Sport in Vatican City

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This is a list article about sport in the Vatican City.

Contents

Multi-sport events

The Vatican City is not a member of the International Olympic Committee and is therefore not able to send a team to the Olympic Games. [1] However athletes have represented the Vatican City in an unofficial or non-scoring capacity at some international multi-sport events.

Championships of the Small States of Europe

A team represented the Vatican City at the 2022 edition of the Championships of the Small States of Europe in Malta in a non-scoring manner. [2]

Games of the Small States of Europe

A delegation from the Vatican City was present at the 2019 edition of the Games of the Small States of Europe in Montenegro, but were only allowed to observe. A team from the Vatican City were scheduled to compete officially at the 2021 edition through a partnership with the Italian Olympic Committee [3] but the event was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vatican City is now expected to participate in the 2023 edition.

Mediterranean Games

One athlete represented the Vatican City at the 2022 edition of the Mediterranean Games in Algeria in a non-scoring manner. [4]

Team sports

Football

The Vatican City is not a member of FIFA; [5] however, representative men's and women's national football teams exist and play friendly matches and in unofficial tournaments. [6] A local football league, Vatican City Championship, was founded in 1972 and is made up of teams representing employees of the different administrative departments in the Vatican. [7]

Cricket

The Vatican City is not a member of the International Cricket Council; [8] however, a representative national men's cricket team was formed in 2013. [9]

Individual sports

Athletics

Vatican Athletics is the governing body for athletics in the Vatican City. [10]

Cycling

Vatican Cycling became member of the International Cycling Union in September 2021. [11] In 2022, Rien Schuurhuis participated at the UCI Road World Championships representing Vatican City. Schuurhuis became the first Vatican to participate at a World Championship in any sport. He competed in the Elite Men's Road Race but he did not finish the race.

Taekwondo

Vatican Taekwondo became a member of World Taekwondo in November 2021. [12]

See also

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References

  1. https://olympics.com/ioc/national-olympic-committees [ bare URL ]
  2. "Fraternity in Sports".
  3. "Athletica Vaticana in Montenegro for Games of Small States of Europe". 24 May 2019.
  4. "Vatican City primed for debut at Mediterranean Games".
  5. "FIFA".
  6. Nuti, Nicola. "Vaticano: 7 squadre per il campionato di calcio" (in Italian). News Cattoliche. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  7. Argano, Fabrizia (19 May 2015). "Il Campionato in Vaticano: "Papa Francesco tifa per noi"" (in Italian). corrieredellosport.it. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  8. "International Cricket Council".
  9. "Vatican launches its first official cricket club". BBC News. 22 October 2013.
  10. "Nuns on the run: Vatican launches athletics team and targets Olympics". The Guardian. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  11. @DLappartient (September 24, 2021). "A warm welcome to the National Federations of Equatorial Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Sudan and the Vatican, affi…" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  12. "[World Taekwondo] World Taekwondo officially recognises Vatican Taekwondo as." m.worldtaekwondo.org. Retrieved 2021-11-25.