The tournament for independent football associations from across the globe – the third such edition since CONIFA was formed in 2013 – features 16 teams from five continents, all brought together by a stated belief that the sport can “give a voice to those often unheard in the world community”.
An opening ceremony was held on the first night of Match day One on Thursday, with tournament ‘hosts’ Barawa – a London-based team representing the peoples of southern Somalia – inflicting a 4-0 drubbing on Tamil Eelam, who are also based in the UK capital and are made up of members from the wider, displaced Sri Lankan Tamil community. The game at Bromley FC was refereed by former Premier League ref Mark Clattenburg.
EllanVannin, from the Isle of Man, also opened their Group A challenge with an emphatic victory, seeing off Cascadia 4-1 at Sutton . Meanwhile, in Enfield, reigning world champions from 2016 Abkhazia beat Tibet 3-0 in Group B. Northern Cyprus and Karpatalya drew 1-1 in the same pool.
There was a tough start for the southern African team of Matabeleland, coached by Englishman Justin Walley with the assistance of former Liverpool and Zimbabwe goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, as they went down 6-1 to the northern Italian region of Padania, in another game played at Sutton. Szekely Land defeated Tuvalu in the other Group C match, at Haringey.
The day’s biggest winners were Panjab who thrashed Kabylia 8-0 at Slough, while the Group D encounter between United Koreans in Japan and Western Armenia ended goalless.