The South Ossetian national team, as the reigning European champion, qualified for the next European Championship - 2021 according to CONIFA.
As reported to IA "Res" by the press service of the Committee on Youth Policy and Sports, the championship will be held in the summer from 9 to 19 June in Nice, France.
“The Confederation of Independent Football Associations has announced on its official website that the national team of our country will perform at the championship. The drawing of lots will take place on January 31, as a result of which the teams will be divided into four groups,” the press service said.
It should be noted that 12 teams will take part in the European ConIFA Championship - these are the national teams of the County of Nice, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Padania, Sapmi, Western Armenia, Northern Cyprus, Artsakh, Szekei region, Chameria, Sardinia, Cornwall.
All teams must pass the COVID-19 test before they travel to Nice. After landing in France, they will pass another test, ConIFA noted.
“The Committee is proud of a large-scale tournament for Europe. For the first time we have 12 teams and we can see new federations such as Cornwall and Sardinia that have not previously participated in our tournaments. The South Ossetian team is the reigning European champion. I would like to wish good luck to all the teams,” Albert Riccio, President of ConIFA Europe, told reporters.
The Association also draws attention to the fact that there is a list of reserve teams in case someone from those who have qualified cannot participate in the competition. The list of participants will also depend on how the teams pay the ConIFA membership fee. The 2020 ConIFA World Cup was supposed to be held in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, but it was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It should be reminded that CONIFA is the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, established in 2013, it was founded to promote the development of international football in non-FIFA regions. CONIFA has 58 football federations representing 409 million people.
The South Ossetian national team first took part in the tournament under the auspices of CONIFA in 2014. Then the world championship took place in the Swedish city of Ostersund. In 2017, South Ossetia was fighting for the European Championship Cup, which was held in North Cyprus. Two years later, in Nagorno-Karabakh, the South Ossetian team won the European Championship.
