The ELF Cup (''Equality, Liberty, Fraternity'') was an international football tournament organised by the

Cyprus Turkish Football Federation The Cyprus Turkish Football Association ( tr, Kıbrıs Türk Futbol Federasyonu, KTFF) is the governing body of Association football, football in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Established on 29 October 1955, during British Cyprus (187 ...

(KTFF), a member of the

NF-Board The N.F.-Board (french: Nouvelle Fédération-Board) was a federation of football associations established on 12 December 2003. It was made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, r ...

. It was played only once in 2006. Among the participants were NF-Board teams, and FIFA member teams from the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...

ELF Cup 2006

The 2006 ELF Cup took place in the

North Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Recog ...

between November 19 and 25. Initially announced for non-FIFA teams only, the 2006 tournament also found places for three teams from the

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. However, under pressure from FIFA, Afghanistan withdrew from the tournament.

Controversy

Initially, it was announced that the

were to hold the inaugural

VIVA World Cup The VIVA World Cup was an international association football tournament organized by the New Federation Board, an umbrella association for teams unaffiliated with FIFA, held five times between 2006 and 2012. It is succeeded by the newly organiz ...

tournament, organised by the

as a bi-annual competition for the best non-FIFA nations. However, a dispute between the NF-Board and a new regime at the KTFF led to the tournament being taken away and granted to

Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasse ...

. The NF-Board claimed that the new government of the

insisted on restricting which nations could and could not take part. The KTFF, however, claimed that the NF-Board made unreasonable financial demands. In response, the KTFF announced that the ELF Cup would be held at the same time as the VIVA World Cup, and have promised to pay travelling expenses to the participants, which has attracted some NF-Board members. The KTFF hope that the tournament will bring

further into the international arena.

Competitors

* – representing the

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

. * – Gagauzia, an autonomous region of

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

. * – an autonomous region of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, and nominally under the control of the Danish Football Association and is a

member. * – a member of the AFC and FIFA, represented here by their futsal team. * – a member of the AFC and FIFA, represented here by their futsal team. * – an autonomous region of China, fiercely independent in exile and is a

member. * – the hosts, an internationally unrecognised state and is a

member. * – autonomous region of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, but with membership of the CAF and of the

, represented here by their under-20 national team.

Results

The eight participants were drawn into two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stage. For details of the squads, see 2006 ELF Cup Squads.

Group A

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Group B

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Semi-finals

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3rd Place Playoff

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Final

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Golden Team

Scorers

;6 goals * Ertaç Taşkıran ;5 goals * Hamis Çakır ;4 goals * Ulan Riskulov ;3 goals * Jenish Mamatov * Daler Aknazarov * Kemal Uçaner * Ediz Çukurovalı * Muhammed Seif Muhammed ;2 goals * Piotr Marcov * Marlen Akimov * Mihail Sundeev * Derviş Kolcu * Sabri Selden * Coşkun Ulusoy ;1 goal * İrfan Ametov * Ablâmetov Arsen * Ebubekirov Fevziy * Halil Hayredinov * Emiratlı Ruslan * Denis Ceavdari * Niklas Kreutzmann * Pelle Mortensen * Kristian Sandgreen * Mustafayev Arsen * Dilshat Kadyrov * Vadim Kondratkov * Sundeev Mihail * Sergey Almukhamedov * Firdavs Faizullaev * Atkun Arıkbuka * Yasin Kansu * Ekrem Keleşzade * Hasan Sapsızoğlu * Rajab Rashid Omar * Suleiman Kassim Suleiman ;Own goals * Rizvan Ablitarov (playing against TRNC)

Trivia

* All the matches were played with

Adidas Teamgeist The Adidas +Teamgeist (, with the plus sign being mute) is a football made by Adidas and developed jointly with Molten Corporation. It was the official match ball for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The plus sign in its name was introduced ...

balls.