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CONIFA: Football For The Forgotten: The Untold Story Of Football's Alternative World Cup
The CONIFA World Football Cup took place in London in the summer of 2018. Dubbed the world cup for ‘unrecognised nations’, it saw soccer teams from difficult roots compete for a parallel world cup in a 16 team tournament over nine days. The competitors varied from established countries (Tuvalu) to disputed regions (Northern Cyprus, Tibet, and Abkhazia), minority groups (Punjab, Kabylia and Matabeleland), and regions with distinctive individual identities (Cascadia, Ellan Vannin).
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ explores the organisation and the hardships of these teams through the lens of the tournament. The organisation’s roots lie with a Sapmi minority President from Northern Sweden - a businessman and reindeer herder called Per-Anders Blind - and an obscure shirt collector from central Germany, Sascha Duerkop.
The 2018 tournament was their fifth, and biggest tournament to date. CONIFA’s sides came through intense difficulties in preparing for the London tournament. Kabylia could bring only expat players, and saw their coach arrested and questioned by Algerian authorities. Matabeleland trained with a single functioning ball and no nets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, before an English trainer from Latvia and Bruce Grobbelaar combined to get them to London.
Cascadia, representing a region on the west coast of the US and Canada, formed on internet forums, and hauled a team together just in time for the tournament, meeting for the first time the day before kick off. Northern Cyprus - the largest region of Europe that’s totally ineligible for UEFA club competition - brought a team of their best league players, treating the tournament as their own world cup.
The tournament itself also came under threat: almost all the sponsors threatened to withdraw at late notice, after CONIFA refused to throw out Tibet. They suspect Chinese influence. The Sri Lankan and Cypriot governments objected in writing in advance of the games, and when it was all over, the Ukraine banned an entire team’s players from competing in their country again.
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ is the story of all the battles to play, all the action from the tournament itself, and more.
The book is based on around 50 interviews with those involved in the tournament, and running the teams, as well as attendance at over 1500 hours of live football. It reveals previously unpublished information about the inner workings of CONIFA (including its finances and response to allegations the organisation works on behalf of Russia).
It’s a book about football, but also a book about diverse political architecture in different parts of the world, and the struggles that their desire to simply play the game for a shirt they love have created.
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ explores the organisation and the hardships of these teams through the lens of the tournament. The organisation’s roots lie with a Sapmi minority President from Northern Sweden - a businessman and reindeer herder called Per-Anders Blind - and an obscure shirt collector from central Germany, Sascha Duerkop.
The 2018 tournament was their fifth, and biggest tournament to date. CONIFA’s sides came through intense difficulties in preparing for the London tournament. Kabylia could bring only expat players, and saw their coach arrested and questioned by Algerian authorities. Matabeleland trained with a single functioning ball and no nets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, before an English trainer from Latvia and Bruce Grobbelaar combined to get them to London.
Cascadia, representing a region on the west coast of the US and Canada, formed on internet forums, and hauled a team together just in time for the tournament, meeting for the first time the day before kick off. Northern Cyprus - the largest region of Europe that’s totally ineligible for UEFA club competition - brought a team of their best league players, treating the tournament as their own world cup.
The tournament itself also came under threat: almost all the sponsors threatened to withdraw at late notice, after CONIFA refused to throw out Tibet. They suspect Chinese influence. The Sri Lankan and Cypriot governments objected in writing in advance of the games, and when it was all over, the Ukraine banned an entire team’s players from competing in their country again.
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ is the story of all the battles to play, all the action from the tournament itself, and more.
The book is based on around 50 interviews with those involved in the tournament, and running the teams, as well as attendance at over 1500 hours of live football. It reveals previously unpublished information about the inner workings of CONIFA (including its finances and response to allegations the organisation works on behalf of Russia).
It’s a book about football, but also a book about diverse political architecture in different parts of the world, and the struggles that their desire to simply play the game for a shirt they love have created.
178 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 26, 2019
7 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
James Hendicott
1 book2 followersDublin-based sports, travel and music journalist with a penchant for quirky stories. Published in NME, Lonely Planet, the Sunday Business Post, the Irish Independent and the Korea Herald, amongst dozens of others.
My debut book is a self-funded, fiercely independent exploration the CONIFA World Cup, a football tournament for unrecognised countries from Northern Cyprus to Tibet, Kabylia to Matabeleland. I meet the players, watch the games and explore the political movements driving unrepresented people who travel the world to play for countries that, mostly, technically don't exist. With input from organisers on complex questions around their finances, the strains of pulling together the teams, and the protests they face, it's a compact overview of the largest entity in the non-FIFA international football world with plenty of bizarre moments.
My debut book is a self-funded, fiercely independent exploration the CONIFA World Cup, a football tournament for unrecognised countries from Northern Cyprus to Tibet, Kabylia to Matabeleland. I meet the players, watch the games and explore the political movements driving unrepresented people who travel the world to play for countries that, mostly, technically don't exist. With input from organisers on complex questions around their finances, the strains of pulling together the teams, and the protests they face, it's a compact overview of the largest entity in the non-FIFA international football world with plenty of bizarre moments.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 28, 2022
A really interesting look at the 2018 football “world championship” organised by CONIFA, an organisation whose members are made up of unrecognised nations or teams representing ethnic groups without their own states. The author advises that he started writing the book from the perspective of a “niche football fan”, but a big part of the book is around the political issues inherent in running such a tournament.
CONIFA’s philosophy is not to make judgements about the teams that apply for membership, and the result is that their members vary a great deal in terms of their claims to nationhood. Some of the entries had no political problems in fielding teams, for example Tuvalu, widely recognised as an independent state but a country that has not been granted membership of FIFA. Another was Ellan Vannin (The Isle of Man) a self-governing “Crown Dependency” within the British Isles, again refused membership by FIFA even though that organisation has other members with a very similar status. The only North American team was “Cascadia” drawing players from Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia, who said they were simply about promoting regional identity.
In many cases though, the teams represented what their own governments consider to be illegal secessionist movements. The Tibetan team was made up of exiles living in the Indian city of Dharamshala – where the Dalai Lama lives. There’s not the slightest chance anyone living in Tibet could have participated and it was no surprise for me to read that the Chinese government exerted pressure on potential sponsors not to support the tournament. One team called “Karpatalya” represented an ethnic Hungarian minority living in SW Ukraine. Following the tournament every one of the 25 players in their squad was banned for life from playing football in Ukraine. Another team called “Kabylia” were from a mainly Berber-speaking area of Algeria, and were described in the book as the most passionate of all the secessionists that took part. Their players were mostly French based but their participation was kept secret until the last minute to avoid harassment of those based in Algeria. There are even allegations that CONIFA is actually nothing more than a Russian-funded influencer, something the author addresses in one of the chapters (he is sceptical about the allegations).
During the tournament a major argument erupted over the eligibility of a player within a team called “Barawa”, consisting of Somali exiles from London. Their team included a former Libyan international player and illustrated another issue with this type of tournament - in many cases there is no effective way of checking whether the players are really members of the groups they claim. I think that many readers of this book will at some point find themselves looking up an ethnographic atlas.
There were a few typographical errors in this book, and one or two statements I would take issue with, but on the whole this was an interesting exploration of the issues around minority and regional identities around the world. The author does describe the actual football matches, if that side interests you more, but personally I think that people could enjoy this book even if they don’t have an interest in football itself.
CONIFA’s philosophy is not to make judgements about the teams that apply for membership, and the result is that their members vary a great deal in terms of their claims to nationhood. Some of the entries had no political problems in fielding teams, for example Tuvalu, widely recognised as an independent state but a country that has not been granted membership of FIFA. Another was Ellan Vannin (The Isle of Man) a self-governing “Crown Dependency” within the British Isles, again refused membership by FIFA even though that organisation has other members with a very similar status. The only North American team was “Cascadia” drawing players from Oregon, Washington State and British Columbia, who said they were simply about promoting regional identity.
In many cases though, the teams represented what their own governments consider to be illegal secessionist movements. The Tibetan team was made up of exiles living in the Indian city of Dharamshala – where the Dalai Lama lives. There’s not the slightest chance anyone living in Tibet could have participated and it was no surprise for me to read that the Chinese government exerted pressure on potential sponsors not to support the tournament. One team called “Karpatalya” represented an ethnic Hungarian minority living in SW Ukraine. Following the tournament every one of the 25 players in their squad was banned for life from playing football in Ukraine. Another team called “Kabylia” were from a mainly Berber-speaking area of Algeria, and were described in the book as the most passionate of all the secessionists that took part. Their players were mostly French based but their participation was kept secret until the last minute to avoid harassment of those based in Algeria. There are even allegations that CONIFA is actually nothing more than a Russian-funded influencer, something the author addresses in one of the chapters (he is sceptical about the allegations).
During the tournament a major argument erupted over the eligibility of a player within a team called “Barawa”, consisting of Somali exiles from London. Their team included a former Libyan international player and illustrated another issue with this type of tournament - in many cases there is no effective way of checking whether the players are really members of the groups they claim. I think that many readers of this book will at some point find themselves looking up an ethnographic atlas.
There were a few typographical errors in this book, and one or two statements I would take issue with, but on the whole this was an interesting exploration of the issues around minority and regional identities around the world. The author does describe the actual football matches, if that side interests you more, but personally I think that people could enjoy this book even if they don’t have an interest in football itself.
June 25, 2022
This book teaches us that there is so much football outside of your big leagues and major national tournaments. Those who enjoy niche football will love this book. I learned so much about teams who have been rejected by FIFA, who aren’t acknowledged as countries, who face adversity, corruption and challenge from countries surrounding them or believe they ‘own’ them. The stories, history and accounts of the CONIFA tournament are fascinating and make me want to attend one, as well as help out the organization
May 14, 2019
Book about the Confederation of Independent Football Associations and its World Football Cup 2018 in Greater London. It focuses mostly on the football aspect but gives some information on the background of the teams.
July 15, 2019
I really enjoyed this book and I'm not a big football fan at all.
I found the political aspect (or not!!) and learning the backgrounds of all the teams really fascinating.
Congrats, James :)
I found the political aspect (or not!!) and learning the backgrounds of all the teams really fascinating.
Congrats, James :)
May 8, 2022
A thoroughly enjoyable read! The author is passionate about niche football, and it certainly shows in this fascinating book. A must-read for any serious football fan.
November 13, 2024
What a fantastic book, before reading I had heard of CONIFA but knew nothing of what they were all about, now I am totally in love with all that they stand for.
James definitely did his homework on this subject, he supplies an in-depth analysis of all that the organisation stands for, and many of those that unfortunately oppose everything it is about.
He gives a very good insight into the teams involved in the 2018 World Football Cup and the qualifying process, included are interviews with officials from some of the teams and the organisation itself.
I highly recommend this book.
James definitely did his homework on this subject, he supplies an in-depth analysis of all that the organisation stands for, and many of those that unfortunately oppose everything it is about.
He gives a very good insight into the teams involved in the 2018 World Football Cup and the qualifying process, included are interviews with officials from some of the teams and the organisation itself.
I highly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews