Football is the

national sport A national sport is considered to be an intrinsic part of the culture of a nation. Some sports are ''de facto'' (not established by law) national sports, as sumo is in Japan and Gaelic games are in Ireland and field hockey in Pakistan, while othe ...

of Northern Cyprus.KKTC Tanýtma Dairesi
/ref> It is governed 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 ...

( tr, Kıbrıs Türk Futbol Federasyonu, KTFF), which was set up in 1955. The KTFF oversees the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

and the

league system A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in ...

. The top-level national league is the

KTFF Süper Lig The KTFF Süper Lig (English: CTFA Super League), formerly known as Birinci Lig ( literally ''First League'') is the top football league in Northern Cyprus. The league was founded in 1955 and is currently contested by 16 teams. At the end of ...

, followed by the KTFF 1. Lig and the KTFF 2. Lig. The national cup, regulated by the KTFF is the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

. The winner of the league and the cup play the KTFF Super Cup. Due to the international sports embargo against Northern Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot teams cannot play international matches.

History

Football was introduced to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

on 1878 with the arrival of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

troops. There are 2,500 licensed players in Northern Cyprus. The

is currently ranked number one in 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 ...

standings, and is ranked higher than all non- FIFA teams in the

World Football Elo Ratings The World Football Elo Ratings are a ranking system for men's national association football teams that is published by the website eloratings.net. It is based on the Elo rating system but includes modifications to take various football-specific va ...

.World Football Elo Ratings
/ref> In the first years after the Turkish invasion in 1974, Turkish Cypriot football teams were able to play international matches against teams from countries such as Turkey,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. This was due to the tolerance shown by FIFA upon the initiative of its secretary-general,

Helmut Käser Helmut Käser (14 November 1912 – 11 May 1994) served as the Secretary General of FIFA, the international governing body of association football, from April 1960 to June 1981. He served under three presidents of FIFA, Englishmen Arthur Drewry ( ...

. However, after the illegal declaration of independence in 1983, Turkish Cypriot teams and the unofficial national team lost the ability to play international matches. A Turkish team, Fenerbahçe SK, had a camp in Northern Cyprus in 1990 and planned to play with a local team, but the match was not allowed by FIFA that recognises

Cyprus Football Association The Cyprus Football Association (CFA; el, Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου (ΚΟΠ), Kypriakí Omospondía Podosfaírou (KOP)) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Cyprus and is based in Nicosia. It ...

to be the only internationally recognised authority for football in Cyprus. In the

ELF Cup The ELF Cup (''Equality, Liberty, Fraternity'') was an international football tournament organised by the Cyprus Turkish Football Federation (KTFF), a member of the NF-Board. It was played only once in 2006. Among the participants were NF-Board ...

that took place in Northern Cyprus in 2006, FIFA successfully pressured the Afghan national team not to play in the tournament, and FIFA members

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

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

sent their

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

teams instead. A Turkish Cypriot bid to join FIFA was rejected again in 2004, after the Annan Plan referendums. In 2007, a friendly football match between Çetinkaya Türk S.K. and

Luton Town F.C. Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

was cancelled after pressure by the Republic of Cyprus. In 2014, the Cyprus Turkish Football Federation, after agreement signed between the two, applied to join the

, but the talks reached a deadlock because of Turkey's political intervention.

Women's football

Women's football remains very undeveloped in Northern Cyprus. The first ever women's football league in Northern Cyprus, the KTFF Women's League, was established in the 2007-08 season with seven teams. The number of teams later increased to nine. However, the lack of teams and interest, as well as violence in matches resulted in the cancellation of the league by the federation. Only Akdeniz Nurçelik SK, the women's branch of Akdeniz Spor Birliği remained professionally active in this field. The team was, as of the 2014–15 season, in the

Turkish Women's Third Football League The Turkish Women's Third Football League ( tr, Kadınlar 3. Futbol Ligi) is the fourth-level league competition for women's association football in Turkey. History The Women's Third League was established in 2014 launching its first season i ...

Football stadiums in Northern Cyprus

References

{{Northern Cyprus topics