The whole world is talking about the situation we’re all in due to COVID-19. Sports competitions large and small have been postponed until further notice. However, those behind the CONIFA 2020 World Cup haven't yet mentioned anything regarding the cancelation of the competition. Unlike the officials of all major soccer competitions, the people from CONIFA have decided not to cancel the competition just yet.
As the future of the CONIFA 2020 World Cup is uncertain, we will use this opportunity to remind you of the competition’s form, as well as update you on the latest news about it. Without further ado, let’s begin.
About CONIFA 2020
The CONIFA World Football Cup is also known as “the other World Cup”. It is an international soccer competition created by an organization called CONIFA. Particularly developed for states, minorities, and stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA, the CONIFA World Cup has been organizing a world championship every two years since 2014.
The CONIFA 2020 World Cup is the fourth edition of this competition. The initial host of the tournament was supposed to be Somaliland, a self-declared state located in an autonomous region of Somalia. However, some changes occurred in August 2019 and North Macedonia took over.
The competition should take place from May 30 to June 7, 2020, in Tose Proeski Arena in Skopje, North Macedonia. There are 16 teams divided into four groups that will give their best to win the title of the world’s best team in 2020.
To remind you, here’s what the groups look like:
Who Are the Favorites?
According to the most recent rankings, Parishes of Jersey is the team most likely to dominate the CONIFA 2020 World Cup. Even though it is one of the most recently accepted CONIFA members, the team has very quickly jumped to fourth place on the list of best-ranked teams by acquiring 1470 points.
There is a specially designed system for assigning CONIFA ranking points. It consists of several elements and takes into account all the matches reported to CONIFA. For example, a team gets more points for winning a match against another CONIFA member than against a non-CONIFA opponent. Also, official competitions and tournaments carry more value than friendly matches.
CONIFA Officials Still Optimistic
As more than half of the world has implemented a complete lockdown together with a curfew, almost all sports events have been canceled. However, there is still nothing regarding the cancelation of the CONIFA 2020 World Cup.
The official CONIFA website has recently posted some articles but stated nothing about postponing the competition. Their Twitter account has also been active and sharing news about some of the participants getting ready for the CONIFA 2020 World Cup.
It seems that CONIFA officials still hope that all the mess made by COVID-19 will pass quickly and that the tournament will take place during the previously scheduled dates. This can be considered as quite an optimistic attitude, especially since the UEFA has decided to postpone EURO 2020 that was supposed to happen after the CONIFA 2020 World Cup.
Even though we would all like the world to put an end to this general health issue as soon as possible, it is highly likely that CONIFA officials will soon have to come up with other dates for the CONIFA 2020 World Cup.
