Organising body | CONIFA |
---|---|
Founded | 2015 |
Region | Europe (CONIFA) |
Number of teams | 27 |
Current champions | South Ossetia (1st title) |
Most successful team(s) | Padania (2 titles) |
2023 CONIFA European Football Cup |
The CONIFA European Football Cup is an international football tournament organized by CONIFA, an umbrella association for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA, planned to be held every two years beginning with 2015. The 2017 edition was in Northern Cyprus. [1]
In June 2014 CONIFA announced plans to organize the ConIFA European Football Cup. 3 FAs applied to host the tournament: Abkhazia, Ellan Vannin and Nagorno Karabakh. [2] Ellan Vannin was announced as host on August 6. [3] However, in March 2015, at the draw for the competition, the tournament was moved as a result of logistical issues; Székely Land was announced as the replacement host, with the competition to be held in Hungary. [4]
In January 2017 CONIFA announced that the 2017 edition of the CONIFA European Football Cup would take place in Northern Cyprus. [5] The competition featured 8 teams, 2 more than in 2015.
In August 2019, ConIFA announced the 2019 edition of the CONIFA European Football Cup took place in Nagorno Karabakh and featured 12 teams, 4 more than in 2017. However, this was revised down to 8 teams following the late withdrawal of 4 teams.
In January 2021, ConIFA announced the 2021 edition of the CONIFA European Football Cup took place in Nice, France and featured 12 teams, 4 more than in the 2017 and 2019 editions. This was announced in a backdrop of the, at the time, ongoing COVID-19 Global Pandemic.
In September 2022, ConIFA announced the 2023 edition of the CONIFA European Football Cup would take place in Northern Cyprus. It was suspended following the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, to enable Northern Cyprus to focus on supporting humanitarian efforts in Turkey. No replacement host was announced.
Ed. | Year | Host | First place game | Third place game | Num. teams | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Champion | Score | Runner-up | Third | Score | Fourth | ||||
1 | 2015 | Debrecen | Padania | 4–1 | County of Nice | Ellan Vannin | 1–1 5–3 ( p ) | Felvidék | 6 |
2 | 2017 | Northern Cyprus | Padania | 1–1 3–2 ( p ) | Northern Cyprus | Székely Land | 3–1 | Abkhazia | 8 |
3 | 2019 | Artsakh | South Ossetia | 1–0 | Western Armenia | Abkhazia | 0–0 5–4 ( p ) | Chameria | 8 |
Suspended [note 1] | |||||||||
Suspended [note 2] |
For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
Team | 2015 (6) | 2017 (8) | 2019 (8) | Total participations |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abkhazia | •• | 4th | 3rd | 2/3 |
Artsakh | × | × | GS | 1/3 |
Chameria | × | × | 4th | 1/3 |
County of Nice | 2nd | •• | •• | 1/3 |
Ellan Vannin | 3rd | GS | × | 2/3 |
Felvidék | 4th | GS | • | 2/3 |
Kárpátalja | • | GS | • | 1/3 |
Northern Cyprus | •• | 2nd | • | 1/3 |
Padania | 1st | 1st | GS | 3/3 |
Romani people | GS | • | • | 1/3 |
Sápmi | •• | •• | GS | 1/3 |
South Ossetia | •• | GS | 1st | 2/3 |
Székely Land | GS | 3rd | GS | 3/3 |
Western Armenia | • | • | 2nd | 1/3 |
As of January 2025 [6]
The Northern Cyprus national football team represents Northern Cyprus, a de facto country, in association football. They were a member of the New Federations Board for non-FIFA-affiliated nations, until its dissolution in 2013. Northern Cyprus' home stadium is Nicosia Atatürk Stadium in North Nicosia and their head coach is Fırat Canova. They are the current FIFI Wild Cup champions, having won the event in Germany in June 2006. They are also the current ELF Cup champions, having won the event at home in November 2006.
Non-FIFA international football is the segment of international football that is not overseen by FIFA. FIFA is the international governing body of association football, overseeing football globally and with running international representative matches. However, some international football takes place outside its purview. This often consists of matches involving sub-national entities such as islands, colonies, or autonomous regions. Representative matches also occur involving states with limited international recognition who are unable to qualify for FIFA membership. There are also a limited number of states whose representative teams are not affiliated to FIFA. Historically, a number of competitions occurred outside FIFA's auspices. Member associations are national associations, usually affiliated to continental confederations which are subordinate to FIFA.
The Chagos Islands national football team is a football team representing the territory of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. However, this area, which falls under the administration of the British Indian Ocean Territory, is uninhabited save for the presence of a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia, after the United Kingdom evicted the local population between 1967 and 1973. As a consequence, the team in fact represents the Chagossian diaspora around the world.
The Artsakh national football team, until 2017 known as the Nagorno-Karabakh national football team, was the national representative of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), which was internationally unrecognized. Consequently, it was not a member of FIFA or UEFA and was therefore not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship.
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.
The Ellan Vannin Football Team is a football team that represents the Isle of Man. It is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, and therefore cannot compete for the FIFA World Cup or in the UEFA European Championship.
The 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup was the first edition of the ConIFA European Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by CONIFA. The tournament was originally planned to be hosted by Ellan Vannin on the Isle of Man; this expanded to then see the group games and placement rounds held in South East England, while the semi-finals, third-place play-off and final would take place in Douglas. However, in March 2015, at the draw for the tournament, it was announced that the tournament would no longer be held in the Isle of Man, instead moving to be hosted by new entrant Székely Land in Hungary. In 2015, ConIFA announced that the tournament would serve as part of the qualification process for the 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup, with the top three teams qualifying automatically.
The Panjab Football Team is a representative football team formed in 2014 in the United Kingdom to represent the Punjabi diaspora. The team is governed by the Football Association of Panjab, this is not to be confused with the Punjab Football Association, which is the state governing body of football in the Punjab state of India.
The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup qualification was a football competition to determine some of the participants of the 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup. This was the first time a qualification process was used for the ConIFA World Cup. The first qualification match was played on 30 May 2015 between the newly constituted Felvidék team and the team representing Alderney, with the first goal scored by Felvidék's Zoltán Novota.
The Romani people official football team is a national football team representing the Romani people.
The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup was the second edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by ConIFA. The tournament was hosted by the Football Federation of Abkhazia, with the Abkhazia team becoming the first host nation to win the tournament.
The 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup qualification was the process to decide a number of the teams that will play in the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup. This is the second tournament to feature a qualification process, following on from the 2016 qualification. The first qualification match played was on 13 March 2016 between the Tamil Eelam team and the team representing the Romani people, with the first goal scored by Tamil Eelam's Panushanth Kulenthiran.
The 2017 ConIFA European Football Cup was the second edition of the ConIFA European Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by ConIFA. It was hosted in Northern Cyprus.
The 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup was the third edition of the CONIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by CONIFA. The tournament was hosted by Barawa Football Association, with all games held in and around London. The tournament was sponsored by Irish bookmaker Paddy Power. After being a late entry to the tournament, Kárpátalja won their first title on 9 June 2018, defeating Northern Cyprus 3–2 on penalties in the final.
The Kárpátalja football team is a team representing the Hungarian minority in Carpathian Ruthenia, a historic region mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. It is a member of ConIFA, an umbrella association for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA.
The Matabeleland football team is the team representing Matabeleland, the western part of Zimbabwe. They are not affiliated with FIFA or CAF, and therefore cannot compete for the FIFA World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. The team is affiliated to the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA).
The Barawa football team is the team representing the Somali diaspora in England. It is named after Barawa, a port town in Somalia. It hosted the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup.
Below are the squads for the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup.
The 2019 Atlantic Heritage Cup was the first edition of the Atlantic Heritage Cup, and is a qualification tournament for the 2020 CONIFA World Football Cup in Skopje, North Macedonia. Yorkshire were announced in March 2019 as hosts, with Parishes of Jersey, Ellan Vannin and Kernow also originally set to participate. All 4 teams are either part of the United Kingdom, or are Crown dependencies. However, Ellan Vannin and Kernow both pulled out for undisclosed reasons, being replaced by Chagos Islands and reducing the tournament to a 3 team format.
The Kernow football team represents Cornwall at international association football since 2018. It uses the native Cornish name of the region, Kernow, to represent its team, and is managed by the Kernow Football Alliance. As the side is not a member of UEFA or FIFA, it cannot qualify for the UEFA European Championship or FIFA World Cup, although it is a member of ConIFA and is eligible to participate in the ConIFA World Football Cup and ConIFA European Football Cup. The team is currently managed by Darren Gilbert, and coached by Darren Wright, Andrew Graham and Wayne Roberts. In 2023 Kernow faced FA Sápmi in a deciding match to join the 2024 ConIFA World Football Cup. Kernow won 2-1 progressing to the 2024 CONIFA World Football Cup finals.