Slovakia

The Czech Republic is the opponent Slovakia measures itself against, and the two sides still call the fixture the "Federal derby" or the "Brother derby". They were one country until the "Velvet Divorce". The 1976 European Championship and the World Cup final appearances of 1934 and 1962 were credited to the Czech Republic as the successor state. Slovakia began with none of it.

The national team took shape in 1993. A first, unofficial match had already been played on 14 October 1992, a 1–0 loss to Lithuania. The first official game came on 2 February 1994 in Dubai, where Slovakia beat the United Arab Emirates 1–0.

The 2010 World Cup was the first big tournament the team reached under its own flag. Vladimír Weiss (Sr.) took the side to South Africa, and in the last 16 they beat Italy 3–2 before losing 2–1 to the Netherlands. Ján Kozák, who had been a celebrated player for Czechoslovakia, later coached the team at Euro 2016. Francesco Calzona led them to the same stage at Euro 2024, where England beat them.

Marek Hamšík is the player Slovakia measure everyone else by. He won 138 caps and scored 26 goals, and he is regarded as the best Slovak footballer. Róbert Vittek, with 23 goals, is another.

The shirts are blue with white shorts at home and white with blue shorts away. The 2018 kits carried a zig-zag pattern on the shoulders, taken from the Slovak Radio Building in Bratislava. The team plays at Tehelné pole, which holds 22,500.

The Nations League has been harder going. Slovakia went down from League B in 2019 and again in 2023, and they missed promotion from League C in 2021. They also failed to go up from League B in 2025.