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 hosted by the Football Federation of Abkhazia, with the Abkhazia team becoming the first host nation to win the tournament.

2016 ConIFA World Football Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Abkhazia
Dates	29 May – 5 June
Teams	12
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Abkhazia (1st title)
Runners-up	Panjab
Third place	Northern Cyprus
Fourth place	Padania
Tournament statistics
Matches played	28
Goals scored	115 (4.11 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Amar Purewal (7 goals)
← 2014 2018 →

Host selection

Following the 2015 ConIFA European Football Cup, in which the teams from Abkhazia and South Ossetia were refused visas by the Hungarian government, ConIFA announced that they had delivered strong objections to what they saw as political interference.^[1] As a consequence, in July 2015, ConIFA announced that its executive committee had unanimously voted to award the 2016 World Football Cup to Abkhazia. It stated that, in addition to the quality of the bid, the decision would send out the message that ConIFA would stand by all of its members.^[1]

Hosts

Abkhazia

Sukhumi	Gagra
Dinamo Stadium	Daur Akhvlediani Stadium
43.004911°N 41.014472°E / 43.004911; 41.014472 (Dinamo Stadium)	43.2860657°N 40.2606291°E / 43.2860657; 40.2606291 (Daur Akhvlediani Stadium)
Capacity:4,300	Capacity:1,500
Sukhumi Gagra

Qualification

Partial world map showing the national teams that entered the 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup. Note that the Panjab and Chagos teams largely consisted of diaspora members living in England.

Main article: 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup qualification

The 2016 World Football Cup was the first ConIFA tournament to feature qualification, as the competitors in both the previous tournament and 2015 European Football Cup were invited. The qualification process was designed around a number of different tournaments; initially, ConIFA announced that the top three teams in the 2015 EFC would gain automatic qualification for the 2016 WFC.^[2] Subsequent to this decision, ConIFA announced that it would sanction a number of friendly tournaments featuring its members as part of the qualification, with the first of these being the Niamh Challenge Cup, a four team tournament hosted by Ellan Vannin.^[3] A further tournament, the Benedikt Fontana Cup was also planned to be hosted by Raetia.^[4] The winners of these tournaments would gain qualification to the WFC.

In addition to the hosts, and the teams that gained entry to the tournament through the qualification process, ConIFA extended an invitation to the team representing the Aymara people to become the first South American side to participate.^[5]

Qualified teams

Team	Continent	Method of qualification	Date of qualification	Finals appearance	Previous appearance	Previous best performance	Notes
Aymará	South America	Invitation	13 May 2015	1st	N/A	N/A	Subsequently, withdrew from competition
Ellan Vannin	Europe	Niamh Challenge Cup winners	31 May 2015	2nd	2014	Runners-up (2014)	Subsequently, withdrew from competition
Padania	Europe	European Football Cup Winner	21 June 2015	2nd	2014	5th Place (2014)	Expelled from competition subsequent to qualification; subsequently restored following withdrawal of Romani People
County of Nice	Europe	European Football Cup Runner-up	21 June 2015	2nd	2014	Winners (2014)	Subsequently, withdrew from competition
Abkhazia	Europe	Host	7 July 2015	2nd	2014	8th Place (2014)
Raetia	Europe	Benedikt Fontana Cup Winners	6 September 2015	1st	N/A	N/A
Somaliland	Africa	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
Chagos Islands	Africa	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
Kurdistan Region	Asia	Selected	9 January 2016	2nd	2014	6th Place (2014)
Panjab	Asia	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
United Koreans in Japan	Asia	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
Northern Cyprus	Europe	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
Romani people	Europe	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A	Subsequently, withdrew from competition
Sápmi	Europe	Selected	9 January 2016	2nd	2014	10th Place (2014)
Western Armenia	Europe	Selected	9 January 2016	1st	N/A	N/A
Székely Land	Europe	Selected	2 March 2016	1st	N/A	N/A	Replaced Padania

Draw

The twelve participating teams were divided into three pots of four for the group stage, which would see them drawn into four groups of three. The draw was made by ConIFA World President Per-Anders Blind in Luleå on 1 April 2016:^[6]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Abkhazia  Kurdistan Region  Northern Cyprus  Panjab	Romani people  Sápmi  Chagos Islands  Székely Land	Somaliland  Western Armenia  United Koreans in Japan  Raetia

Withdrawals

In December 2015, following advice from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office over security concerns regarding travel to Abkhazia, the Manx Independent Football Alliance announced that the Ellan Vannin team would withdraw from the World Football Cup, and instead take part in the 2016 Europeada Championship in Italy.^[7] Subsequently, both the Aymará team, and County of Nice also withdrew.

In March 2016, ConIFA announced that Padania had been expelled from the tournament due to procedural irregularities, to be replaced by Székely Land.^[8]

In May 2016, three weeks prior to the start of the tournament, ConIFA announced that the Romani team had been forced to withdraw from the tournament due to difficulties in obtaining travel documents for their squad. Padania, who had been expelled, were invited to take the place of the Romani team.^[9]

Matches

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
	Team advanced to the quarter-finals
	Team in the 9th-12th-place play-offs

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Abkhazia	2	2	0	0	10	0	+10	6
Western Armenia	2	1	0	1	12	1	+11	3
Chagos Islands	2	0	0	2	0	21	−21	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

29 May 2016

20:00 GET

Abkhazia	9–0	Chagos Islands
Kortava 18' (pen.) Argun 19' Akhba 34' Prus 39', 43' Shoniya 47', 57' Tarba 50' Pimpia 88'	Report

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

30 May 2016

20:00 GET

Chagos Islands	0–12	Western Armenia
	Report	Ghandilyan 3', 20', 30', 34', 45', 53' Avolian 55' Kapikyan 58', 81' Trapizoyan 64' Militosyan 69' Yagan 73'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

31 May 2016

20:00 GET

Western Armenia	0–1	Abkhazia
		Kortava 9'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kurdistan Region	2	2	0	0	6	0	+6	6
United Koreans in Japan	2	1	0	1	1	3	−2	3
Székely Land	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

29 May 2016

15:00 GET

Kurdistan Region	3–0	Székely Land
Wriya 34' Shakor 55' Ahmed 73'	Report

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

30 May 2016

15:00 GET

United Koreans in Japan	1–0	Székely Land
Son-chon 60'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

31 May 2016

15:00 GET

United Koreans in Japan	0–3	Kurdistan Region
	Report	Rahman 27' Khesro 45' (pen.) Ahmad 73'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Northern Cyprus	2	2	0	0	9	1	+8	6
Padania	2	1	0	1	7	2	+5	3
Raetia	2	0	0	2	0	13	−13	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

29 May 2016

11:00 GET

Padania	1–2	Northern Cyprus
Prandelli 48'	Report	Kaya 62' Turan 67'

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

30 May 2016

11:00 GET

Raetia	0–6	Padania
		Prandelli 23', 35', 54', 61' Mercorillo 21' Rota 80'

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

31 May 2016

11:00 GET

Northern Cyprus	7–0	Raetia
Sonay 5', 13', 48' Eskingen 60' Sadiklar 73' Turan 81', 87'

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Panjab	2	2	0	0	6	0	+6	6
Sápmi	2	1	0	1	5	1	+4	3
Somaliland	2	0	0	2	0	10	−10	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

29 May 2016

15:00 GET

Sápmi	5–0	Somaliland
Strand 15' Lahdenmäki 50' Eriksen 60' Mannsverk 70' Yndestad 80'	Report

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

30 May 2016

15:00 GET

Sápmi	0–1	Panjab
	Report	Singh 2'

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

31 May 2016

15:00 GET

Somaliland	0–5	Panjab
		Purewal 30', 67', 80' Purewal 38' Singh 74'

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	1 June – Sukhumi
	United Koreans in Japan	1 (2)
					4 June – Sukhumi
	Northern Cyprus	1 (4)
					Northern Cyprus	0
	1 June – Sukhumi
					Abkhazia	2
	Abkhazia	2
									5 June – Sukhumi
	Sápmi	0
									Abkhazia	1 (6)
	2 June – Sukhumi
									Panjab	1 (5)
	Kurdistan Region	2 (6)
					4 June – Sukhumi
	Padania	2 (7)
					Padania	0
	2 June – Sukhumi
					Panjab	1			Third place
	Western Armenia	2
									5 June – Sukhumi
	Panjab	3
									Padania	0
									Northern Cyprus	2

Quarter-finals

1 June 2016

15:00 GET

United Koreans in Japan	1–1	Northern Cyprus
Song-tae 54'		Kaya 31'
Penalties
Kim Kwang-woo On Song-tae Kim Su-yong An Suug-tae	2–4	Esin Sonay Halil Turan Ünal Kaya Ibrahim Çıdamlı

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

1 June 2016

20:00 GET

Abkhazia	2–0	Sápmi
Kortava 35', 73' (pen.)

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

2 June 2016

15:00 GET

Kurdistan Region	2–2	Padania
Prandelli 22' (o.g.) Haji 25'		Ferri 13' Garavelli 71'
Penalties
Kosrat Baiz Kamaran Ali (?) Khalid Mushir Diyar Rahman Farhan Shakor Hunar Ahmad (?) Miran Khesro	6–7	Matteo Prandelli Marco Garavelli Alex Mazzocca Luca Mosti (?) Luca Ferri Stefano Tignonsini (?) Gianluca Rolandone (?) Antonio Pizzolla

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

2 June 2016

20:00 GET

Western Armenia	2–3	Panjab
Avolian 67' Kaya 79'		Purewal 2', 36', 44'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Semi-finals

4 June 2016

20:00 GET

Northern Cyprus	0–2	Abkhazia
		Logua 9' Shoniya 69'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

4 June 2016

15:00 GET

Padania	0–1	Panjab
		Riaz 76'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Third-Place play-off

5 June 2016

15:00 GET

Padania	0–2	Northern Cyprus
		Turan 50' Ekingen 79'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Final

5 June 2016

20:00 GET

Abkhazia	1–1	Panjab
Shoniya 88'	Report	Purewal 57'
Penalties
Anri Khagba Anri Khagush Dmitriy Akhba Tarash Khagba Ruslan Shoniya Alan Khugaev Shabat Logua Vladimir Argun	6–5	Amar Purewal Radjpal Virk Terlochan Singh Karum Shanker Jhai Dhillon Aran Basi Amarvir Sandhu Aaron Minhas

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

ConIFA World Football Cup 2016 winners
Abkhazia First title

Placement Rounds

Placement round 1		Placement round 2			Placings
2 June – Gagra		3 June – Gagra			Sápmi	5th place
Chagos Islands	2	Chagos Islands	3 (2)		Western Armenia	6th Place
Somaliland	3	Raetia	3 (3)		United Koreans in Japan	7th Place
2 June – Gagra		3 June – Gagra			Kurdistan Region	8th Place
Székely Land	7	Somaliland	3		Székely Land	9th place
Raetia	0	Székely Land	10		Somaliland	10th place
3 June – Sukhumi		4 June – Gagra			Raetia	11th place
United Koreans in Japan	1	United Koreans in Japan	1 (4)		Chagos Islands	12th place
Sápmi	2	Kurdistan Region	1 (2)
3 June – Sukhumi		4 June – Gagra
Kurdistan Region	0 (5)	Sápmi	3
Western Armenia	0 (6)	Western Armenia	0

Placement Round 1

2 June 2016

11:00 GET

Chagos Islands	2–3	Somaliland

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

2 June 2016

15:00 GET

Székely Land	7–0	Raetia

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

3 June 2016

15:00 GET

United Koreans in Japan	1–2	Sápmi
Su-yong 2'		? 9' (pen.)  ? 61'

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

---

3 June 2016

20:00 GET

Kurdistan Region	0–0	Western Armenia
Penalties
Miran Khesro Farhan Shakor Hunar Ahmad Farhang Wriya Diyar Rahman Aras Mustafa Znar Faidhi	5–6	Hiraç Yagan Raffi Kaya Tamaz Avolian Loris Berberian Jules Tepelian Herant Yagan Denis Oz

Dinamo Stadium, Sukhumi

Placement Round 2

3 June 2016

11:00 GET

Chagos Islands	3–3	Raetia
		Kastrie
Penalties
	2–4	Kastrie Mirco Oswald Dudler Tasco

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

3 June 2016

15:00 GET

Somaliland	3–10	Székely Land

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

4 June 2016

11:00 GET

United Koreans in Japan	1–1	Kurdistan Region
Sung-tae 90+5'		? 80'
Penalties
Kim Su-yong An Suug-tae Kim Kwang-woo Huo Yang Shin Yong-ki	4–2

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

---

4 June 2016

15:00 GET

Sápmi	3–0	Western Armenia

Daur Akhvlediani Stadium, Gagra

Final Positions

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Result
1	Abkhazia	5	4	1	0	15	1	+14	13
2	Panjab	5	4	1	0	11	3	+8	13
3	Northern Cyprus	5	3	1	1	12	4	+8	10
4	Padania	5	1	1	3	9	7	+2	4
5	Sápmi	5	3	0	2	10	4	+6	9	Eliminated in the Quarterfinals
6	Western Armenia	5	1	1	3	14	7	+7	4
7	United Koreans in Japan	5	1	2	2	4	7	−3	5
8	Kurdistan Region	5	2	3	0	9	3	+6	9
9	Székely Land	4	2	0	2	17	7	+10	6	Eliminated in the First Stage
10	Somaliland	4	1	0	3	6	22	−16	3
11	Raetia	4	0	1	3	3	23	−20	1
12	Chagos Islands	4	0	1	3	5	27	−22	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}