Slovakia national football team

2010 FIFA World Cup

Slovakia participated in the FIFA World Cup for the first time as an independent nation after finishing in first in Group 3 of 2010 World Cup qualification ahead of Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, and Poland. On 14 October 2009, they clinched qualification with a 1–0 away victory against Poland.^{[11][12][13][14]} On 24 June 2010, at the tournament proper, Slovakia finished second in the group stage after defeating reigning champions Italy in a game which ESPN dubbed "epic": the game saw three goals being scored after the 80th minute, two by Italy and one by Slovakia, as well as a disallowed goal by Italy flagged offside by "the tightest of decisions". The result led Slovakia to the knockout stage and eliminated Italy, who finished last in the group.^[15] 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.^{[16][17][18][19]}

In the round of 16, Slovakia played the Netherlands in the round of 16, falling behind 2–0 only to score a late goal from the penalty spot by striker Róbert Vittek, the last kick of the game in a 2–1 defeat.^[20] Despite elimination, Vittek's goal returned him to the top of the goalscoring charts, joint top with David Villa, until Villa himself later scored against Portugal in Spain's 1–0 victory in the same stage of the tournament.

UEFA Euro 2012

In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, Slovakia was drawn against Russia, the Republic of Ireland, Armenia, Macedonia and Andorra. 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. However, in October, they were easily beaten in Armenia (3–1) and drew 1–1 against the Republic of Ireland at home. In February 2011, the team was stunned in a 2–1 friendly defeat against Luxembourg and could only beat group minnows Andorra by one goal. Despite creating better chances, Slovakia earned a goalless draw with Ireland 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. For the first time since the Euro 1996 qualifying process, Slovakia finished a qualifying campaign with a negative goal differential. As a result of this outcome, coach Vladimír Weiss left his job after four full years, being replaced by his assistants Michal Hipp and Stanislav Griga, although both themselves were later replaced due to poor results.

By late June, former Czechoslovakia national team footballer Ján Kozák became the head coach after the unsuccessful qualifying campaign with a victory in Bosnia and Herzegovina followed by two defeats to Bosnia and Greece.^[21]

UEFA Euro 2016

In the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying, Slovakia was drawn against Spain, Ukraine, Belarus, Macedonia and Luxembourg. Slovakia began the qualifying campaign with a 1–0 victory against Ukraine in Kyiv. On 9 October 2014, Slovakia beat Spain 2–1 in a shock victory and claimed the first place.^[22] Slovakia's 3–1 victory over Belarus confirmed their status as group leaders. Later on, they won 2–0 against Macedonia in the Philip II Arena, beat Luxembourg with a score of 3–0 in Žilina, and beat Macedonia 2–1 on 14 June 2015, also in Žilina. The next matches were a 2–0 defeat against Spain, a goalless draw against Ukraine, and a shocking 0–1 home defeat against Belarus. Slovakia finished qualification by defeating Luxembourg 4–2 and got the second place, qualifying to their fourth European Championship, first as an independent nation.^[23][24][25]

Slovakia was drawn in Group B of Euro 2016 alongside England, Russia, and Wales. Slovakia began their tournament against Wales where Ondrej Duda scored Slovakia's first goal in the history of the European Championship in an eventual 2–1 defeat. Slovakia defeated Russia 2–1 with goals from Vladimír Weiss III and Marek Hamšík,^[26] then a goalless draw against England to advance to the round of 16 as one of the tournament's best third-placed teams.^{[27][28][29][30]} They were eliminated at this stage by 2014 FIFA World Cup champion Germany with a 3–0 defeat.^[31]

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

During the qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup, Slovakia was drawn in UEFA Group F. They were third in the group after the penultimate match ended in a 1–0 defeat to Scotland, who moved up to second place. Slovakia won their final group match 3–0 against Malta, and overtook Scotland after they failed to beat Slovenia,^[32][33] but they missed out on a play-off place as the other second teams' results went against them, meaning Slovakia finished as the worst group runners-up.^[34][35]

UEFA Euro 2020

Slovakia qualified for the UEFA Euro 2020 after a difficult away victory against Northern Ireland.^[36] Being drawn with Spain, Sweden. and Poland in group E, Slovakia beat Poland 2–1.^[37] However, Slovakia subsequently lost to Sweden 0–1 before getting thrashed by Spain 5–0, thus finishing third with the worst goal difference due to scoring own goals as a result of their performance. Slovakia was eliminated in the group stage for the first time ever.

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

The country finished third in 2022 World Cup qualifying behind Croatia and Russia, the latter of which would be banned from the final tournament due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. Despite the third-place finish in the group, the team dropped points to footballing minnows Cyprus and Malta.

UEFA Euro 2024

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.^[38] This meant Slovakia was placed as low as the fifth pot for the qualifying phase of the tournament, the worst position the country has ever been in and realistically must qualify directly for UEFA Euro 2024.^[39] Slovakia was drawn into a group with Portugal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. After a poor goalless draw in the first match against Luxembourg, the team won seven and lost two matches in total, both being narrow losses against Portugal (0–1 at home and 3–2 away). As a result, Slovakia qualified automatically for Euro 2024 by finishing second in their qualifying group.^[40][41][42]

The team was drawn in Group E of Euro 2024, together with Belgium, Ukraine, and Romania. In Frankfurt on 17 June, Slovakia produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the tournament by beating Belgium 1–0.^[43][44]

Slovakia eventually progressed to the knockout stage of the tournament. In the round of 16, they faced eventual runner-up England and lost 2-1 in extra time. Ivan Schranz became the joint-UEFA European Football Championship Top Goalscorer of Euro 2024.^[45]