with Cameroon only equalizing thanks to a last-minute penalty converted by Rigobert Song. In 2008, the Irmandiña played another friendly game, this time against Iran and won 3–2 with goals from Nacho Novo (2) and Roberto Losada.

### Amateur era

Changes in the composition of the Galician Government after the 2009 elections resulted in a lack of official support for the national team. However, the supporters' group Siareiros Galegos managed to organise a number of non-official international games involving Galician players from lower categories as a sign of protest, giving continuation to the project. These efforts were supported by a number of local governments, which would allow the use of their facilities. Galicia played teams representing Palestine, Western Sahara, Iraqi Kurdistan and Occitania in 2013. Siareiros Galegos announced at that time that it would be the last match until further notice due to the financial situation. On 26 December 2015, however, Siareiros Galegos did set up yet another game, where Galicia faced players representing Senegal.

### Second revival

The current president of the FGF, Mr Louzán, days after the Senegal game, announced that the Federation would organise a first-level game again in 2016. It was mentioned that players from the top professional Galician teams, Deportivo and Celta, had lobbied in favour. A game was eventually held on 20 May in Riazor, where Galicia met Venezuela to a 1–1 draw. After the game, the Galician coaches mentioned the keen interest expressed by players to continue with the project and play more games on a regular basis.

## Statistics
### Top Scorers

| Rank | Player | Goals |
| 1 | Ramón Polo Pardo | 8 |
| 2 | Ramón González | 7 |
| 2 | José Chiarroni | 7 |

## Honours

UEFA Regions Cup:
* Winners (1): 2023
Prince of Asturias Cup:
* Runners-up (1): 1922–23

## Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly against Panama on 31 May 2024.
    Caps and goals as of 31 May 2024 after the match against Panama
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
| 1GK | Álvaro Ratón | (1993-01-29) 29 January 1993 (age 32) | 1 | 0 | Wisła Kraków |
| 1GK | Fran Vieites | (1999-05-07) 7 May 1999 (age 25) | 1 | 0 | Betis |
| 1GK | Iván Villar | (1997-07-09) 9 July 1997 (age 27) | 1 | 0 | Celta |
| 2DF | Jonny Otto | (1994-03-03) 3 March 1994 (age 30) | 2 | 0 | PAOK |
| 2DF | Hugo Bueno | (2002-09-18) 18 September 2002 (age 22) | 1 | 0 | Feyenoord |
| 2DF | Álvaro Carreras | (2003-03-23) 23 March 2003 (age 21) | 1 | 0 | Benfica |
| 2DF | Carlos Domínguez | (2001-02-11) 11 February 2001 (age 24) | 1 | 0 | Celta |
| 2DF | Quique Fornos | (1997-01-01) 1 January 1997 (age 28) | 1 | 0 | Cultura Leonesa |
| 2DF | Germán Nóvoa | (1996-08-06) 6 August 1996 (age 28) | 1 | 0 | Arenteiro |
| 2DF | Lucas Taibo | (2006-03-02) 2 March 2006 (age 18) | 1 | 0 | Sporting CP |
| 2DF | Kevin Vázquez | (1993-03-23) 23 March 1993 (age 31) | 1 | 0 | Celta |
| 3MF | Álvaro Lemos | (1993-03-30) 30 March 1993 (age 31) | 1 | 0 | Las Palmas |
| 3MF | Álex López | (1988-01-11) 11 January 1988 (age 37) | 1 | 0 | Racing Ferrol |
| 3MF | Miguel Loureiro | (1996-11-21) 21 November 1996 (age 28) | 1 | 0 | Huesca |
| 3MF | Hugo Sotelo | (2003-12-19) 19 December 2003 (age 21) | 1 | 0 | Celta |
| 3MF | Diego Villares | (1996-06-17) 17 June 1996 (age 28) | 1 | 0 | Deportivo La Coruna |
| 4FW | Lucas Pérez | (1988-09-10) 10 September 1988 (age 36) | 2 | 0 | Deportivo La Coruna |
| 4FW | Iago Aspas | (1987-08-01) 1 August 1987 (age 37) | 1 | 1 | Celta |
| 4FW | Luis Rodríguez Chacón | (2000-05-30) 30 May 2000 (age 24) | 1 | 0 | Arenteiro |
| 4FW | Manuel Justo | (1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 (age 29) | 1 | 0 | Racing Ferrol |
| 4FW | Iker Losada | (2001-08-01) 1 August 2001 (age 23) | 1 | 0 | Betis |
| 4FW | Héber Pena | (1990-01-16) 16 January 1990 (age 35) | 1 | 0 | Racing Ferrol |
| 4FW | Miguel Rodríguez | (2003-04-29) 29 April 2003 (age 21) | 1 | 0 | Utrecht |

### Previous call-ups

The following players have been called up for recent fixtures and are still available for selection.
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
| GK | Diego Mariño | (1990-05-09) 9 May 1990 (age 34) | 1 | 0 | Almería | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| DF | Diego Alende | (1997-08-25) 25 August 1997 (age 27) | 1 | 0 | Andorra | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| DF | Angeliño | (1997-01-04) 4 January 1997 (age 28) | 1 | 0 | Roma | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| DF | Hugo Mallo | (1991-06-22) 22 June 1991 (age 33) | 1 | 0 | Internacional | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| MF | Pedro Mosquera | (1988-04-21) 21 April 1988 (age 36) | 1 | 0 | Alcorcón | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| MF | Pape Cheikh | (1997-08-08) 8 August 1997 (age 27) | 1 | 0 | DAC Dunajská Streda | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| MF | Denis Suárez | (1994-01-06) 6 January 1994 (age 31) | 1 | 0 | Villarreal | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |
| FW | Joselu | (1990-03-27) 27 March 1990 (age 34) | 1 | 0 | Al-Gharafa | v. Venezuela; 20 May 2016 |