World Cup 2006 Blog |  |
| Non-FIFA Football Gets Another Governing Body Posted: 28 Sep 2009 11:50 AM PDT
There are various reasons why certain “national” football teams and organizations are not FIFA affiliated. Without getting into too much detail, the Wikipedia entry on non-FIFA football defines it roughly as six categories: Regional associations (eg Jersey), Autonomous (or autonomy-seeking) regions (eg Catalonia), Stateless people (eg the Sami people of Lapland), States (eg Vatican City), Minorities (ethnic minorities within a larger state), and Micronations (usually crazy people who make up their own country like Sealand). These people still want to play football though, so many of them do. Until recently, these teams had been organized mostly by the NF-Board, headquartered in Liege, Belgium, and responsible for setting up the excellently titled VIVA World Cup (won this year (and in 2008) by Padania). But a new organization called the International Football Union announced itself in August 2009, so now non-FIFA football seems to have two governing bodies. So is that good or bad for non-FIFA football? The IFU’s mission statement explains:
Which is pretty similar to what the NF-Board does. So what’s the difference? When asked this question via email, IFU Media Coordinator Viivi Parma was careful to both pay tribute to the NF-Board and to point out the key difference:
An example the IFU cites is Padania, which if you clicked the Wikipedia link above, seems to be an outgrowth of the Lega Nord Italian political party rather than an autonomous nation or state. As such, they would not be eligible for IFU membership.
I also asked the NF-Board how they felt about the existence of a rival organization, and Secretary General Jean-Luc Kit seemed to be happy enough.
So let’s hope that’s exactly how it works out. If the IFU and the N-F Board can co-exist, with the IFU providing opportunities for non-FIFA nation states to play competitive football (and maybe eventually gain FIFA membership) while the NF-Board continues to allow non-nation teams - but still teams - like Padonia to compete, then that has to be good for non-FIFA football.        |
We all know that FIFA is world football’s governing body. But Sepp Blatter and co. don’t preside over all of international football. There’s a whole world of non-FIFA football out there, meaning football involving non-FIFA affiliated international teams.| You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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I can remember a time (a time before Leo Messi) when every little Argentinean #10 who could dribble a bit got labelled “the new Maradona”. One of the very first to get that label was Ariel Ortega, who rose to prominence in the early ’90s just as El Diego’s powers were fading. 
Last time we checked in, the Nigerian U17 team picture, or so it seemed, was 
The 
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