International football set to return to North Cyprus
Country to host Conifa European Football Cup for second time
NORTH Cyprus has been selected to host next year’s Confederation of Independent Football Associations (Conifa) European Football Cup. The tournament, which is organised for unrecognised states and minority people groups across Europe, will take place between June 3 and June 13, 2023.
It is set to feature 12 teams from across Europe, and marks North Cyprus’s return to Conifa competitions after a four-year absence.
The national side last competed in the 2018 Conifa World Football Cup, which was held in the UK on behalf of Barawa, an area in south-western Somalia.
On that occasion, North Cyprus finished as runners up, being beaten by Karpatalja, the national side of ethnic Hungarians in western Ukraine, on penalties in the final.
Following that tournament, the national team were invited to take part in the 2019 Conifa European Football Cup, which had been due to be held in the “Republic of Artsakh” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of western Azerbaijan.
The Cyprus Turkish Football Association (KTFF) declined to take part due to “security fears”, and later suspended its membership of Conifa due to its inclusion of a team by the name of “Western Armenia”, a reference to irredentist Armenian claims in eastern Turkey, into the confederation.
These issues appear to have been resolved, however, and as a result North Cyprus will become the first nation to host the Conifa European Football Cup twice.
In 2017, the first time
the TRNC hosted the tournament, games took place at the Atatürk Stadium in Lefkoşa, the 20 July Mete Adanır Stadium in Girne, the Dr Fazıl Küçük Stadium in Gazimağusa, and the Üner Berkalp Stadium in
Güzelyurt.
On that occasion, North Cyprus were also beaten finalists, losing on penalties to Padania, a region in northern Italy. They will be hoping to go one better this time.