CONIFA World Football Cup
Founded2014 (2014)
RegionInternational
Current champions Kárpátalja (1st title)
Most successful team(s) Abkhazia
 County of Nice
 Kárpátalja
(1 title each)
2024 CONIFA World Football Cup

The CONIFA World Football Cup is an international football tournament organized by CONIFA, an umbrella association for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA, which has been held every two years since 2014. This tournament is the successor of the Viva World Cup which was held from 2006 to 2012.[1]

Hosting

Map of ConIFA World Football Cup Tournaments

CONIFA is an organisation that provides an outlet for countries, sub-national entities, stateless peoples and ethnic minorities to play international football. Because a number of their members represent diasporas or displaced peoples, it is not always possible for the host of the World Football Cup to be able to hold the competition in their own "territory". As a consequence of this, CONIFA defines the "host" of the World Football Cup as being the member association that heads the organising committee, whether or not the tournament is actually played in the geographical area that the host association represents.[2]

History

Sápmi 2014

In May 2013, CONIFA announced that Sápmi had been chosen to host the inaugural CONIFA World Football Cup in Östersund, Sweden. It was an invitational tournament[3] played between 1 and 8 June 2014, with all matches being held in the 5092-capacity Jämtkraft Arena.[4]

Twelve teams took part in the tournament.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Catalonia[11] and Rapa Nui[12] were thought to be potential participants, but ultimately declined or withdrew.

In parallel with the tournament, a festival celebrating the cultural diversity of the teams involved was held in Östersund.[13]

Of the twelve invited teams, eight had previously participated at the Viva World Cup.

The draw initially included Quebec and Zanzibar. However, in May 2014, it was announced that both Quebec and Zanzibar had withdrawn from the tournament. The Quebec team had affiliated with the Fédération de soccer du Québec, with the intention that the FSQ eventually apply for membership of CONCACAF. To this end, the team will only play internationals against full national teams that are members of either CONCACAF or FIFA, and will no longer participate in Non-FIFA Football.[14] The Zanzibar team were unable to obtain visas to enter Sweden and were thus forced to pull out of the tournament.[15] Quebec's place was taken by South Ossetia, while Zanzibar were replaced by County of Nice.

Abkhazia 2016

The 2016 tournament was the first to feature a measure of qualification, rather than all of the teams being invited. In April 2015, CONIFA, during its announcement of the final make up of the 2015 European Football Cup, that the top three teams in that competition would gain automatic entry into the 2016 WFC.[16] Also in April, the Ellan Vannin team announced it would play two charity matches against Alderney, which would also serve as warm up games for the Island Games tournament in which both Alderney and the Isle of Man were competing.[17] Subsequently, in May 2015, two weeks before the scheduled dates of the two games, CONIFA and the MIFA announced that it had been expanded to four teams, with both Panjab and Felvidék also taking part; CONIFA also announced that the winner of the expanded Niamh Challenge Cup would gain automatic entry into the 2016 World Football Cup.[18] A further four team tournament, the Benedikt Fontana Cup, was announced to be hosted by the Raetia FA to run during the European Football Cup. This would also feature Felvidék, as well as the hosts and Chagos Islands, and would also serve as a qualification tournament for the World Football Cup.[19]

In December 2015, following advice from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office over security concerns regarding travel to Abkhazia, the Manx Independent Football Alliance announced that the Ellan Vannin team would withdraw from the World Football Cup, and instead take part in the 2016 Europeada Championship in Italy, like Occitania.[20] Subsequently, both the Aymará team, and County of Nice also withdrew.

In March 2016, CONIFA announced that Padania had been expelled from the tournament due to procedural irregularities, to be replaced by Székely Land.[21] However, three weeks prior to the start of the tournament, it was announced that Padania had been reinstated, taking the place of the Romani people team, who had been forced to withdraw due to difficulties with their travel documents.[22]

Barawa 2018

The 2018 competition saw the tournament expanded from 12 to 16 teams, and featured a full set of qualification criteria as laid down by CONIFA. In addition to the various friendly tournaments sanctioned as qualifiers, the 2018 tournament featured ranking points awarded for games played by members, which went towards the awarding of various continental places to CONIFA's various geographical zones. For the first time, teams from both North America and Oceania gained places in the competition.

In June 2017, at the CONIFA meeting held during the 2017 CONIFA European Football Cup in Northern Cyprus, it was announced that Barawa would be the hosts of the 2018 World Football Cup, with the announcement of the actual location of the tournament (owing to the Barawa FA representing part of the Somali diaspora and being located in the United Kingdom) subsequently announced as London in September 2017.[23] The tournament was documented by Irish journalist James Hendicott in the book CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten.[24]

North Macedonia 2020

In January 2019, at the CONIFA Annual General Meeting in Kraków, Poland, Somaliland was voted in a non-binding vote before the decision was finalized by the executive committee the following day. The 2020 competition will be the first CONIFA World Football Cup to be hosted outside Europe, with previous host Barawa holding the competition in London.[25] However, on the 19th of August 2019 Conifa announced that the cup would not be held in Somaliland due to logistical difficulties.[26] In December 2019 CONIFA announced that the relocated tournament would take place in Skopje, North Macedonia.[27] On 23 March 2020 CONIFA announced that the tournament will not be taking place in North Macedonia from 30 May – 7 June because of the coronavirus pandemic.[28] The Tournament was eventually cancelled by CONIFA with the organisation outlining plans to expand continental tournaments.[29]

Kurdistan 2024

ConIFA have announced that the 2024 CONIFA World Cup hosting rights have been awarded to Kurdistan FA on their official twitter account on 9 May 2023.[30]

Results

Ed. Year Host First place game Third place game Num.
teams
1st place, gold medalist(s) Champion Score 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-up 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Third Score Fourth
12014  Sápmi[note 1]
County of Nice		 0–0
(5–3 p)		 Isle of Man
Ellan Vannin
Arameans Suryoye		 4–1
South Ossetia		 12
22016  Abkhazia
Abkhazia		 1–1
(6–5 p)
Panjab
Northern Cyprus		 2–0
Padania		 12
32018  Barawa[note 2]
Kárpátalja		 0–0
(3–2 p)
Northern Cyprus
Padania		 0–0
(5–4 p)
Székely Land		 16
-2020  North Macedonia (Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic) [29] 16
42024  Kurdistan 16
Notes
  1. ↑ Sapmi association named as official host; matches were held in Ostersund, Sweden[31].
  2. ↑ Barawa association named as official host; matches were held in London, United Kingdom[32]

Appearances

Legend
  • 1st — Champions
  • 2nd — Runners-up
  • 3rd — Third place
  • 4th — Fourth place
  • QF — Quarterfinals
  • PR — Placement Round (bottom placed teams in group stage)
  • q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
  •  ••  — Qualified but withdrew
  •  •  — Did not qualify
  •  ×  — Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned / Entry not accepted by CONIFA
  •    — Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team 2014
Sápmi
(12)		 2016
Abkhazia
(12)		 2018
Ogaden
(16)		 Total participations
 Abkhazia QF1stPR3/3
 Arameans Suryoye 3rd••1/3
 Artsakh PR••1/3
 Barawa ××QF1/3
 Cascadia ××QF1/3
 Chagos Islands •PR•1/3
 County of Nice 1st•••1/3
 Darfur PR••1/3
 Ellan Vannin 2nd••PR2/3
 Kabylie ××PR1/3
 Kárpátalja ××1st1/3
 Kurdistan Region QFQF•2/3
 Matabeleland ××PR1/3
 Northern Cyprus •3rd2nd2/3
 Occitania QF•••1/3
 Padania QF4th3rd3/3
 Panjab •2ndQF2/3
 Raetia •PR•1/3
 Sápmi PRQF•2/3
 Somaliland •PR•1/3
 South Ossetia 4th••1/3
 Székely Land •PR4th2/3
 Tamil Eelam PR•PR2/3
 Tibet ××PR1/3
 Tuvalu ××PR1/3
 United Koreans in Japan •QFPR2/3
 Western Armenia •QFQF2/3

See also

References

  1. ↑ Martyn-Hemphill, Richard (June 9, 2018). "In Alternative World Cup for Would-be Nations, Karpatalya Beats North Cyprus". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "World Football Cup Qualification System". ConIFA. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "Les Québécois à la ConIFA 2014 Archived May 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine" (23 October 2013). sympatico.ca. Retrieved 31 January 2014
  4. ↑ "Conifa World Cup på Jämtkraft Arena Archived 2014-02-02 at the Wayback Machine" Östersund tourist information. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Per Anders Blind president i nytt internationellt fotbollsförbund". (7 January 2014). Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Laddat för VM i stan Archived May 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine" (1 November 2013). Sveriges Television. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Berglund, Tone. (11 October 2013). "Älvsbybo vald till världspresident i CONIFA". Älvsbyn. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "سفين كانبي ممثلاً لقارة آسيا في (CONiFA) وكرة المونديال في الدوري ". Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "ConIFA World Cup 2014". Arogeraldes. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "El otro Mundial de fútbol que se juega en 2014 Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine" (16 January 2014). Pasión Libertadores. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "La CONIFA organisera sa coupe du monde en Suède Archived May 1, 2014, at the Wayback Machine" (3 January 2014). Football Mercato. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Bock, Andreas. (6 December 2013). "Das ist kein Gag! Archived 2014-03-01 at the Wayback Machine". 11 Freunde. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  13. ↑ Adamsson, Niklas. (31 October 2013) "VM i Östersund: "Nästintill ofattbart" Archived 2014-02-03 at the Wayback Machine". ltz.se. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Les Québécois s'associeront à la Fédération de soccer du Québec, mais la sélection nationale n'ira pas en Suède". Les Québécois (in French). Archived from the original on 2014-05-22. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "New ConIFA World Football Cup opponents for Ellan Vannin". IOM Today. Isle of Man Newspapers. 6 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "ConIFA European Football Cup Schedule". ConIFA. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  17. ↑ "Niamh Challenge Matches – Ellan Vannin vs. Alderney FA". Niamh's Next Step. 8 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ellan Vannin to host tournament at end of month". Isle of Man Today. 13 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  19. ↑ "Benedikt Fontana Cup". ConIFA. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  20. ↑ "Ellan Vannin set for new European adventure". IOM Today. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  21. ↑ "Replacement in ConIFA WFC 2016". Facebook. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "BREAKING!Sad news approached us from the Romani People Football Team". Facebook. 7 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "16 nationas - one goal!". Facebook. ConIFA. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  24. ↑ Hendicott, James. CONIFA: Football For The Forgotten: The Untold Story Of Football's Alternative World Cup.
  25. ↑ "CONIFA SportsBet.io World Football Cup 2020: Somaliland". conifa.org. ConIFA. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  26. ↑ "CONIFA and Somaliland FA: an announcement about the CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020". Conifa. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "New CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020 location announced". conifa.org. ConIFA. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  28. ↑ "Announcement: CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020 – CONIFA". Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-07-10.
  29. 1 2 "Please find our latest update regarding several @CONIFAOfficial matters.pic.twitter.com/5nZXu4FC1p". April 29, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Last month our president confirmed that the 2024 CONIFA World Cup hosting rights were awarded to @KurdistanFA". CONIFA Official. 9 May 2023.
  31. ↑ "In Pictures: The 'Unrecognised World Cup'".
  32. ↑ https://www.dw.com/en/welcome-to-conifa-the-football-world-cup-for-underdogs/a-44069526.
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