From Darfur United to the Sámi national team, an alternative tournament of stateless, unrecognised or self-declared nations will be held in breakaway Georgian region. EurasiaNet reports

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Football teams from rebel republics and separatist regions will gather in Abkhazia next year for an alternative world cup between sides not recognised by the sport’s governing body, Fifa.

Abkhazia, inside the rebel republic – in pictures Read more

Players from Quebec to Kurdistan and Western Sahara to Somaliland will participate in the second Confederation of Independent Football Associations (Conifa) cup, first played in Sweden last year.

In the inaugural final Nice triumphed over the Isle of Man, winning 3-5 on penalties. Twelve teams participated in the event, which will be held every second year, all from footballing federations or countries without official recognition.

Visa issues nearly prevented Darfur United from playing as none of the team, made up of refugees living on the Chad-Sudan border, had a passport. This problem, Conifa said, was only solved thanks to intervention from the Swedish government and the United Nations.

The teams

The 26 teams competing to play in Abkhazia also include South Ossetia, West Armenia and Cascadia – a proposed independent country in the US which names Seattle as its capital. Some sides, such as the Aramean Syriac Football Association and the Romani team, represent people spread out over many countries.

One of the last outposts of the British empire will also take part – the Chagos Islanders, evicted from their Indian Ocean home 50 years ago.

We recognise that people ​do ​identify strongly with their ​​nation – whatever they define as such Sascha Düerkop

According to the Conifa’s rankings, Occitania are the team to beat. Darfur United are lowest ranked, below the Sámi, the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia, and South Ossetia.



“We do neither recognise nor not recognise any countries specifically”, said Sascha Düerkop, general secretary of Conifa. “We only recognise that football is played everywhere in the world – independent from political surroundings and status. We also recognise that people identify strongly with their nation – whatever they define as such.”

Not all countries have supported this view. Azerbaijan’s Football Association wrote a formal letter of complaint to the Swedish FA and Fifa, demanding the banning of the Nagorno-Karabakh team, Düerkop said. This request was not granted and the squad played in Sweden last year.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The emblems of the 26 member teams. Photograph: Conifa

Abkhazia has a reputation as a twilight zone still recovering from the ruins of the early 1990s separatist war with neighbouring Georgia, but Conifa says it is confident that the infrastructure will be suitable for the tournament.

The capital, Sokhumi, boasts a new, reportedly international-standard, football stadium, as well as several older stadiums.

The breakaway state, which declared independence from Georgia in 1999, relies heavily on financial assistance from Russia.

Abkhazia’s officials say that visiting teams will get a royal welcome. The president of the territory’s football federation, Jemal Gubaz, said Abkhazia should go all out to make sure the tournament is a “grand occasion”.

But Abkhazia might need to whip its de facto national team into shape. At the 2014 championship in Sweden, the future host-side was beaten by its breakaway cousin, South Ossetia – another region that claims independence from Georgia.



A version of this article originally appeared EurasiaNet

