2016 ConIFA World Football Cup

2016 ConIFA World Football Cup
Tournament details
Host country  Abkhazia
Dates 28 May – 6 June
Teams 12
Venue(s) 2 (in 2 host cities)

The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup is the second 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 is being hosted by the Football Federation of Abkhazia.

Host selection

Following the 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup, in which the teams from Abkhazia and South Ossetia were refused visas by the Hungarian government, ConIFA announced that they had delivered strong objections to what they saw as political interference.[1] As a consequence, in July 2015, ConIFA announced that its Executive Committee had unanimously voted to award the 2016 World Football Cup to Abkhazia. It stated that, in addition to the quality of the bid, the decision would send out the message that ConIFA would stand by all of its members.[1]

Hosts

 Abkhazia

Sukhumi Gagra
Dinamo Stadium Daur Akhvlediani Stadium
43°00′18″N 41°00′52″E / 43.004911°N 41.014472°E / 43.004911; 41.014472 (Dinamo Stadium) 43°17′10″N 40°15′38″E / 43.2860657°N 40.2606291°E / 43.2860657; 40.2606291 (Daur Akhvlediani Stadium)
Capacity:4,300 Capacity:1,500

Participating teams

Qualification

The 2016 World Football Cup was the first ConIFA tournament to feature qualification, as the competitors in both the previous tournament and 2015 European Football Cup were invited. The qualification process was designed around a number of different tournaments; initially, ConIFA announced that the top three teams in the 2015 EFC would gain automatic qualification for the 2016 WFC.[2] Subsequent to this decision, ConIFA announced that it would sanction a number of friendly tournaments featuring its members as part of the qualification, with the first of these being the Niamh Challenge Cup, a four team tournament hosted by Ellan Vannin.[3] A further tournament, the Benedikt Fontana Cup was also planned to be hosted by Raetia.[4] The winners of these tournaments would gain qualification to the WFC.

In addition to the hosts, and the teams that gained entry to the tournament through the qualification process, ConIFA extended an invitation to the team representing the Aymara people to become the first South American side to participate.[5]

Qualified teams

Team Continent Method of
qualification		 Date of
qualification		 Finals
appearance		 Previous
appearance		 Previous best
performance		 Notes
Aymará South America Invitation 13 May 2015 1st N/A N/A Subsequently withdrew from competition
Isle of Man Ellan Vannin Europe Niamh Challenge Cup winners 31 May 2015 2nd 2014 Runners-up (2014) Subsequently withdrew from competition
 Padania Europe European Football Cup Winner 21 June 2015 2nd 2014 5th Place (2014) Subsequently expelled from competition
 County of Nice Europe European Football Cup Runner Up 21 June 2015 2nd 2014 Winners (2014) Subsequently withdrew from competition
 Abkhazia Europe Host 7 July 2015 2nd 2014 8th Place (2014)
 Raetia Europe Benedikt Fontana Cup Winners 6 September 2015 1st N/A N/A
 Somaliland Africa Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
 Chagos Islands Asia Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
 Iraqi Kurdistan Asia Selected 9 January 2016 2nd 2014 6th Place (2014)
Sikh Empire Panjab Asia Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
Korea United Koreans of Japan Asia Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
 Northern Cyprus Europe Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
 Romani people Europe Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
 Sápmi Europe Selected 9 January 2016 2nd 2014 10th Place (2014)
Western Armenia Western Armenia Europe Selected 9 January 2016 1st N/A N/A
Székely Land Székely Land Europe Selected 2 March 2016 1st N/A N/A Replaced Padania

The twelve participating teams were divided into three pots of four for the group stage, which would see them drawn into four groups of three. The draw was made by ConIFA World President Per-Anders Blind in Luleå on 1 April 2016:[6]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3

Withdrawals

In December 2015, following advice from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office over security concerns regarding travel to Abkhazia, the Manx Independent Football Alliance announced that the Ellan Vannin team would withdraw from the World Football Cup, and instead take part in the 2016 Europeada Championship in Italy.[7] Subsequently, both the Aymará team, and County of Nice also withdrew.

In March 2016, ConIFA announced that Padania had been expelled from the tournament due to procedural irregularities, to be replaced by Székely Land.[8]

Matches

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Teams that advanced to the quarter-finals

Group A

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
 Abkhazia
 Chagos Islands
Western Armenia Western Armenia

30 May 2016
20:00 GET
Chagos Islands  v Western Armenia Western Armenia

31 May 2016
20:00 GET
Abkhazia  v Western Armenia Western Armenia

Group B

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
 Iraqi Kurdistan
Székely Land Székely Land
Korea United Koreans of Japan

29 May 2016
15:00 GET
Iraqi Kurdistan  v Székely Land Székely Land

30 May 2016
15:00 GET
United Koreans of Japan Korea v Székely Land Székely Land

Group C

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
 Northern Cyprus
 Romani people
 Raetia

Group D

Team Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Sikh Empire Panjab
 Sápmi
 Somaliland

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
1 June – Sukhumi        
 Team B2  
4 June – Sukhumi
 Team C1    
 Winner Match 13  
1 June – Sukhumi
     Winner Match 14    
 Team A1  
5 June – Sukhumi
 Team D2    
 Winner Match 23  
2 June – Sukhumi    
   Winner Match 24  
 Team B1  
4 June – Sukhumi
 Team C2    
 Winner Match 15   Third place
2 June – Sukhumi
     Winner Match 16     5 June – Sukhumi
 Team A2  
 Loser Match 23  
 Team D1    
 Loser Match 24  
 

Quarter-Finals

1 June 2016
15:00 GET
Runner-Up Group B Match 13 Winner Group C

1 June 2016
20:00 GET
Winner Group A Match 14 Runner-Up Group D

2 June 2016
15:00 GET
Winner Group B Match 15 Runner-Up Group C

2 June 2016
20:00 GET
Runner-Up Group A Match 16 Winner Group D

Semi-Finals

4 June 2016
15:00 GET
Winner Match 13 Match 23 Winner Match 14

4 June 2016
20:00 GET
Winner Match 15 Match 24 Winner Match 16

Third-Place Play-Off

5 June 2016
15:00 GET
Loser Match 23 Match 25 Loser Match 24

Final

5 June 2016
20:00 GET
Winner Match 23 Match 26 Winner Match 24

Placement Rounds

Placement round 1 Placement round 2 Placings
2 June – Gagra3 June – Gagra5th place
Team A3Loser Match 176th Place
Team D3Loser Match 187th Place
2 June – Gagra3 June - Gagra8th Place
Team B3Winner Match 179th Place
Team C3Winner Match 1810th Place
3 June - Sukhumi4 June - Gagra11th Place
Loser Match 13Loser Match 1912th Place
Loser Match 14Loser Match 20
3 June - Sukhumi4 June - Gagra
Loser Match 15Winner Match 19
Loser Match 16Winner Match 20

Placement Round 1

2 June 2016
11:00 GET
Third Group A Match 17 Third Group D

2 June 2016
15:00 GET
Third Group B Match 18 Third Group C

3 June 2016
15:00 GET
Loser Match 13 Match 19 Loser Match 14

3 June 2016
20:00 GET
Loser Match 15 Match 20 Loser Match 16

Placement Round 2

3 June 2016
11:00 GET
Loser Match 17 Match 21 Loser Match 18

3 June 2016
15:00 GET
Winner Match 17 Match 22 Winner Match 18

4 June 2016
11:00 GET
Loser Match 19 Match 25 Loser Match 20

4 June 2016
15:00 GET
Winner Match 19 Match 26 Winner Match 20

References

  1. 1 2 "Looking back and moving forward!". ConIFA. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "European Football Cup 2015". ConIFA. Confederation of independent Football Associations. 27 April 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "Ellan Vannin to host tournament at end of month". Yorkshire Evening Post. 13 May 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Benedikt Fontana Cup". ConIFA. Confederation of Independent Football Associations. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Jockel, Jens (16 May 2015). "Signing of Team Aymara – Chile-Trip of our South America Director". ConIFA. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
  6. ↑ The official draw CONIFA World Football Cup 2016 (Video). ConIFA. 1 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Ellan Vannin set for new European adventure". IOM Today. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "Replacement in ConIFA WFC 2016". Facebook. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.