Football in Greenland

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Football match in Uummannaq Uummannaq-football-game.jpg
Football match in Uummannaq
Football field in Ilulissat Greenland 4, Ilulissat, soccer field.jpg
Football field in Ilulissat

Association football is the most popular and the national sport of Greenland. It was brought to Greenland by Danish settlers. Because of the climatic conditions, Greenland is unable to support any grass pitches so games are played on artificial turf. The national stadium is the Nuuk Stadium in the capital of Greenland, Nuuk. There is a proposal to replace Nuuk Stadium with a new stadium, named Arktisk Stadion. [1]

Contents

The Football Association of Greenland, founded in 1971, is not a member of FIFA or any of its confederations, but was a member of the International Football Union and ConIFA, secondary governing bodies of association football for nations and sub-national countries that are not FIFA members. Although the Faroe Islands, another dependency of Denmark, is a member of FIFA and UEFA, Greenland is considered part of Denmark for the purposes of international football. [2] [3] However, Greenland have still been fighting to join UEFA and FIFA. [4] The Greenland football association and the Danish DBU entered into an agreement in 2015 to grow the sport of football in Greenland and work towards FIFA and UEFA membership by 2022. With the update of UEFA's statutes to forbid the admission of football associations from non-independent regions, [5] Greenland found their path to UEFA membership closed. As of 2022, they have decided to apply to the other confederation which they would be eligible to do so, CONCACAF, in the hopes that this would prove more successful. [6]

League History

While evidence of league football can be found as early as 1954, the men's league became a consistent presence from the mid to late 1960s, with an edition of the Greenlandic Football Championship annually since 1969. The difficulty and expense of travel on the island means that to this day it is formatted with local qualifying rounds, leading to a final tournament in a single host location. This has given risen to the popular statement that the season lasts only a week, something true only for that final round. [7] [8] While teams from the capital, Nuuk, have mainly been successful, winners have come from across the island. However, 9 of B-67 Nuuk's record 13 titles have come since 2005.

The women's league system follows the same pattern, though it took a lot longer to form, with a league being trialled by the association in 1986. [9] Since then it has also run annually, with many familiar teams from the men's league also competing. Here the capital teams have not been as successful, with the record title holders being Ilulissat-69, 3 titles ahead of Nuuk Idraetslag and the two teams taking home over two thirds of the competitions to date.

Data on the futsal, youth and veterans leagues is much more sporadic but have been similar in years past. They are typically played earlier in the season than the main leagues to prevent overlap.

There has also been a campaign in recent years to enter a Greenland team into the Danish Superliga.[ citation needed ]

The National Teams

Without CONCACAF or UEFA membership, opportunities are limited for any Greenlandic national sides. In the 1980s they organised 3 editions of the Greenland Cup with the tournaments being hosted by Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Iceland missed the 1983 edition, but otherwise the three sides all competed. Further opportunity came with the introduction of football to the Island Games in 1989. Greenland would enter the inaugural tournament and finish 4th from 5 teams, with them appearing at every edition since, except for the 2007 Games. The men have twice come 2nd at the games, last in 2017, though once was in the small 4-team edition in Bermuda at the Football at the 2013 Island Games – Men's tournament. The team also occasionally travel to compete against more varied sides, with matches against Icelandic club and youth national sides having come in the past and Danish club sides more recently. [10] [11] [12] One of the biggest moments in the island's footballing history came in 2001 when the national team played a landmark fixture against Tibet in Denmark, the game went ahead despite great pressure by the Chinese Government and FIFA to have it called off. [13] [14]

The Island Games would also eventually provide opportunities for the women's national team, with the inaugural tournament coming in 2001. However, Greenland would not compete until 2007, sending the women's team instead of the men to the tournament. While 2013 would prove similar to the men's tournament, with the team finishing 2nd in part due to the small scale of the edition, they have also managed a 3rd place finish at the 2011 Games. They are also regulars at the Island Games since their debut. [15]

Youth international teams have also been set up, with men's U21 and U19 sides having trained previously, though there is not significant evidence beyond that. [16] [17]

Futsal, considering the usual weather, is a prominent sport, with the Greenland national futsal team competing where possible in Futsal Week tournaments and the Nordic Futsal Cup, though similarly to the football sides, their participation is limited by their lack of FIFA membership. They have even expanded into youth futsal, with the U19s taking part in the 2022 Futsal Week competition. [18]

Football stadiums in Greenland

StadiumCapacityCity
Nuuk Stadium 2,000 Nuuk

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">UEFA</span> International governing body for association football in Europe

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CONCACAF</span> One of FIFAs six continental governing bodies for association football

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CONMEBOL</span> Governing body of association football in South America

The South American Football Confederation is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Paraguay. CONMEBOL is responsible for the organization and governance of South American football's major international tournaments. With 10 member football associations, it has the fewest members of all the confederations in FIFA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish Football Association</span> Governing body of association football in Denmark

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iceland national football team</span> Mens association football team

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenland national football team</span> National football team representing Greenland

The Greenland national football team represents Greenland in non-FIFA international tournaments. It is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland. Although it has the same status as the Faroe Islands within the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is not, unlike the Faroe Islands national football team, a member of FIFA nor of any continental confederation and therefore is not eligible to enter the World Cup or other sanctioned tournaments. Most of the matches they have played have been against the Faroe Islands and Iceland, but neither of the two consider those games full internationals. In May 2024, it was announced that Greenland had officially applied to become a member of CONCACAF.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibraltar national football team</span> Mens national association football team representing Gibraltar

The Gibraltar men's national football team represents Gibraltar in international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) membership and was accepted by the UEFA Congress in May 2013. It can therefore compete in the UEFA European Championship starting with the 2016 tournament for which the team competed in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D. On 13 May 2016 Gibraltar became a member of FIFA at the governing body's 66th Congress which was held in Mexico City. Gibraltar is the second smallest UEFA member in terms of population and the smallest in terms of area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jersey official football team</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Football Association of Greenland</span>

The Football Association of Greenland (KAK) is the governing body of association football in the island country of Greenland. The KAK was founded on 4 July 1971. It runs the men's national team, women's national team, men's futsal team, women's futsal team, and multiple national championships, from the men's and women's national championships through youth, veterans and futsal variations. Greenland also held three editions of a men's national soccer friendly tournament, known as the Greenland Cup, from 1980 to 1984. The Greenland Football Association applied to join CONCACAF, a continental body of FIFA, on 13 May 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faroe Islands women's national football team</span>

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Sport is an important part of Greenlandic culture, as the population is generally quite active. The main traditional sport in Greenland is Arctic sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Football in Tuvalu</span>

Association football is the most popular sport in Tuvalu. Football in Tuvalu is governed by the Tuvalu National Football Association (TNFA). The TNFA became an associate member association of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) on 15 November 2006 with a further reinstatement on 16 March 2020. The TNFA has been wanting to become a full member of the OFC and a member of FIFA since 1987.

The Arktisk Stadion is a proposed association football stadium which would replace Nuuk Stadium as the national stadium of Greenland. The stadium is proposed, in part, to allow Greenland to participate in FIFA and CONCACAF as the organizations' strict guidelines on stadiums are a barrier to admittance. It is expected to seat several thousand spectators and be fully enclosed with heating. The stadium was, at one point, expected to be completed by 2020; however, as of November 2019, the Greenlandic government was still seeking investors to help finance the stadium's construction. Danish architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and its renowned architect David Zahle designed the stadium as part of the larger proposed cultural center. In 2016 the firm was paid 380,000 Danish krone (€51,000) for planning and design work, with the majority going toward feasibility studies.

The Greenland Cup was an association football friendly round-robin tournament controlled by the Football Association of Greenland. The Greenland National Football Team competed as a regular in its short-lived running. Despite being the representing country, Greenland never won the Greenland Cup. It ran from 1980 to 1984, with 3 tournaments overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gibraltar women's national football team</span> Womens national association football team representing Gibraltar

The Gibraltar women's national football team represents the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar in international women's football. Although the Gibraltar Football Association is a member of UEFA and FIFA, the association is yet to field a women's team in FIFA Women's World Cup or UEFA Women's Championship qualification. Instead, the team has largely been restricted to appearances at the biennial Island Games football tournaments, first appearing in the 2011 edition.

Ari Hermann is a Greenlandic footballer who currently plays for Greenlandic Football Championship club B-67 Nuuk and the Greenland national team. Former national team head coach Jens Tang Olesen has described Hermann as one of the most talented players in the country.

The Greenland national futsal team is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland, the governing body for futsal in Greenland, and represents the country in international futsal competitions. It is not a member of FIFA or UEFA and can, therefore, not compete in official competitions of those governing bodies. The nation competes in open competitions such as the Nordic Futsal Cup and Futsal Week.

The Faroe Islands national futsal team is controlled by the Faroe Islands Football Association, the governing body of futsal in the Faroe Islands, and represents the country in international futsal. Although the association is a member of FIFA and UEFA, it has never participated in the UEFA Futsal Championship or the FIFA Futsal World Cup.

References

  1. ↑ "BIG, a football stadium in Greenland | Abitare". Abitare. 2017-08-20. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  2. ↑ Jamie Rainbow (2013-12-14). "Why Greenland will not be following Gibraltar into UEFA membership". Worldsoccer.com. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  3. ↑ "Greenland gripped by football fever". FIFA.com. 2010-09-15. Archived from the original on March 25, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  4. ↑ "Greenland fights for the right to play international football matches". www.playthegame.org. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  5. ↑ "UEFA Statutes (III.5.1)" . Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  6. ↑ "KAK Applying to CONCACAF (Danish)" . Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  7. ↑ RedBull - Greenland Football Championship
  8. ↑ Scott, Chris. "Watching whales and icebergs -- and football?". CNN. Retrieved 2018-11-14.
  9. ↑ RSSSF - Greenland's Women's League
  10. ↑ Miklar sveiflur er Keflavíkingar unnu Grænland (Icelandic)
  11. ↑ "Áægt æfing" (Icelandic)
  12. ↑ Venskabskamp mod Grønlands landshold på tirsdag! (Danish)
  13. ↑ Tibetan National Football Association - 2001 Archived April 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ "CNNSI.com - Soccer - Greenland beats Tibet in unofficial friendly - Saturday June 30, 2001 01:27 PM". Sportsillustrated.cnn.com. 2001-06-30. Archived from the original on July 3, 2001. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
  15. ↑ Island Games Football Profile
  16. ↑ KAK - U21 National Team
  17. ↑ KAK - U19 National Team
  18. ↑ 2022 Futsal Week U19 Summer Cup
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