Wikipedia

List of UEFA national association football teams by nickname

The following is a list of nicknames of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) national association football teams.

Nicknames

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  • Nicknames in italics are commonly used in English.
Team Nickname English translation Notes Ref.
 Albania Kuqezinjtë The Red and Blacks Depicts the colours of the flag of Albania.[citation needed] [1]
Shqiponjat / Shqipet The Eagles The eagle is one of the national symbols of Albania. The crossed hands gesture, which symbolizes an eagle, is sometimes used as a celebration by Albanian players. [2]
 Andorra La Seleccio Tricolor The Tricolour Selection The flag of Andorra is a vertical tricolour of blue, yellow, and red with the country's coat of arms. [3]
 Armenia Հավաքական The Collective Team From the Armenia national football team. [4][5]
 Austria Wunderteam Wonder Team In the 1930s led by Manager Hugo Meisl, the team earned the Nickname after a 14 matches undefeated run. [6]
 Azerbaijan Milli Komanda The National Team
 Belarus Белыя Крылы The White Wings In August 2016, the Football Federation of Belarus announced that the team's nickname would be the "White Wings". The name was influenced by the book The Land Beneath White Wings (1977) by famous Belarusian writer Uladzimir Karatkievich. [4]
 Belgium De Rode Duivels
Les Diables Rouges
Die Roten Teufel		 The Red Devils In 1906, the Belgium national team players received the nickname Red Devils because of their red jersey. [4]
 Belgium (Women) The Red Flames [7]
 Bosnia and Herzegovina Zmajevi The Dragons Popularized by football TV commentator Marjan Mijajlović during Belgium vs. Bosnia 2010 World Cup qualification game on 28 March 2009. A historical allusion to general Husein Gradaščević, who fought for independence, and was known as the "Dragon of Bosnia". [4]
Zlatni Ljiljani The Golden Lilies Sometimes referred to as the Golden Lilies, which was an original nickname given to all the country's teams and sportsmen or Women by fans after independence in reference to official state insignia at the time (flag and coat of arms). [8]
 Bulgaria Лъвовете The Lions The coat of arms of Bulgaria consists of a crowned golden lion rampant over a dark red shield. The Lion is the national animal of Bulgaria. [4]
 Croatia Vatreni The Fiery Ones Vatra means Fire in Croatian. [9][10]
Kockasti The Chequered Ones The Croatian checkerboard is the national symbol of Croatia. [11]
 Cyprus Η γαλανόλευκη The White and Blues The Naval Jack of Cyprus is blue with a white cross. [4]
 Czech Republic Nároďák The National Team Narod translates to the people in English [9]
Lokomotiva The Locomotive The Czech Republic is one of the world biggest Locomotive builders led by Škoda. [9]
 Denmark The Danish Dynamite Mainly relating to the Danish team of the 1980s. [12]
De Rød-Hvide The Red-Whites From the Danish flag which is red and white. [13]
 England The Three Lions The three lions symbol was first recorded in 1198 when a red crest with three gold lions was used as a coat of arms by Richard I. [9]
 England (Women) The Lionesses [14]
 Estonia Sinisärgid The Blue shirts From their home kit which traditionally consists of a blue shirt. [15]
 Faroe Islands Landsliðið The National Team Landsliðið means National Team in Faroese. [4]
 Finland Huuhkajat The Eagle Owls Huuhkajat means Owls in Finnish. [16]
 Finland (Women) Helmarit The Pearl Owls [17]
 France Les Bleus The Blues Because of the traditional color of their uniforms which is blue. [9]
 Georgia ჯვაროსნები The Crusaders Legend tells of Crusaders who left France 800 years ago and became detached from the main army, marched through Turkey and Armenia and settled in the Greater Caucasus mountains in Georgia. [4]
 Germany DFB-Team DFB Team [18]
Die Nationalelf The National Eleven [19]
DFB-Elf DFB Eleven [20]
 Gibraltar Team 54 Gibraltar was the 54th nation to join UEFA. [21]
 Greece Η Εθνική The National Team Η Εθνική (Ethnikí) means the National team in Greek. [22]
Το Πειρατικό The Pirate Ship Unofficial nickname given after the Euro 2004 win. [23]
 Hungary Nemzeti Tizenegy National Eleven From the teams starting 11 players. [24]
 Iceland Strákarnir okkar Our Boys Strákarnir okkar means our boys in Icelandic. [4]
 Israel הכחולים-לבנים The Skyblue and Whites (HaTkhulim-Levanim) From the Hebrew words for the original colors of the Flag of Israel (as well as the colors of the capital city of Israel's emblem as depicted in the Coat of Arms of Jerusalem), which is two skyblue horizontal stripes framing a skyblue Star of David on top of white background. [25]
הנבחרת The Chosen Team (HaNivcheret) From the shortened Modern Hebrew term used primarily for the selected national sportspeople, combined with the biblical Hebrew term of the Chosen people that alludes to the Jews and the Israelites. [26]
 Italy La Nazionale The National Team From the Italian National Team. [27]
Gli Azzurri The Blues The colour blue originates from the House of Savoy coat of arms, which had a blue background. [28]
 Italy (Women) Le Azzurre The Blues (female)
 Kazakhstan Казахстанские барсы The Kazakh Leopards (Kazakhstanskiye Barsi) Refers to the snow leopard, one of the rarest animals in Kazakhstan and a symbol of the Kazakh people. [4]
 Kosovo Dardanët The Dardanians The Dardani was an Indo-European tribe that settled in the region of present-day Kosovo. [29]
 Latvia 11 vilki 11 wolves From the teams starting 11 players. [4]
 Liechtenstein Nati Short for "National". From "Nationalmannschaft", the German for "National team". [4]
 Lithuania Rinktinė The National Team Rinktinė means national team in Lithuanian. [4]
 Luxembourg d'Roud Léiwen The Red Lions d'Roud Léiwen means red lions in Luxembourgish. [30]
 Malta Knights of St. John The Order of the Knights of St John was a Catholic Military Order established in 603 [4]
 Moldova Selectionata The Selection From the chosen ones or the chosen [4]
 Montenegro Hrabri Sokoli The Brave Falcons From the Falco vespertinus which are native to Montenegro. [31]
 Netherlands Oranje Orange Orange is the colour of the Dutch royal family. [9]
Clockwork Orange Nickname of the 1970s the Dutch team, famous for its precision passing. [32]
The Flying Dutchmen Wordplay associated with the legendary ship the Flying Dutchman [33]
 Netherlands (Women) Oranjeleeuwinnen Orange Lionesses The Lion is one of the national symbols of the Netherlands, orange is its national color. [34][35]
 North Macedonia Црвени Рисови The Red Lynx The Balkan lynx is a national symbol. [4][36]
Црвено-Жолти The Red-Yellow From the Macedonian flag which is red and yellow. [4]
 Northern Ireland Norn Iron Slang term for "Northern Ireland". [37]
 Norway Drillos Used during the tenure of Egil "Drillo" Olsen. [38]
 Poland Biało-czerwoni The White and Reds From the polish flag which is white and Red. [4]
Orły The Eagles From the polish coat of arms which depicts white crowned eagle on red field. [9]
 Portugal Seleção das Quinas Team of the quinas From the group of 5 shields and the 5 groups of 5 bezants present in the Coat of arms of Portugal, known in Portuguese as "Quinas". [9]
 Republic of Ireland Na Buachaillí i nGlas The Boys in Green The green in Ireland's tricolor flag is meant to represent Ireland's Catholic heritage and nationalism. [4]
 Romania Tricolorii The Tricolours From the Romanian flag that has three colors. [39][40]
 Russia Наши парни
Сборная		 Our Guys
The National Team		 Сборная means national team in Russian. [4]
 San Marino La Serenissima The Most Serene The Republic of San Marino is unofficially as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino. [41]
 Scotland The Tartan Terriers Refers to Scottish terriers amongst other Scottish dog breeds.
 Serbia Бели Орлови White Eagles From the Serbian double-headed heraldic eagle, a common symbol in the nation's heraldry and vexillology [4]
 Slovakia Repre Short for "Národná reprezentácia" (The National Team) From the Slovak national team meaning. [4]
Národný tím National Team [4]
Bojovní Jondovci The Fighting Jondas From the Slovak word meaning warrior. [4]
Sokolíci The Falcons The falcon is the unofficial Slovak national animal.
 Slovenia Zmajčeki The Dragons A dragon is a large, serpent-like legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures around the world. There is also a myth that the Ljubljana Dragon protects the capital city, Ljubljana. [42]
 Spain La Roja The Red One "La Furia Roja", means the Red Fury in Spanish. [43][44]
 Sweden Blågult The Blue-Yellow From the Swedish flag which is Blue and Yellow [4]
  Switzerland Nati Short for "Nationalmannschaft" (The National Team) From Nationalmannschaft which means National team in German. [4]
 Turkey Ay Yıldızlılar The Crescent-Stars The crescent and the star, present on the flag, are the national symbols of Turkey. [4]
 Ukraine Синьо-жовті The Blue and Yellows From the flag of Ukraine. [9][45]
 Wales Y Dreigiau The Dragons The Welsh Dragon is the national symbol of Wales. [4]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Liverpool 2 - 1 Swansea City Match preview - 10/28/14 League Cup - Goal.com". Goal.com. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. ↑ "Shqiponjat e vitit – Shaqiri dhe Xhaka". KOHA.net (in Albanian). 31 December 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  3. ↑ "Football (Soccer) Team Nicknames". Topendsports.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 "Football (Soccer) Team Nicknames". Topendsports.com.
  5. ↑ "Ազգային Հավաքական". www.ffa.am. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  6. ↑ disputed; nickname for teams of 1934 and 1938
  7. ↑ "Red Flames will play Norway and Ireland in April". royal-belgian-football-association.prezly.com. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Are the boys from Bosnia ready to make their mark on world football?". Outside of the Boot. 12 January 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "World Cup '06: Team Nickname Guide". The New York Times. 8 July 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  10. ↑ Hughson, John; Skillen, Fiona (14 October 2015). Football in Southeastern Europe: From Ethnic Homogenization to Reconciliation. Routledge. ISBN 9781317749295.
  11. ↑ "Snup Dog obukao kockasti dres i izazvao delirijum među navijačima Hrvatske! (FOTO)". Telegraf.rs (in Croatian). 12 July 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  12. ↑ Smyth, Rob; Eriksen, Lars; Gibbons, Mike (29 April 2014). "Danish Dynamite: the Story of Football's Greatest Cult Team – extract". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "de rød-hvide — Den Danske Ordbog". Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  14. ↑ "England Women vs Cameroon Women Prediction". Betting hits. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  15. ↑ "Sinisärgid võõrustavad Itaaliat 3. septembril - Õhtuleht". Archive.is. 10 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  16. ↑ Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa HS.fi – Kaupunki
  17. ↑ "Helmarit nimetty MM-karsinta-avaukseen Serbiaa vastaan" (in Finnish). Football Association of Finland. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Das DFB-Team hat gar nicht immer Adidas-Trikots getragen". ntv.de. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  19. ↑ "Die Nationalelf vs the Azzurri: Germany's top 5 clashes with Italy". bundesliga.com - the official Bundesliga website. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
  20. ↑ Becker, Thomas (30 June 2026). "Noten: Tah die tragische Figur bei Deutschlands WM-Debakel". www.abendzeitung-muenchen.de (in German). Retrieved 11 July 2026.
  21. ↑ "Gibraltar Team54". team54.gi. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  22. ↑ "Εθνική Ελλάδας | SPORT 24". www.sport24.gr. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  23. ↑ athina (3 July 2018). "Θυμάστε το "πειρατικό" που έκανε την Ευρώπη να παραμιλάει; Η Ελλάδα νίκησε στον τελικό την Πορτογαλία 1-0 και αναδείχτηκε πρωταθλήτρια στο Euro 2004. Ο αγώνας που ένωσε τους Έλληνες". ΜΗΧΑΝΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟΥ (in Greek). Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  24. ↑ "Így köszöntötte a nemzeti tizenegy a szurkolókat". VEOL (in Hungarian). 24 December 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  25. ↑ "פלסטין צפויה לעבור את ישראל בדירוג פיפ"א". mako. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  26. ↑ "פלסטין צפויה לעבור את ישראל בדירוג פיפ"א". mako. 17 November 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  27. ↑ "Quagliarella si prende la Nazionale. E il cuore della Salvalaggio". Virgilio Sport (in Italian). 5 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  28. ↑ "Perché gli Italiani si chiamano Azzurri (e non solo nel calcio)?". superEva (in Italian). 14 June 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  29. ↑ "Kosovo Could Have A Very Strong First XI". www.sportbible.com. 15 June 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  30. ↑ "Tag archives : Roud Léiwen". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  31. ↑ "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia - News - Brave Falcons on the rise". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  32. ↑ "Holland football facts". www.holland.com. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  33. ↑ "Holland's media-friendly football pros | Radio Netherlands Worldwide". 12 October 2013. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  34. ↑ "Orange Lionesses". KNVB. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  35. ↑ "Women's World Cup 2019 team guide: No 20: Netherlands". The Guardian. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  36. ↑ "Latvia vs FYR Macedonia". Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  37. ↑ "News in Brief", 13 October 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk
  38. ↑ Elster, Kristian (31 October 2010). ""Drillos" fyller 20 år". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  39. ↑ "Tricolorii- echipa nationala a Romaniei", http://www.tricolori.ro Archived 29 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  40. ↑ "Tricolorii squad named," romania.worldcupblog.org, 6 October 2008
  41. ↑ "Calcio". CONS San Marino (in Italian). Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  42. ↑ "Rusi pobijedili Sloveniju i ostali usamljeni na vrhu naše grupe". 24sata.hr. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  43. ↑ Grove, Daryl (19 June 2010). "An explanation: 2010 World Cup team nicknames". Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo! Inc. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  44. ↑ . 17 May 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140517150613/http://furiaroja.org/. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2018. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  45. ↑ "Super Eagles vs Yellow Blue Showdown is in September". Betting Hits Nigeria. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2019.

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