De Facto Abkhazian Football Team Is in London

The football team of Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia is in London to take part in the 2018 World Championship of Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), the international governing body for Non-FIFA affiliated associations for football, futsal, and beach soccer. 

The games will be held from May 31 to June 10. The members of the de facto Abkhaz team received UK visas on the basis of their Russian passports.

The ConIFA World Championship 2018 will host teams from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania. The football team of Georgia’s second breakaway region, South Ossetia, is not taking part in the competition this year.

ConIFA was founded in 2013 and brings together football teams (often from unrecognized states and autonomous regions within states), which are not officially included in FIFA. ConIFA holds its own World Cup and European Cup. It organized its first World Football Cup in June 2014 in Ostersund, Sweden.

In late May 2016, breakaway Abkhazia hosted a World Football Cup for teams from unrecognized or self-declared countries.

The tournament kicked off at the separatist capital Sukhumi’s specially built Dynamo Stadium.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: ConIFA