CONIFA: Kurdistan team to play against Székely Land

The Kurdistan national team will play its first match of the CONIFA 2016 tournament on May 30 against Székely Land in Abkhazia.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan national team will play its first match of the CONIFA 2016 tournament on May 30 against Székely Land in Abkhazia.

In a press conference on April 16, Kurdistan football team released the roster of players competing in the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) World Football Cup 2016. The team includes 23 local players chosen from football clubs in the Kurdistan League.

The draw for the CONIFA World Football Cup was completed on April 1 featuring 12 international teams, including the Kurdistan national team. The matches are scheduled to be held in Russia’s Abkhazia Region in May and June.

Group A: Abkhazia, Chagos Islands, Western Armenia

Group B: Kurdistan, Székely Land, United Koreans in Japan

Group C: Northern Cyprus, Romani People, Raetia

Group D: Panjab, Sápmi, Somaliland

On May 30, at 8:00 p.m. Erbil time, Kurdistan will play its first match against Székely Land in Sukhum, the capital of Abkhazia.

CONIFA is the football federation representing all associations outside of FIFA, the governing body for football.

The association is a “global acting non-profit organization that supports representatives of international football teams from nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports isolated territories,” according to its official website.

CONIFA was founded on June 7, 2013, and organized its first World Football Cup in June 2014 in Ostersund, Sweden.

In 2012, the Kurdistan national team won the VIVA World Cup organized in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, after a thrilling 2-1 final against Northern Cyprus. At the first CONIFA World Football Cup in 2014, Kurdistan placed sixth.

 

Reporting by Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany