The Greenland national football team (Danish: Grønlands fodboldlandshold) represents Greenland in non-FIFA international tournaments. It is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland.^[1] 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 2022, it was announced that Greenland had officially applied to become a member of CONCACAF.^[2][3][4][5]

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Association ...

Greenland

Nickname(s)	Polar-Bamserne (The Polar Teddy Bears)
Association	Football Association of Greenland (KAK)
Head coach	Morten Rutkjær
Captain	Nukkanguaq Zeeb
Most caps	Anders H. Petersen (24)
Top scorer	Norsaq Lund Mathæussen (9)
Home stadium	Nuuk Stadium
FIFA code	GRL
First colours Second colours
First international
Faroe Islands 6–0 Greenland  (Sauðárkrókur, Iceland; 2 July 1980)
Biggest win
Greenland 16–0 Sark  (Saint Martin, Guernsey; 1 July 2003)
Biggest defeat
Faroe Islands 6–0 Greenland  (Sauðárkrókur, Iceland; 2 July 1980)  Greenland 0–6 Guernsey  (Stromness, Shetland; 13 July 2005)  Menorca 6–0 Greenland  (Sund, Åland; 29 June 2009)  Greenland 0–6 Isle of Man  (Visby, Gotland; 30 June 2017)

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Greenland has been seeking to participate in confederated football since at least 1998 when then national team manager Sepp Piontek stated that he had already asked UEFA to look into the possibility of Greenland becoming a member of the organization.^[8] About the issue, former DBU president Allan Hansen stated, "Concerning the GBU, I’m not convinced [they] officially applied for FIFA and UEFA membership at around the same time as Gibraltar. As I’m informed, the GBU in the late nineties sent a letter [requesting clarification on a number of issues] but..there were no follow-up actions." Additionally, he stated, "I can't foretell what will happen in the future, but I have attended a meeting with UEFA, DBU and GBU and I'm convinced that the day DBU and GBU present a partnership agreement and a road-map for the development of Greenlandic football, UEFA will be ready to discuss options for supporting the development of Greenlandic football as well as football on an administrative level."^[9] However, another report from 2010 states that an application was submitted but other factors such as the admittance of former Soviet and Yugoslav nations made for bad timing of the application.^[10]

FIFA's approval of FieldTurf may allow Greenland to create FIFA-standard playing pitches and apply to play full internationals. The first artificial turf in Greenland was completed and inaugurated in Qaqortoq in September 2009. On 13 September 2010, FIFA president Sepp Blatter arrived in Qaqortoq and announced FIFA's approval of the new field, which is seen as a major step towards the country being granted FIFA membership.^[11]

In 2011, Allan Hansen, chairman of the Danish Football Association stated that he did not believe that Greenland had the opportunity to become a member of FIFA or a confederation immediately. However, in December 2014 the DBU and Greenland's GBU formed a partnership with the aim of having Greenland included as a UEFA and FIFA member by 2020. One of the greatest barriers to admittance at that time was FIFA's strict regulations on stadiums and playing surfaces. The DBU's support of a Greenlandic application to FIFA included financial support which would be used to replace the clay courts of at least one field in each of the country's four municipalities, with artificial turf. Additionally, it was announced in May 2015 the national government had allocated one million dollars to design a plan for the construction of a new covered national stadium in Nuuk.^[12] The intentions of the plan were to design a covered and heated facility that would have a capacity of several thousand spectators, with the plan to be presented to the Parliament of Greenland later in the autumn session of 2016.^[13] Although unrelated to the stadium proposal, the first artificial pitch was laid in Nuuk, the country's capital, in June 2015^[14] and at the national stadium in July 2016.^[15]

Before becoming a member of FIFA, Greenland would be required to be a member of a continental confederation. The most viable solutions would be to join UEFA or CONCACAF due to political links and geographical proximity, respectively. However, the former requires new members to be recognized by the United Nations as fully independent.^[16]

It was believed that UEFA would vote to change its membership requirements at the 41st Annual Congress held in Helsinki, Finland so that they were more in line with those of FIFA which allows non-independent states under certain conditions. At that time DBU chair Allan Hansen said, "Greenland is in a pre-membership stage right now. I'm a lot more optimistic than I was five years ago." At that time, GBU chair John Thorsen expected that if UEFA changes its membership requirement, Greenland could have an application together by 2020.^[17] However, after the UEFA Congress, no mention of a rule change was made.^[18]

In May 2022 it was announced that Greenland had officially begun the process of becoming a member of CONCACAF and was expected to attend the body's next congress with observer status.^[2] It was anticipated that the association would submit its formal application by 2024 or 2025. The same challenges of the past, including lack of sufficient infrastructure, were expected to prolong the application process.^[19] Shortly thereafter it was revealed that the association and head coach Morten Rutkjær had begun to identify players in Denmark who have Greenlandic roots. The association also appealed to UEFA for permission to play friendlies against San Marino and Gibraltar but were denied as it was outside of the FIFA match day window. Instead Greenland participated in a tournament in Turkey in September 2022.^[20]

Kenneth Kleist was elected new president of the KAK in October 2023. At that time, he announced the association's intentions to apply for full CONCACAF membership in 2024. The plan was to hopefully submit the application on 21 June, Greenland National Day.^[21] At that time, he also stated that the association had been informed that it was "quite close to admission" in the confederation.^[22]

As of 13 July 2023

Players in bold are still active with Greenland.

As of 13 July 2023

More information Opponent, P ...

Opponent	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Åland	6	1	0	5	10	17	−7	016.67
Alderney	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	100.00
Bermuda	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	000.00
Bermuda U23	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1	000.00
Falkland Islands	2	2	0	0	13	0	+13	100.00
Faroe Islands	7	0	1	6	6	20	−14	000.00
Frøya	5	3	1	1	20	5	+15	060.00
Găgăuzia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Gibraltar	4	2	0	2	7	7	+0	050.00
Gotland	4	2	0	2	8	12	−4	050.00
Guernsey	2	0	1	1	0	6	−6	000.00
Iceland	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	000.00
Isle of Man	2	1	0	1	4	6	−2	050.00
Isle of Wight	6	2	1	3	8	14	−6	033.33
Jersey	5	0	0	5	10	18	−8	000.00
Kosovo U21	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Kyrgyzstan (futsal)	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Menorca	4	0	2	2	5	12	−7	000.00
Northern Cyprus	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Orkney	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	050.00
Rhodes	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	000.00
Saare County	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	100.00
Sápmi	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4	000.00
Sark	1	1	0	0	16	0	+16	100.00
Shetland	4	2	0	2	10	12	−2	050.00
Tibet	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
Western Isles	3	2	1	0	8	4	+4	066.67
Ynys Môn	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	025.00
Zanzibar	1	0	0	1	2	4	−2	000.00
Zanzibar U20	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Total	81	26	10	45	156	173	−17	032.10

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• Greenland Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1983
• Island Games
  • Runners-up (2): 2013, 2017

• Association Football in Greenland
• Greenland Cup
• Greenlandic Football Championship
• Sport in Greenland