Faroe Islands
Sports

The Faroe Islands have competed in every biennial Island Games since they were established in 1985. The games were hosted by the islands in 1989 and Faroes won the Island Games in 2009.

Football is by far the biggest sports activity on the islands, with 7,000 registered players out of the whole population of 52,000. Ten football teams contest the Faroe Islands Premier League, currently ranked 39th by UEFA's League coefficient. The Faroe Islands are a full member of UEFA and the Faroe Islands national football team competes in the UEFA European Football Championship qualifiers. The Faroe Islands is also a full member of FIFA and therefore the Faroe Islands football team also competes in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The Faroe Islands won its first ever competitive match when the team defeated Austria 1–0 in a UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying.

The nation's biggest success in football came in 2014 after defeating Greece 1–0, a result that was considered "the biggest shock of all time" in football thanks to a 169-place distance between the teams in the FIFA World Rankings when the match was played. The team climbed 82 places to 105 on the FIFA ranking after the 1–0 win against Greece. The team went on to defeat Greece again on 13 June 2015 by a score of 2–1. On 9 July 2015 the national football team of the Faroes climbed another 28 places up on the FIFA ranking. Recently, Faroe Islands achieved another famous victory by beating Turkey 2–1 in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League C, although this shock win did not prevent Turkey from achieving promotion to League B.

The Faroe Islands men's national handball team won the first two editions of the IHF Emerging Nations Championship, in 2015 and 2017. The team qualified for the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship in Germany where they ranked 20th out of 24 teams after the draw with Norway and tight games with Slovenia and Poland.

The Faroe Islands are a full member of FINA and compete under their own flag at World Championships, European Championships and World Cup events. The Faroese swimmer Pál Joensen (born 1990) won a bronze medal at the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) and four silver medals at the European Championships (2010, 2013 and 2014), all medals won in the men's longest and second longest distance, the 1500- and 800-metre freestyle, short and long course. The Faroe Islands also compete in the Paralympics and have won 1 gold, 7 silver, and 5 bronze medals since the 1984 Summer Paralympics.

Two Faroese athletes have competed at the Olympics, but under the Danish flag, since the Olympic Committee does not allow the Faroe Islands to compete under its own flag. The two Faroese who have competed are the swimmer Pál Joensen in 2012 and the rower Katrin Olsen. Olsen competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in double sculler light weight together with Juliane Rasmussen. Another Faroese rower, who is a member of the Danish National rowing team, is Sverri Sandberg Nielsen, who currently competes in single sculler, heavy weight; he has also competed in double sculler. He is the current Danish record holder in the men's indoor rowing, heavy weight; he broke a nine-year-old record in January 2015 and improved it in January 2016. He has also competed at the 2015 World Rowing Championships making it to the semifinal; he competed at the 2015 World Rowing Championship under-23 and made it to the final where he placed fourth.

The Faroe Islands applied to the IOC for full membership in 1984, but as of 2017 the Faroe Islands are still not a member of the IOC. At the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands were not allowed to compete under the Faroese flag; they were, however, allowed to compete under the Ligue Européenne de Natation flag. Before this, the Faroese prime minister Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen had a meeting with the IOC president Thomas Bach in Lausanne on 21 May 2015 to discuss Faroese membership in the IOC.

Faroese people are very active in sports; they have domestic competitions in football, handball, volleyball, badminton, swimming, outdoor rowing (Faroese kappróður) and indoor rowing in rowing machines, horse riding, shooting, table tennis, judo, golf, tennis, archery, gymnastics, cycling, triathlon, running, and other competitions in athletics.

During 2014, the Faroe Islands was given the opportunity to compete in the Electronic Sports European Championship (ESEC) in esports. 5 players, all of Faroese nationality, faced Slovenia in the first round, eventually getting knocked out with a 0–2 score.

At the 2016 Baku Chess Olympiad, the Faroe Islands got their first chess grandmaster. Helgi Ziska won his third GM norm, and thus won the title of chess grandmaster.

The Faroe Islands was given another chance to compete internationally in esports, this time at the 2018 Northern European Minor Championship. The team captain was Rókur Dam Norðoy.
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