The São Tomé and Príncipe national football team is the national association football team of São Tomé and Príncipe and is controlled by the São Toméan Football Federation. It is a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA.^[2]

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

São Tomé and Príncipe

Nickname(s)	Seleção dos Falcões e Papagaios (Falcons and True Parrots Team) Guerreiros do Equador (Warriors of the Equator)
Association	Federação Santomense de Futebol (FSF)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	UNIFFAC (Central Africa)
Head coach	Adriano Eusébio
Captain	Luís Leal
Most caps	Joazhifel Soares (29)
Top scorer	Luís Leal (11)
Home stadium	Estádio Nacional 12 de Julho
FIFA code	STP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	188 3 (4 April 2024)[1]
Highest	115 (March 2012)
Lowest	200 (September – October 2007)
First international
Gabon 6–1 São Tomé and Príncipe  (Libreville, Gabon; 2 May 1976)
Biggest win
São Tomé and Príncipe 2–0 Equatorial Guinea  (Libreville, Gabon; 14 November 1999)  São Tomé and Príncipe 2–0 Sierra Leone  (São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe; 8 April 2000)  Mauritius 1–3 São Tomé and Príncipe  (Belle Vue Harel, Mauritius; 9 October 2019) </nowiki>
Biggest defeat
Congo 11–0 São Tomé and Príncipe  (Libreville, Gabon; 7 July 1976)

Close

São Tomé and Príncipe's first ever match was a friendly against Gabon in May 1976. They lost by a score of 6–1. Their next game, during the 1976 Central African Games, was a horrendous 11–0 loss to Congo, São Tomé's largest loss to date. São Tomé rounded off the competition with a 2–1 loss to Central African Republic and a 5–0 loss to Chad.

The following year, São Tomé picked up their first win, in a friendly versus Rwanda. In both 1978 and 1987 they achieved a draw at home to Angola.

The Green and Yellows took an eleven year break, before a string of matches including their first entry to a FIFA sanctioned tournament. At the UNIFAC Cup in 1999, they achieved their second win, 2–0 against Equatorial Guinea. They won the next game after that, against Sierra Leone, 2–0. This two-in-a-row streak accompanied with a draw a few matches later placed them at their highest FIFA ranking to date, 179.

In 2003, São Tomé lost to Libya 1–0 and 8–0, which was a major blow to their previous success.^[3] São Tomé did not participate in the qualification for the 2010 World Cup, withdrawing before their first match, leaving them unranked in the FIFA rankings because they did not play any matches for four years.

On 11 November 2011, after an eight-year hiatus, São Tomé and Príncipe participated in the qualification for the 2014 World Cup, losing to Congo 5–0, then drawing 1–1 with the same team four days later. São Tomé were reinstated in the FIFA rankings on 23 November 2011, entering at number 192.

In January 2012, in the preliminary round of 2013 AFCON Qualifiers, São Tomé achieved their first ever aggregate win, defeating Lesotho 1–0 at home then successfully defending a 0–0 draw in Maseru seven days later. In the next round, São Tomé only narrowly lost 5–4 on aggregate to Sierra Leone. In the following years, São Tomé continued to show promise with impressive wins at home to Ethiopia and Libya but poor away results prevented them from advancing again.

On 9 October 2019, São Tomé defeated Mauritius 1–3 away from home in the first leg of their preliminary round tie of 2021 AFCON Qualifiers. This was São Tomé and Príncipe's first away win in a competitive match ever. Four days later, São Tomé won 2–1 at home to advance 5–2 on aggregate and enter Group C, facing Ghana, South Africa and Sudan, where they finished bottom with zero points.

During the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, São Tomé faced Mauritius, winning the first leg 1–0 before drawing the second leg 3–3 to advance to the group stages. Following the fixtures CAF sanctioned São Tomé for their first leg victory as they hadn't followed COVID protocol for Luis Leal, giving Mauritius a 3–0 victory and eliminating São Tomé from the competition.^[4] São Tomé appealed the decision and, following an initial unsuccessful ruling, they were reinstated by CAF a week before the first qualifying group game.^[5]

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

São Tomé and Príncipe  v  Sierra Leone

26 March 2023 AFCON qualification	São Tomé and Príncipe	0–2	Sierra Leone	Agadir, Morocco
16:00 UTC±0		Report	Samura 7' Alh. Koroma 28'	Stadium: Adrar Stadium Referee: Jean Philippe Vlei Patrick Tanguy (DR Congo)

São Tomé and Príncipe  v  Guinea-Bissau

14 June 2023 AFCON qualification	São Tomé and Príncipe	0–1	Guinea-Bissau	Bissau, Guinea Bissau
16:00 UTC±0		Report	Gano 55'	Stadium: Estádio 24 de Setembro Referee: Jean Ouattara (Burkina Faso)

Nigeria  v  São Tomé and Príncipe

10 September 2023 AFCON qualification	Nigeria	6–0	São Tomé and Príncipe	Uyo, Nigeria
17:00 UTC+1	Osimhen 13', 69' (pen.), 79' Lookman 27' Awoniyi 51' Chukwueze 84'	Report		Stadium: Godswill Akpabio International Stadium Referee: Lahlou Benbraham (Algeria)

Tunisia  v  São Tomé and Príncipe

17 November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	Tunisia	4–0	São Tomé and Príncipe	Radès, Tunisia
20:00 UTC+1	Meriah 37' Msakni 53' Rafia 79' Firas 88'	Report		Stadium: Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Joseph Odey Ogabor (Nigeria)

São Tomé and Príncipe  v  Namibia

21 November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	São Tomé and Príncipe	0–2	Namibia	Agadir, Morocco
17:00 UTC+1		Report	Tjiueza 9' Mateus 75' (o.g.)	Stadium: Agadir Stadium Referee: Ousmane Diakate (Mali)

2024

São Tomé and Príncipe  v  South Sudan

22 March 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

São Tomé and Príncipe

1–1

South Sudan

South Sudan  v  São Tomé and Príncipe

26 March 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

South Sudan

0–0

São Tomé and Príncipe

As of 21 November 2023^[7]

Players in bold are still active with São Tomé and Príncipe.