Early years The first game of the Galician national football team took place on 19 November 1922 in
Coia,
Vigo, beating the
Centro team (which encompassed
Madrid and the wider
Castile region) 41 in the quarter-finals of the
192223 Copa del Príncipe de Asturias, an official inter-regional
tournament organized by
RFEF;– This was at a time when there was no national club championship per se, Galician teams would play each other in the
Galician Championship and the winner would then go on to face the other regional champions in the
Copa del Rey. Galicia then beat the
South team in the semi-finals again by a score of 41, with the star of the game being local hero
Ramón González. Their surprising campaign arose a wave of enthusiasm among the Galician fans, which prompted the Galician federation to organize several
friendlies in January and February 1923, as a warm-up for the final that would be held on the 25th February, and Galicia excelled, winning all 5 games with at least 3 goals scored in each, including an 8-2 win over an English Royal Navy XI and a 7-1 win over a
Ferrol/
A Coruña XI, the latter of which coming just 7 days before the final, with Ramón González showing great goalscoring form with a
hat-trick, but unfortunately, he was unable to play in the final due to injury, and without him, they ended up losing to
Asturias 1-3, despite scoring first thanks to
Balbino. Three months later they lost for a second time, this time to a
Lisbon XI (1-2). However, later political developments in Spain made it impossible for the Galicia national football team to take part in official competitions. Hence, after the Copa del Príncipe de Asturias was discontinued in 1924, all games were merely friendlies. The Galician national football team as such ceased all activity during the time of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship (1936–1975).
Revival in 2000s , 28 December 2006. , 27 December 2007. The project was retaken in the early 1980s, and the first match of the Galician national team after the dictatorship was supposed to be played on 24 July 1980 in
Compostela against the
Basque Country, but the players ended on holiday instead. In 1982, before the
World Cup in Spain, there was an attempt to organize a match against
Cameroon, but they failed in their efforts. Galicia had to wait 20 years to finally play again, facing the powerful
Uruguay on 29 December 2005.
Fernando Vázquez, a former
Mallorca and
Betis coach, was chosen as the coach, and he formed a Galicia XI which had the likes of
Diego López,
Ricardo Cabanas and
José Luis Deus. The
San Lázaro stadium was packed for the occasion and surprisingly, they found themselves 3-0 up with 10 minutes to go with goals from Deus (2) and
Nano, and even though Uruguay scored two late goals in a 3-2 Galician win, the Galician fans were very pleased with the team's performance. In December 2006, another game was contested against
Ecuador, played in
Riazor in
A Coruña and Galicia held them to a 1–1 draw. The following year, against
Cameroon, the result was the same, with Cameroon only equalizing thanks to a last-minute penalty converted by
Rigobert Song. In 2008, the
Irmandiña played another friendly game, this time against
Iran and won 3–2 with goals from
Nacho Novo (2) and
Roberto Losada.
Amateur era Changes in the composition of the
Galician Government after the 2009 elections resulted in a lack of official support for the national team. However, the supporters' group
Siareiros Galegos managed to organise a number of non-official international games involving Galician players from lower categories as a sign of protest, giving continuation to the project. These efforts were supported by a number of local governments, which would allow the use of their facilities. Galicia played teams representing
Palestine,
Western Sahara,
Iraqi Kurdistan and
Occitania in 2013.
Siareiros Galegos announced at that time that it would be the last match until further notice due to the financial situation. On 26 December 2015, however,
Siareiros Galegos did set up yet another game, where Galicia faced players representing
Senegal.
Second revival The current president of the FGF, Mr Louzán, days after the Senegal game, announced that the Federation would organise a first-level game again in 2016. It was mentioned that players from the top professional Galician teams,
Deportivo and
Celta, had lobbied in favour. A game was eventually held on 20 May in
Riazor, where Galicia met
Venezuela to a 1–1 draw. After the game, the Galician coaches mentioned the keen interest expressed by players to continue with the project and play more games on a regular basis. ==Official matches==