The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup was the second edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup, an international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by

ConIFA The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are not affiliated with FIFA. Competitions Women's football All members of CONIFA are encouraged to inv ...

. The tournament was hosted by the

Football Federation of Abkhazia The Football Federation of Abkhazia regulates football in Abkhazia. History The Abkhazian Football Federation was established in 1999. On 25 February 2004, it was announced that Nart (football team), Nart Vice President Gennadi Tsvinaria had won ...

, with the Abkhazia team becoming the first host nation to win the tournament.

Host selection

Following the 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup, in which the teams from

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

and

South Ossetia South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...

were refused

visas Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

by the

Hungarian government The Government of Hungary ( hu, Magyarország Kormánya) exercises executive power in Hungary. It is led by the Prime Minister, and is composed of various ministers. It is the principal organ of public administration. The Prime Minister (''miniszt ...

, ConIFA announced that they had delivered strong objections to what they saw as political interference. 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.

Hosts

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. 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. A further tournament, the Benedikt Fontana Cup was also planned to be hosted by

Raetia Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west ...

. 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 Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

to become the first

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n side to participate.

Qualified teams

Draw

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: {, class="wikitable" style="width:98%" , - !width=33%, Pot 1 !width=33%, Pot 2 !width=33%, 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. Subsequently, both the Aymará team, and

County of Nice The County of Nice (french: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, it, Contea di Nizza/Paese Nizzardo, Niçard oc, Contèa de Niça/País Niçard) is a historical region of France located around the southeastern city of Nice and roughly equivalent t ...

also withdrew. In March 2016, ConIFA announced that

Padania Padania (, also , ) is an alternative name and proposed independent state encompassing Northern Italy, derived from the name of the Po River (Latin ''Padus''), whose basin includes much of the region, centered on the Po Valley (), the major plai ...

had been expelled from the tournament due to procedural irregularities, to be replaced by

Székely Land The Székely Land or Szeklerland ( hu, Székelyföld, ; ro, Ținutul Secuiesc and sometimes ; german: Szeklerland; la, Terra Siculorum) is a historic and ethnographic area in Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hungarians. I ...

. In May 2016, three weeks prior to the start of the tournament, ConIFA announced that the Romani team had been forced to withdraw from the tournament due to difficulties in obtaining travel documents for their squad. Padania, who had been expelled, were invited to take the place of the Romani team.

Matches

Group stage

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !colspan=2, Key to colours in group tables , - , style="background:#cfc; width:20px", , align=left, Team advanced to the quarter-finals , - , style="background:#FFA07A; width:20px, , align=left, Team in the 9th-12th place play-offs

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Knockout stage

Quarter-Finals

Semi-Finals

Third-Place Play-Off

Final

Placement Rounds

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Gagra Gagra ( ka, გაგრა; Abkhaz and Russian: Гагра) is a town in Abkhazia/Georgia, sprawling for 5 km on the northeast coast of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. Its subtropical climate made Gagra a popular he ...

, , colspan=2, 3 June –

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, , , , 8th Place , - , , , 7, , , , 3, , , , 9th place , - , , , 0, , , , 10, , , , 10th place , - , colspan=2, 3 June –

Sukhumi Sukhumi (russian: Суху́м(и), ) or Sokhumi ( ka, სოხუმი, ), also known by its Abkhaz name Aqwa ( ab, Аҟәа, ''Aqwa''), is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of ...

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Placement Round 1

Placement Round 2

Final Positions

References

External links

{{ConIFA World Football Cup CONIFA World Football Cup International association football competitions hosted by Georgia (country) 2016 in Georgian sport 2016 in association football Football in Abkhazia 2016 in Abkhazia