In Qatar, the dust, in both a literal and figurative sense, is just settling after a barnstorming three weeks of football produced a raft of historic moments; the drama, controversy, and intrigue which characterised the World Cup’s build-up somehow managing to permeate events on the field.
A total of 206 nations may have vied for a place in the 2022 instalment of FIFA’s showpiece competition, but only 32 descended on the Middle East last November. But the glitz, glamour, and glory of the World Cup Finals didn’t evade just those 174 remaining member associations—many others, excluded from football’s international governance structures, were also consigned to watching the planet’s biggest sporting festival unfold from home. Tucked far away from a frenzied media circus, who appear more resolute than ever in their efforts to focus exclusively on the ‘elite’ forces of the game, are the nations, territories, and diaspora representatives of CONIFA: the Confederation of Independent Football Associations.
Established in June 2013, CONIFA truly is a movement like no other, with its sole objective to provide a platform, a place in football, for communities that have been marginalised, suppressed, or lack credence in the prevailing discourses of geopolitical discussion. Harnessing the talents of players from de facto states, separatist territories, and minority and ethnic groups, the confederation presides over an extremely unique cultural blend of organisations. In offering a formal stage for this inarguably eclectic mix of ‘nations’ to compete, CONIFA is in effect a re-calibrated, scaled down version of the FIFA model, although its values, guiding principles, and charitable endeavours are a far cry from the much-maligned practices of football’s formally recognized international governing body.