The Darfur representative football team, also called Darfur United, is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team representing

Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...

, a region in western

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. Their players all live in refugee camps in neighbouring

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

. They have competed in the

2012 VIVA World Cup The 2012 VIVA World Cup was the fifth and final VIVA World Cup, an international tournament for football open to non-FIFA-affiliated teams, played in the Iraqi Kurdistan. It marked a new record in the competition's history, with nine teams compe ...

and the

2014 ConIFA World Football Cup The 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup was the first edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by ConIFA and a successor of V ...

Overview

Darfur United was formed in March 2012 with representatives from twelve Darfuri refugee camps located in Chad, invited to try out for the Darfur United team. 16 players were initially selected with four players also offered roster spots in the case of the need to replace any players. The team participated in the 2012 Viva World Cup, which was hosted by Kurdistan Iraq in June. The operational aspects of this football team have been overseen and orchestrated by i-ACT, a humanitarian group located in Los Angeles, California, and directed by Gabriel Stauring and his team of volunteers. The team's head coach is Mark Hodson of EVO Soccer Programs and formerly the Sand and Surf Soccer Club, based in Manhattan Beach, CA. Hodson is an NSCAA Premier License holder and has been a professional coach since 1999.

Ben Holden Ben Holden (born November 3, 1970 in Lansing, Michigan) is a sportscaster most recently with CBS Sports Network and has been with the Big Ten Network. Biography Holden called college football, basketball, and ice hockey for the CBS Sports Network ...

of Bradford, UK, became the team's assistant coach in May 2012 to help manage the team at the 2012 Viva World Cup in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

Kurdistan Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...

. The 27-year-old worked as a coach in Los Angeles in 2006 for a year; head coach Mark Hodson (whom he met whilst coaching in the US) called him and asked him how he felt about assisting him coaching Darfur United in June's Viva World Cup 2012. The 16 players who made up Darfur United’s squad were all former Sudanese refugees who, having escaped the war-torn area, got the chance to represent Darfur abroad in a global competition.

2012 VIVA World Cup

After Darfur lost the two Group Matches against Northern Cyprus (0–15) and Provence (0–18) in Group C, they had to play a Qualification Match for the 5th to 8th Place Semi Finals. As the Darfuri team lost the match against Western Sahara 1–5, they ranked 9th and last in their first international competition. Moubarak Haggar Dougom scored the first goal ever for Darfur in the 46th minute.

2014 ConIFA World Football Cup

Darfur competed in the

, losing all their matches and winning the fair play award.

World Cup record

Notable players

* Khalid Abdulkhalik - national team top scorer and played for

University of the Southwest The University of the Southwest is a private Christian university located in Hobbs, New Mexico. The university was incorporated under as College of the Southwest in 1962, although the college had existed for several years prior as a two-year ...

References

Infos (www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk)
* ttp://outcasts-book.blogspot.co.uk/ Infos (outcasts-book.blogspot.co.uk)br>"Darfur refugee football team" (voanews.com)"Watch Darfur United kicking" (enoughproject.com)

External links

Official website of Darfur United

"Darfur refugees beat odds to play football in Iraq" (khaleejtimes.com)
{{Confederation of Independent Football Associations members National Football Team Football in Sudan African N.F.-Board teams African national and official selection-teams not affiliated to FIFA