2018_ConIFA_World_Football_Cup

2018 CONIFA World Football Cup

2018 CONIFA World Football Cup

International football competition


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.[1] 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 (0–0 after 90 minutes).

Quick Facts Tournament details, Host country ...

Host selection

In June 2017, at the CONIFA meeting held during the 2017 CONIFA European Football Cup, it was announced that the Barawa Football Association had been selected to act as the host for the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup. However, under CONIFA's criteria, the "host" is the CONIFA member that heads the organising committee for the tournament, which does not necessarily mean that it needs to be played in the host's territory.[2] Barawa is located in Somalia, but the Barawa FA represents members of the Somali diaspora in England.[3]

Venues

The first two CONIFA World Football Cup tournaments both featured no more than two venues each; the 2014 tournament featured all games played at the same stadium, while the 2016 edition had a stadium in each of two cities. The expansion from twelve to sixteen participants in 2018 saw a significant expansion in the number of venues used, with a total of ten selected in four separate towns and cities - of these, seven were located in Greater London itself, two were in the towns of Slough and Bracknell in Berkshire, and one in the borough of Thurrock in Essex.

More information Greater London, Sutton ...


Qualification

CONIFA WFC 2018 teams

The process of qualification for the World Football Cup was originally laid out in a set of criteria published by CONIFA at its 2017 annual general meeting, which goes into the various ways by which teams can qualify.[4] This was subsequently revised by CONIFA in June 2017.[5]

  • Host - Providing at least 10 places are available for other qualifiers, then all hosts will qualify automatically. If there are less than 10 other places available, then the number of automatic host places is calculated by the total number of places in the tournament minus 10.
  • World Football Cup Holder - The current holder of the World Football Cup qualifies automatically.
  • Wild Card - CONIFA's Executive Committee issues a Wild Card place to a team that has not yet qualified for the WFC no later than 9 months prior to the start of the tournament. The committee also has the right to issue a second Wild Card if approved by CONIFA's Annual General Meeting.
  • Qualification tournament - Any member of CONIFA has the right to request that a tournament it hosts be sanctioned as a qualifier, providing it is held between 1 January of the year of the previous WFC, and 31 December of the year before the next WFC, and consists of at least four CONIFA members. The request to have the tournament sanctioned as a qualifier must be submitted at least two months prior to the start, and must be approved by CONIFA's Executive Committee.
  • Continental tournament - If a CONIFA continental championship is held after the previous WFC, then a number of its participants qualify for the WFC; the total qualifiers is worked out by the number of participants in the tournament divided by 4.
  • Qualification points - Remaining places are distributed according to the final positions in the various CONIFA continental rankings according to their accumulated ranking points. If two or more teams have the same number of qualification points, qualification will be determined by the CONIFA World Rankings.
More information Qualification points, Opposition Factor (OF) ...

By the criteria set out, the qualification process began in January 2016, when Western Armenia played its first official game against the reserve team of the French club Olympique de Marseille.[6] The first team to qualify automatically was Tamil Eelam, by winning the single match CONIFA Challenger Cup against the Romani people in March 2016. Following this, two further, multi-team competitions were awarded qualification status by CONIFA, the Hungary Heritage Cup, played between four CONIFA members representing the Hungarian diaspora, and the World Unity Cup, which was a tournament containing teams representing a number of displaced peoples.[7] The winners of both of these tournaments were guaranteed qualification for the World Football Cup.

Qualified teams

More information Team, Region ...

Draw

In December 2017, the sixteen participating teams were seeded into four pots of four for the group stage draw, based on the ConIFA rankings. The draw for the group stage was held on 6 January 2018 in Northern Cyprus.[8][9]

More information Pot 1, Pot 2 ...

Withdrawals

In March 2018, ConIFA announced that, owing to financial difficulties, the Kiribati team had been forced to withdraw from the tournament, with their place taken by Tuvalu.[10] In May 2018, it was announced that the Felvidék team had withdrawn, to be replaced by Kárpátalja.[11]

Squads

Referees

ConIFA announced a total of 28 referees for the tournament, led by former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg.[12] During the tournament, referees used a third card in addition to the red and yellow; the green card, introduced as a concept by the tournament sponsor Paddy Power, was issued to players either for dissent or diving; a player given a green card was required to be substituted immediately.[12]

More information Referees, Referee ...

Matches

Group stage

Group A

More information Team, Pld ...
Source: [citation needed]
More information Ellan Vannin, 4–1 ...
Referee: Ivan Mrkalj
More information Barawa, 4–0 ...
Attendance: 1

More information Barawa, 1–2 ...
Referee: Utku Hamamcioglu
More information Ellan Vannin, 2–0 ...
Referee: Mario Guastafierro

More information Barawa, 2–0 ...
Referee: Ivan Mrkalj
More information Tamil Eelam, 0–6 ...

Group B

More information Team, Pld ...
Source: [citation needed]
More information Abkhazia, 3–0 ...
Referee: Raymond Mashamba
More information Northern Cyprus, 1–1 ...

More information Abkhazia, 0–2 ...
Referee: Dmitrii Zhukov
More information Northern Cyprus, 3–1 ...
Referee: John McCallum

More information Abkhazia, 2–2 ...
Referee: Dmitrii Zhukov
More information Kárpátalja, 5–1 ...
Referee: Raymond Mashamba

Group C

More information Team, Pld ...
Source: [citation needed]
More information Székely Land, 4–0 ...
More information Padania, 6–1 ...

More information Székely Land, 5–0 ...
Referee: Igor Gorshkov
More information Padania, 8–0 ...
Referee: Raymond Mashamba

More information Padania, 3–1 ...
Referee: Fehim Dayı
More information Tuvalu, 1–3 ...
Referee: Clément Auclair

Group D

More information Team, Pld ...
Source: [citation needed]
More information United Koreans in Japan, 0–0 ...
Referee: Fehim Dayı
More information Panjab, 8–0 ...

More information United Koreans in Japan, 0–0 ...
Referee: Leon Dastych
More information Panjab, 0–1 ...
Referee: Kristian Michel

More information Panjab, 1–1 ...
Referee: David Murphy
More information Western Armenia, 4–0 ...
Referee: Massimo Amitrano

Knockout stage

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
5 June – Sutton
 
 
 Barawa0
 
7 June – Carshalton
 
 Northern Cyprus8
 
 Northern Cyprus3
 
5 June – Bracknell
 
 Padania2
 
 Padania2
 
9 June – Enfield
 
 Panjab0
 
 Northern Cyprus0 (2)
 
5 June – Sutton
 
 Kárpátalja0 (3)
 
 Kárpátalja3
 
7 June – Carshalton
 
 Cascadia1
 
 Kárpátalja4
 
5 June – Bromley
 
 Székely Land 2 Third place
 
 Western Armenia 0
 
9 June – Enfield
 
 Székely Land4
 
 Padania0 (5)
 
 
 Székely Land 0 (4)
 

Quarter-finals

More information Barawa, 0–8 ...
Referee: Ivan Mrki

More information Padania, 2–0 ...
Referee: Vitalii Mazin

More information Kárpátalja, 3–1 ...
Referee: Fehim Dayı

More information Western Armenia, 0–4 ...
Referee: Givi Todua

Semi-finals

More information Northern Cyprus, 3–2 ...
Referee: Dmitrii Zhukov

More information Kárpátalja, 4–2 ...

Third-Place play-off

More information Padania, 0–0 ...
Referee: Utku Hamamcioglu

Final

More information Northern Cyprus, 0–0 ...
Northern Cyprus
Kárpátalja
More information ConIFA World Football Cup 2018 winners ...

Placement Rounds

Placement Round 1

More information Ellan Vannin, 0–3 Awarded ...
Referee: Mario Guastafierro

More information Matabeleland, 0–0 ...
Referee: Kristian Michel

More information Abkhazia, 6–0 ...
Referee: Karl Parker

More information United Koreans in Japan, 5–0 ...
Referee: Leon Dastych

Placement Round 2

More information Ellan Vannin, 0–3 Awarded ...

More information Tamil Eelam, 4–3 ...
Referee: Leon Dastych

More information Tibet, 1–8 ...
Referee: Clément Auclair

More information Abkhazia, 2–0 ...
Referee: Zekai Tore

More information Barawa, 0–5 ...
Referee: David Murphy

More information Cascadia, 4–0 ...
Referee: Ivan Mrkalj

Placement Round 3

More information Ellan Vannin, 0–3 Awarded ...

More information Matabeleland, 1–0 ...
Referee: Vitalii Mazin

More information Tibet, 1–1 ...

More information Kabylia, 0–2 ...
Referee: Kristian Michel

More information Barawa, 0–7 ...
Referee: Leon Dastych

More information Panjab, 3–3 ...
Referee: Mariano Sasso

Statistics

Goalscorers

6 goals
  • Panjab Kamaljit Singh
5 goals
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
  • Abkhazia Vladimir Argun
  • Abkhazia Aleksandr Kogoniya
  • Abkhazia Georgi Zhanaa
  • Abkhazia Astamur Tarba
  • Barawa Gianni Crichlow
  • Barawa Shaquille Ismail
  • Barawa Solomon Sambou
  • Cascadia (independence movement) Hamza Haddadi
  • Cascadia (independence movement) Max Oldham
  • Isle of Man Frank Jones
  • Isle of Man Jack McVey
  • Kabylie Nadjim Bouabbas
  • Kabylie Ilyas Hadid
  • Kárpátalja Csaba Peres
  • Kárpátalja György Sándor
  • Kárpátalja Alex Svedjuk
  • Matabeleland Sipho Mlalazi
  • Northern Cyprus Ünal Kaya
  • Northern Cyprus Serhan Önet
  • Northern Cyprus Kenan Oshan
  • Northern Cyprus Tansel Osman
  • Padania Ersid Pllumbaj
  • Padania Gianluca Rolandone
  • Padania Andrea Rota
  • Panjab Rajpal Singh Virk
  • Székely Land István Fülöp
  • Székely Land Lóránd Fülöp
  • Székely Land Arthur Györgyi
  • Székely Land László Hodgyai
  • Székely Land László Szőcs
  • Székely Land Zsolt Tankó
  • Tamil Eelam Janothan Perananthan
  • Tuvalu Sosene Vailine
  • Tuvalu Etimoni Timuani
  • United Koreans in Japan Shin Yong-ju
  • United Koreans in Japan Ken Taniyama
  • Western Armenia Fabrice Guzel
  • Western Armenia David Hovsepyan
  • Western Armenia Norik Hovsepyan
  • Western Armenia Zaven Varjabetyan
  • Western Armenia Artur Yedigaryan
Own goals

Final positions

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: [citation needed]
Notes:
  1. Ellan Vannin withdrew from the competition after the group stage.

Player awards

Three individual awards were handed out by ConIFA at the conclusion of the tournament:[13]

  • Paddy Power Player of the Tournament: Kárpátalja Béla Fejér
  • ConIFA Golden Boot: Panjab Kamaljit Singh
  • Global FCE Young Player of the Tournament: Kabylie Sami Boudia

As winner of Young Player of the Tournament, Sami Boudia was offered a one-month residency at one of the Global Football Centre Of Excellence's academies.

Marketing

Tournament programme

A programme for the entire tournament was produced, with the bulk of the content produced by football writer Mat Guy and blogger Pat McGuinness, and produced by Programme Master.[14] The tournament is also documented in detail in the book CONIFA: Football For The Forgotten by journalist James Hendicott, which centres around events in London and the history of the teams involved.[15]

Official anthem

The official anthem of the tournament is "Bring The House Down" by English duo Right Said Fred, which was released on 29 May 2018.[16]

Controversies

Ellan Vannin withdrawal

Following the completion of the group stage, Ellan Vannin entered a protest regarding the fact that Barawa had been able to bring in a replacement player to their squad after the tournament had started, in apparent contravention of the tournament's rules. The addition of the player, Mohamed Bettamer, a former Libyan youth international, was permitted by ConIFA, who stated that this was a rule change, but who did not inform the other 15 teams in the competition, who had submitted their own squad lists according to the published pre-tournament rule book.[17] Ellan Vannin launched an appeal against the Barawa team's fielding of an apparently ineligible player, which at an initial meeting of the tournament committee was upheld, before subsequently being overturned.[18] As a result, Ellan Vannin withdrew from the remainder of the tournament, and Tibet, their opponents in the First Placement Round, were awarded a 3–0 victory.[19] Their place in the remaining fixtures were taken by Chagos Islands. [20] A meeting of ConIFA's Executive Committee made the decision to provisionally expel the Manx Independent Football Alliance from the organization on 7 June, subject to ratification at the Annual General Meeting in January 2019.[21] They were reinstated in January.

Replacement matches

More information London Turkish Select, 4–0 ...
Referee: Mario Guastafierro

More information Chagos Islands, 0–1 ...
Referee: Massimo Amitrano

More information Chagos Islands, 1–6 ...
Referee: Raymond Motumba

Goalscorers

3 goals
  • Turkey Hassan Nalbant
2 goals
1 goal
  • Chagos Archipelago Ivanov Leonce
  • Matabeleland Musa Sthamburi
  • Turkey Ali Uyar Avci
  • Tuvalu Sosene Vailine
Own goals
  • Chagos Archipelago Nicolas Oride (against  Tuvalu)

Broadcasting rights

CONIFA provided live streaming through football streaming service Mycujoo and edited highlights provided by FC Video. Select games were also live streamed on the Paddy Power Facebook page.

In Northern Cyprus the games were broadcast by EURO GENÇ TV.

Notes

  1. Ellan Vannin withdrew from the tournament on 5 June. Tibet instead played a "London Turkish Select" team when this fixture was due to be played.
  2. Chagos Islands agreed to fulfil Ellan Vannin's remaining fixtures.

References

  1. "16 nations - one goal!". Facebook. ConIFA. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. "World Football Cup Qualification System". ConIFA. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  3. "About". Barawa Football Association. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  4. "CONIFA World Football Cup Qualification Guidelines" (PDF). conifa.org. ConIFA. October 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  5. "World Football Cup Qualification System". ConIFA. Confederation of Independent Football Associations. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  6. "Football Federation of Western Armenia Plays First Game". Asbarez. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  7. "ConIFA Activity Report 2016" (PDF). ConIFA. 2017-01-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 10, 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  8. "Official Seeding - World Cup London 2018 group stage". Twitter. ConIFA. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  9. "Going to be very interesting. Draw in Northern Cyprus on January 6th, 2018". Twitter. Manx IFA. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  10. "Tuvalu to replace Kiribati at the 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup". ConIFA. 7 March 2018. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  11. "Karpatalya to replace Felvidék at 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup". ConIFA. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  12. Wilson, Jack (14 May 2018). "Premier League revelation: Mark Clattenburg reveals the player who 'annoys EVERYONE'". Daily Express. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  13. "Fejer, Boudia and Singh Scoop #WFC2018 Awards". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  14. "ConIFA 2018 World Football Cup Official Programme". Programme Master. Archived from the original on 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  15. Wright, Chris (29 May 2018). "'Bring The House Down' – Right Said Fred Record Official Anthem For 2018 ConIFA World Cup". Who Ate All The Pies. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  16. "Should Ellan Vannin appeal their elimination?". Prost Amerika. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  17. "Manx FA react furiously to rejection of Bettamer appeal". Prost Amerika. 5 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  18. "CONIFA Statement Regarding Ellan Vannin". CONIFA.org. CONIFA. Archived from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  19. "CONIFA Statement Regarding Ellan Vannin". ConIFA. 7 June 2018. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.

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