Slovakia came close to secure a berth at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany after finishing second in their group ahead of Russia and behind Portugal, before drawing with Spain in their qualification play-off, in which the Slovaks lost by a wide margin on aggregate (1–5, 1–1).

The first official match of the first Slovak Republic was played in Bratislava against Germany on 27 August 1939, and ended in a 2–0 victory for Slovakia.

[11] Slovakia's first official international after regaining independence was a 1–0 victory in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates on 2 February 1994.

In the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, Slovakia finished fourth in their six-team group with five wins, one draw, and four defeats.

Their first four games in this were all wins, one of them against their Czech neighbors, helping the team reach their highest FIFA World Ranking to date, 17th.

[16] The result of this match meant that for the first time in World Cup history, both finalists from the previous tournament had been eliminated in the first round, champion Italy and runner-up France.

The campaign in South Africa boosted team performance ahead of the qualifiers, which started in September with two 1–0 wins against Macedonia at Štadión Pasienky and Russia away.

Four days later, after creating chances in a goalless first half, Slovakia conceded four goals to Armenia in a match that eliminated the team.

In the final two group matches, Slovakia was beaten at home by Russia (1–0) and drew 1–1 in Macedonia, finishing in a mediocre fourth-place position and scoring only seven goals in the entire process.

Slovakia finished qualification by defeating Luxembourg 4–2 and got the second place, qualifying to their fourth European Championship, first as an independent nation.

Slovakia defeated Russia 2–1 with goals from Vladimír Weiss III and Marek Hamšík,[27] then a goalless draw against England to advance to the round of 16 as one of the tournament's best third-placed teams.

After numerous poor results[clarification needed] in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, former Napoli coach Francesco Calzona was appointed as the manager on 30 August 2022.

[46] The Slovakia national football team plays its home matches at the Tehelné pole in Bratislava and the Štadión Antona Malatinského in Trnava.

[citation needed] However, in 2016, during the buildup to Slovakia's first appearance at the European Championship, Slovak Football Association introduced a new nickname for the team.

Despite a lack of immediate identification with the nickname by the fans, it went into usage during the tournament and the subsequent qualification for the 2018 World Cup and is now often used, especially in the media, along with Repre, which still remains to be preferred in an informal conversation.

In 2016, Slovak Football Association announced that the contract with Puma been terminated and national team was supplied by Nike, which had previously did so from 1995 to 2005.

The following table shows Slovakia's all-time international record, correct as of 19 November 2024 after a match against Estonia.Records with defunct teams are marked in italics.