The Sápmi football team is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team representing the

Sámi people The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are the traditionally Sámi languages, Sámi-speaking indigenous people inhabiting the region of Sápmi, which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Kola Peninsula ...

, who inhabit northern parts of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The team is not a member of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

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

ConIFA The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are non-FIFA international football, not affiliated with FIFA. Competitions Men's competitions * CONIFA Wo ...

. It is organized by FA Sápmi.

Tournament history

Sápmi participated in the KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup 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 in

Occitania Occitania is the historical region in Southern Europe where the Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes used as a second language. This cultural area roughly encompasses much of the southern third of France (except ...

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

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

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

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

to finish third, before travelling to

Padania Padania ( , , ) 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 plain of ...

in 2009 where they again finished third. Sápmi have not participated in a VIVA World Cup since. FA Sápmi hosted the 2014 ConIFA World Football Cup 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 association football, football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions Non-FIFA football, unaffiliated with FIFA ...

Notable players

Sápmi footballers who have played for both the Norwegian national side and the Sápmi team include Morten Gamst Pedersen, Sigurd Rushfeldt and Tom Høgli. Steffen Nystrøm, of

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag () is a Norwegian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Tromsø. They play their home games at the Romssa Arena which has a seating capacity of 6,801. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Despi ...

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, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

, 28 May – 6 June 2016.

Honours

Non-FIFA competitions

* Viva World Cup ** Champions (1): 2006 ** Third place (2): 2008, 2009

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 culture Sámi organisations 1985 establishments in Finland 1985 establishments in Norway 1985 establishments in Sweden