Early football games in the British Virgin Islands were between British Royal Navy crew, and expatriates. In 1968, the British Virgin Islands team was founded by a team of Royal Engineers, and soon after, in 1973 the British Virgin Islands Football Association was founded. In 1974, it was affiliated by FIFA.[3] The former Tottenham, Chelsea and Porto manager, Portuguese André Villas-Boas had his first job as Technical Director of the national team British Virgin Islands in 2000 and 2001.[4]
World Cup qualification[]
In the qualifying rounds for the 2006 World Cup were drawn against St Lucia, and they were eliminated 10–0 on aggregate.[5]
In the qualifying rounds for the 2010 World Cup they were paired with the Bahamas. They lost on the away goals rule after a 3–3 draw over both legs. Both matches were actually played in the Bahamas, but British Virgin Islands were designated as the home team in the second match, which ended 2–2.[6]
Despite going out of the competition in the first qualifying round, the British Virgin Islands were the only side to enter the 2010 FIFA World Cup to remain unbeaten through qualification and the finals tournament (although New Zealand was undefeated in the finals tournament, they did lose a game in qualification.)
In the qualifying rounds for the 2014 FIFA World Cup they were in the unusual position of being favorites to win their two-legged tie against neighbors U.S. Virgin Islands. However, after losing the first leg 2–0 and the return leg 2–1, the British Virgin Islands once again failed to advance to the next round.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying rounds saw British Virgin Islands take on Dominica with both legs taking place in Dominica, with the first leg acting as BVI's 'home ground' due to the away goal ruling. Despite taking the lead twice, the Islanders fell to a 3 –2 defeat at 'home' and drew 0 –0 away. Meaning that once again first round qualification remained elusive.