Albania

Although it never played any matches, the Albania national football team existed before the Albanian Football Association (Federata Shqiptare e Futbollit; FSHF) was created on 6 June 1930. Albania joined FIFA during a congress held between 12 and 16 June. Albania was invited to play in the 1934 World Cup, but did not take part due to logistical problems. Albania played its first international match against Yugoslavia in 1946, which ended in a 3–2 home defeat at Qemal Stafa Stadium. In 1946, Albania also participated for the first time in the Balkan Cup in which Albania won by beating Romania 1–0 in the final. In 1954, Albania was one of the founding members of UEFA. Albania waited until 1962 to compete for the first time in a UEFA Euro Cup competition, and the reason being Albania got past the first leg against Greece, for political reasons forfeited the game winning twice 0-3 and 3-0 and in Total 6-0 on Aggregate, to qualify so for the first and only time so far, for the Round of 16 in a UEFA competition. At the end of the tournament Albania ranked 9th in Europe. Albania participated at the 1964 Summer Olympics in the Men's qualification tournament, and closely lost both matches against Bulgaria in the preliminary round. They would participate for the second and last time at the 1972 Summer Olympics in which they faced Romania at the European qualifiers in the playoffs. Albania would lose both matches narrowly, 2–1 in the first leg and at home in the second leg.

Albania participated for the first time in a qualifying phase of a World Cup in 1966. The team was drawn in the Group 5, finishing in the last position with only one point from six matches. In the qualifiers of UEFA Euro 1968, Albania drew 0–0 against West Germany, denying the Germans a chance to participate in the finals. Albania did not participate in World Cup 1970, UEFA Euro 1976, World Cup 1978 and UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying for unknown political reasons.

After six years without playing any international matches, Albania entered the 1982 World Cup, managing to finish second-to-last in the qualifying stages. For qualifying for the World Cup four years later, Albania beat Belgium in Tirana 2–0 as well as drawing Poland in Mielec 2–2.

In the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, Albania only beat Greece. For the Euros two years later, Albania beat Russia 3–1 at Loro Boriçi Stadium. This match was also the debut of the German coach Hans-Peter Briegel who led Albania to an undefeated run in home matches. Despite good results, Albania finished in the penultimate spot with only eight points. Albania defeated Greece 2–1 two months after they won Euro 2004.

In Euro 2008 qualifying, Albania defeated Luxembourg twice, and also drew 2–2 with Belarus and 0–0 away with Bulgaria. Albania's Euro campaign ended with a 6–1 loss away to Romania which resulted in the resignation of coach Otto Barić and his assistant. In December 2007, Arie Haan was named Albania's head coach by signing a two-year contract for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Albania won only one match, with seven points from ten matches and Haan was replaced by Josip Kuže in May 2009 following the end of the campaign. However, Kuže failed to lead Albania to better results as the team ended the Euro 2012 qualifying with nine points from ten matches. With Kuže in charge, Albania recorded its second biggest win in history by defeating Cyprus 6–1 at home. Josip Kuže parted ways with Albania after three and a half years, and in December 2011, Italian coach Gianni de Biasi replaced him. Albania was, at one point, second in the 2014 World Cup qualifying group, but then lost to Slovenia and Iceland, as well as at home against Switzerland, and drawing in Cyprus.

Albania began UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group I with an emphatic 1–0 away win against Portugal, followed by a 1–1 draw against Denmark at the newly renovated Elbasan Arena. They then beat Serbia 3–0 in a match full of incidents. They finally qualified for a UEFA European Championship after beating Armenia in Yerevan 0-3, its first appearance in the country's history at a major men's football tournament.

In the tournament itself, Albania lost 1–0 to Switzerland to an early header in the 5th Minute from Fabian Schär despite being one man down to an Red Card for Lorik Cana Albania held it's ground as they came close to an equalizer as Shkëlzen Gashi as he missed an sitter in front of goali Yann Sommer. In the following match they lost 2–0 to the hosts France despite an close fought match being able to defend against the favourites until the last minutes conceding two goals from Dimitri Payet and Griezmann. While they beat in the third Group match Romania 1–0 by an header scored from Armando Sadiku before halftime, securing Albania's first ever win in a UEFA European Championship. The team finished last among the third-placed teams and were eliminated in the group stage.

In 2018 World Cup qualification, Albania was drawn in a group with Spain, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, and Israel. Despite the difficult draw, they placed third in the group, their best result in history without qualifying for the final tournament. During this time, manager Gianni De Biasi resigned after disputes with the FSHF and was replaced by Christian Panucci. Albania played poorly in the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, winning only once against Israel and losing the return leg as well as both matches against Scotland. Panucci would be sacked after a 2–0 defeat to Turkey in the opening match of UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying. Edoardo Reja replaced Panucci as Albania faced home and away series against both 2018 FIFA World Cup champions France and Iceland as well as the return leg against Turkey. In the end, Albania placed fourth in the group, failing to qualify.

After their close miss to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, in which Albania finished third in the group, in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying Group E Albania were drawn together with Czech Republic, Poland, Faroe Islands and Moldova. In the following matches Albania was undefeated, and secured the qualification for the second time in history for the UEFA European Championship at the UEFA Euro 2024.

At the UEFA Euro 2024. They were drawn into a "group of death" against Spain, Italy, and Croatia, all three opponents being Euros and World Cup medalists. With two losses to Spain and Italy and a draw against Croatia, the team finished at the bottom of their group and did not advance.

Albania is set to compete in the UEFA Nations League B in fall 2024, followed by qualification matches for the 2026 World Cup.