List of men's national association football teams

A majority of national association football teams in the world are members of FIFA or one of its affiliated continental confederations.

A notable exception is the United Kingdom, which is not a member of FIFA in its own right but is represented in the governing body by the teams of its four constituent countries.

Some national teams with FIFA membership have disappeared due to belonging to a sovereign state or dependent territory which split into two or more states or territories (examples include the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, or the Netherlands Antilles), or by part of the territory becoming independent (such as the Ireland national football team, which ceased to exist as such after reaching a compromise with FIFA and recognising the Republic of Ireland national football team as representative of the independent part of Ireland).

Even if only members of FIFA and its affiliated confederations are taken into account, there are more national association football teams in the world than those of any other sport.

The Arab Cup is the top championship tournament for national teams, organised historically by UAFA and by FIFA since 2021.

[9][10] Three states with limited international recognition and no UN membership are members of both FIFA and an affiliated confederation: the Republic of China (as Chinese Taipei), Kosovo, and Palestine.

Exceptions to this rule have included the British Home Nations (due to their seminal role in the development of football), Palestine (accepted into FIFA after the creation of the Palestinian National Authority),[17] the Republic of China (which does not enjoy wide recognition but is still accepted as representative of the Taiwan area), and certain dependent territories, autonomous areas, and protectorates which, on the grounds of their political autonomy, separate status, and/or distance from their parent state, have been allowed to hold membership in FIFA and/or one of its affiliated confederations.

At present, FIFA members include 23 subnational and dependent territories, as well as three states with limited international recognition.

[note 3] A further nine overseas, dependent, and autonomous territories with close ties to a sovereign state do not have membership in FIFA, but are members of one of its affiliated confederations (either in a full or associate capacity).

[18] In 2011, UEFA had already changed its statutes so that only countries recognised as independent states by the United Nations could join the organisation.,[19] while CAF rescinded Zanzibar's full membership (which had been approved only months before) in 2017 on the grounds that Zanzibar is not a country as defined by the African Union and the United Nations.

Whereas teams representing dependent territories have played matches and tournaments against each other since the early 20th century, in more recent times there has been a significant increase in the number of "national" teams representing states with limited recognition, former states, dependent territories, autonomous areas, or regional, sub-national, ethnic, cultural, diaspora, immigrant, language, and micronational groups.

This has led to the organization of international tournaments where these teams compete against each other, without recognition or approval from FIFA or any of its associated confederations.

Several organizing bodies not associated with FIFA have been in charge of these tournaments, providing an outlet to groups and regions who are not allowed to participate in FIFA-sanctioned football and in some cases functioning as a platform for teams which later began playing in competitions organized by FIFA and its confederations (including the Faroe Islands, Kosovo, and Gibraltar football teams).