Kurdistan national team plays at CONIFA

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan national football team will participate in the CONIFA World Football Cup for the second time.

In a press conference on Saturday, Kurdistan football team released the roster of players competing in the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) World Football Cup. The team includes 28 local players chosen from football clubs in the Kurdistan League.

The Kurdistan national team will open a training camp for all players under the supervision of a local coach, Khasro Gwrun, two assistant coaches and a goalkeeper coach. The coaches will then choose 23 players to represent the team at the tournament.  

The draw for the CONIFA World Football Cup was completed on April 1 featuring 12 international teams, including 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

CONIFA is the football federation representing all associations outside of FIFA, the governing body for football. CONIFA 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 Baxtiyar Goran
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany