2020 CONIFA World Football Cup

Last updated
2020 CONIFA World Football Cup
Tournament details
Host country Flag of North Macedonia.svg North Macedonia
Dates30 May – 7 June
Teams16
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
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The 2020 CONIFA World Football Cup would have been the fourth edition of the CONIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organized by CONIFA. Somaliland were originally announced as the tournament host, but were forced to withdraw as hosts in August 2019. [1] It was later announced that the tournament would be held in Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia, with no CONIFA member as designated host. [2] However, on 23 March 2020 CONIFA announced that the tournament would not be taking place in North Macedonia from 30 May – 7 June because of the coronavirus pandemic. [3] The Tournament was eventually cancelled by CONIFA with the organisation outlining plans to expand continental tournaments. [4]

Contents

Host selection

In January 2019, at the CONIFA Annual General Meeting in Krakow, Poland, it was announced that Somaliland had been selected to act as the host for the 2020 CONIFA World Football Cup. [5] In August 2019 CONIFA announced that Somaliland had given up hosting rights for the 2020 ConIFA World Football Cup without naming a replacement. [1] Kernow had subsequently bid to host the tournament. [6] In December 2019 CONIFA announced that the tournament would be held in Skopje, the capital city of North Macedonia with no CONIFA member as designated host. [2]

Venues

North Macedonia
Skopje, Skopje
Toše Proeski Arena
Arena Filip Vtori 3014wiki.jpg
Capacity: 36,460

Qualification

CONIFA assigns the number of berths for each continent according to the percentage of CONIFA members that come from that continent. Europe has 4 berths, including one for the winners of the 2019 CONIFA European Football Cup. Asia and Africa both have 3, and North America, South America and Oceania have one berth each. Additionally, one berth is reserved for a wild card team. Kárpátalja, the defending champions, qualified automatically. Originally, Somaliland qualified automatically as hosts, but the tournament has since been moved to North Macedonia and no CONIFA member is hosting, so it was unclear whether Somaliland has still qualified.

Not all CONIFA members entered qualification, and in the continents of Africa and South America, an equal number of teams entered compared to the number of berths available, so all entrants from those continents qualified automatically.

Qualified teams

TeamRegionMethod of
qualification		Date of
qualification		Finals
appearance		Previous
appearance		Previous best
performance		Notes
Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg  Western Sahara AfricaWild Card [7] 17 May 20191stN/AN/ASubsequently, withdrew
Flag of the Mapuches (1992).svg Mapuche South AmericaRegional Qualification [8] 18 June 20191stN/AN/A
Flag of Transcarpathian Oblast.svg  Kárpátalja EuropeDefending Champion [8] 9 May 20182nd 2018 Champions (2018)
Flag of South Ossetia.svg  South Ossetia EuropeEuropean Champion [8] 9 June 20192nd 2014 4th (2014)
Flag of Darfur.svg  Darfur AfricaRegional Qualification [8] 18 June 20192nd201412th (2014)
Matabeleland football flag.svg  Matabeleland AfricaRegional Qualification [8] 18 June 20192nd201813th (2018)
Flag placeholder.svg  Kabylia AfricaRegional Qualification [8] 18 June 20192nd201810th (2018)
Flag placeholder.svg  Cascadia North AmericaRegional Qualification4 January 20202nd20186th (2018)
Flag of CSSC.svg  Chagos Islands AfricaGlobal Ticket4 January 20202nd201612th (2016)
Flag of Cornwall.svg  Kernow EuropeRegional Qualification4 January 20201stN/AN/A
Australian Aboriginal Flag.svg Australian First Nations OceaniaRegional Qualification4 January 20201stN/AN/A
Panjab football flag.png  Panjab AsiaRegional Qualification4 January 20203rd2018Runners-up (2016)
Flag of Jersey.svg Parishes of Jersey EuropeRegional Qualification4 January 20201stN/AN/A
Bicolor flag of Tamil Eelam.svg  Tamil Eelam AsiaRegional Qualification4 January 20203rd201811th (2014)
Unification flag of Korea.svg  United Koreans in Japan AsiaRegional Qualification4 January 20203rd20187th (2016)
Flag of Western Armenia.png  Western Armenia EuropeRegional Qualification4 January 20203rd20186th (2016)
Flag of the County of Nice.svg  County of Nice EuropeReplacement1st 2014 Champions (2014)Replaced Western Sahara

Controversy

The decision by CONIFA to originally host the 2020 World Football Cup in Somaliland was met with criticism by some, with James Scott, the president of Parishes of Jersey FC, telling the Jersey Evening Post that he would not accept the place at the final tournament if his side won the Atlantic Heritage Cup. [9] The comments were met with a backlash from CONIFA, who criticised inaccurate reporting and defended the decision to host the World Football Cup in Somaliland. [10] The competition was later moved to North Macedonia after Somaliland had hosting rights revoked by CONIFA. [11] [2]

Postponement and cancellation

On 22 March 2020, members of the CONIFA Executive Committee made the decision that the tournament would not be taking place in North Macedonia from 30 May – 7 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 emergency being seen across the world. [3] On 29 April 2020 the CONIFA Executive Committee announced through its social media channels that the competition was cancelled, with no rescheduling, and the organisation outlining plans to expand continental competitions in the future by redirecting funding from the 2020 World Football Cup from sponsors Sportsbet.io. [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 Wheelock, Noah. "CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020: announcement". Archived from the original on 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  2. 1 2 3 "New CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020 location announced". 2 December 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Announcement: CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020 – CONIFA". Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2020-03-24.
  4. 1 2 @CONIFAOfficial (April 29, 2020). "Please find our latest update regarding several @CONIFAOfficial matters" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ↑ Stevenson, Dominic (27 January 2019). "CONIFA SportsBet.io World Football Cup 2020: Somaliland".
  6. ↑ Kernow are officially in the running to host the 2020 WFC Kernow Football Alliance. 1 September 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  7. ↑ @CONIFAOfficial (May 17, 2019). "CONIFA are delighted to announce that Western Sahara FA has received the single Wild Card entry for the CONIFA…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wheelock, Noah (18 June 2019). "Who Has Qualified for the World Football Cup 2020 So Far?".
  9. ↑ Somaliland setback for PoJ FC Jersey Evening Post. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  10. ↑ CONIFA Statement Regarding Jersey Evening Post Article Archived 2020-02-11 at the Wayback Machine CONIFA. 17 March 2019. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  11. ↑ "CONIFA and Somaliland FA: An announcement about the CONIFA Sportsbet.io World Football Cup 2020". 22 August 2019.
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