2024 CONIFA World Football Cup
International football competition
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The 2024 CONIFA World Football Cup would have been the fourth edition of the CONIFA World Football Cup, an international football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA organised by CONIFA. On 9 May 2023, Kurdistan Region was announced as the tournament host,[1] but was removed in September 2024 following their suspension by CONIFA.
On 30 April 2024, CONIFA announced that the tournament would be postponed until summer 2025 after security concerns meant that a large number of teams would not travel to the region. [2] On 9 September 2024, it was announced that Kurdistan would no longer host the tournament and had been suspended by CONIFA, no new host for the 2025 event was announced but an unofficial statement by the CONIFA President shared through social media suggested that Brazilian state of São Paulo was to become the new host.[3][4]
On 18 December 2024, CONIFA announced that the rescheduled 2025 tournament would be cancelled, after potential host São Paulo failed to show proof of organisational or financial ability. CONIFA announced that the next World Football Cup would be held in either 2026 or 2027.[5]
Host selection
In April 2023, following a visit to the region a month earlier announced that the Kurdistan Region would host the 2024 CONIFA World Football Cup, the first since the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in the cancellation of the 2020 CONIFA World Football Cup due to be held in Skopje, North Macedonia.[6] Following the suspension of Kurdistan Football Association by CONIFA, the former lost its hosting rights. Therefore, the 2024 CONIFA World Cup was cancelled.
Qualification
CONIFA assigns the number of berths for each continent according to the percentage of CONIFA members that come from that continent, with each continent having guaranteed at least one spot in the tournament.[7] In addition, one place is reserved to the host team, other to the current champion (Kárpátalja) and one wild card. Hawaiʻi shared, via social media, that while they had been given an automatic ticket to the tournament, as Oceania's only member, they had declined the invitation and transferred their ticket to Asia, although no formal confirmation had been made by CONIFA. [8]
| Continent | Active members[9] | Percentage | Proposed Spots | Actual Spots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1 | 10% | 1 | 1 |
| Asia | 6 | 17% | 2 | 5 |
| Europe | 16 | 50% | 6 | 8 |
| North America | 3 | 7% | 1 | 1 |
| Oceania | 1 | 3% | 1 | 0 |
| South America | 2 | 13% | 2 | 2 |
Qualified teams
| Team | Region | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Previous appearance |
Previous best performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Kárpátalja | Europe | 2018 Champion | 9 June 2018 | 2nd | 2018 | Champion (2018) |
 Kurdistan Region | Asia | Host team | 9 May 2023 | 3rd | 2014, 2016 | Quarterfinalist (2014, 2016) |
 Raetia | Europe | European Group B Winner | 17 June 2023 | 2nd | 2016 | Group stage (2016) |
 Székely Land | Europe | European Group C Winner | 2 July 2023 | 3rd | 2016, 2018 | Fourth (2018) |
 Cornwall | Europe | European Group A Winner | 16 July 2023 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 Tamil Eelam | Asia | Asia Football Cup Winner | 8 August 2023 | 3rd | 2016, 2018 | Group Stage (2016) |
 Tibet | Asia | Asia Football Cup Third Place | 8 August 2023 | 2nd | 2018 | Group Stage (2018) |
 ANBM | North America | Selected | 18 August 2023 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 Kabylie | Africa | Selected | 14 September 2023 | 2nd | 2018 | Group Stage (2018) |
 Abkhazia | Europe | Selected | 14 September 2023 | 4th | 2014, 2016, 2018 | Champion (2016) |
 Panjab | Asia | Selected | 7 November 2023 | 2nd | 2016, 2018 | Runners-up (2016) |
 Kashmir | Asia | Selected | 7 November 2023 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 Two Sicilies | Europe | Selected | 7 November 2023 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 South Ossetia | Europe | Selected | 7 November 2023 | 2nd | 2014 | Fourth (2014) |
 Canton Ticino | Europe | Selected | 7 November 2023 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 São Paulo | South America | Selected | 28 February 2024 | 1st | N/a | N/a |
 Maule Sur | South America | Selected | 20 March 2024 | 1st | N/a | N/a |