The Sápmi football team is a

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 ...

team representing the

Sámi people The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric languages#Speakers, Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, ...

, who inhabit northern parts of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The team is not a member of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, and therefore does not participate in their competitions, though is member of the

Confederation of Independent Football Associations 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 ...

. It is organized by

FA Sápmi FA Sápmi is a Association football, football association which is the organizer of the Sápmi football team representing the indigenous Sámi people. It is a member of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), but not a m ...

Tournament history

Sápmi participated in the

KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup The KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup was a football tournament held under the auspices of the NF-Board. It celebrated 50 years of the Cyprus Turkish Football Federation. History The KTFF and featured representative sides from the host nation, the Sáp ...

in 2005 in Northern Cyprus, losing matches against Northern Cyprus and Kosovo and finishing third. In November 2006, Sápmi took part in – and won – 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 ...

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

, organised by the NF-Board. Sápmi overcame both the host nation and

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

to win the trophy, scoring an impressive 42 goals in 3 games. They hosted the next finals in 2008, defeating

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 ...

to finish third, before travelling to

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 pla ...

in 2009 where they again finished third. Sápmi have not participated in a

since. FA Sápmi hosted 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 ...

and it competed at the

2016 ConIFA World Football Cup The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup was the second edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by ConIFA. The tournament was ...

Notable players

Sápmi footballers who have played for both the Norwegian national side and the Sápmi team include

Morten Gamst Pedersen Morten Gamst Pedersen (born 8 September 1981) is a Norwegian professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for Åsane. Pedersen began his career with Tromsø, then played for English side Blackburn Rovers between 2004 and 2013. He the ...

Sigurd Rushfeldt Sigurd Rushfeldt (born 11 December 1972) is a Norwegian football coach and former player who works as an assistant coach for Tromsø. During his playing career, he played for Tromsø, Birmingham City, Rosenborg, Racing de Santander, and Austri ...

and

Tom Høgli Tom Høgli (born 24 February 1984) is a Norwegian former professional football defender who last played for Eliteserien side Tromsø. Club career Bodø/Glimt Høgli played several seasons for Bodø/Glimt, whom he joined from ''Skånland og Ome ...

Steffen Nystrøm Steffen Nystrøm (born 1 July 1984) is a Norwegian football striker. He played for Norild IL, Moss FK, Strømsgodset and Tromsø before joining Fredrikstad. Being part Sápmi, Nystrøm was joint top goalscorer, beside Eirik Lamøy and Tom ...

, of

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 199 ...

has played for the

under-21 team, and made his Sápmi debut in the VIVA World Cup.

Tournament records

World Cup record

Selected internationals

Current squad

Sápmi squad at the

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 ...

, 28 May – 6 June 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapmi national football team CONIFA member associations European N.F.-Board teams Football in Finland Football teams in Norway Football in Sweden Sámi Sámi associations 1985 establishments in Finland 1985 establishments in Norway 1985 establishments in Sweden