The European Football Championship ConIFA-2021 was postponed to July 7-17, it was previously announced that the championship will be held in the summer from June 9 to June 19 in Nice, France. As reported to IA "Res" by the Committee on Youth Policy and Sports, the organizers did not inform about the reasons for the postponement of the start date of the championship.
“The South Ossetian national football team will participate in the European Championship ConIFA-2021. In February, a draw was held, as a result of which the Republic got into group C, along with our team, Artsakh and Cornwall also got into the group,” the press service said.
As a reminder, on February 20, following the draw for the European Championship under the auspices of ConIFA, the South Ossetian football team got into group C. Twelve teams will take part in the tournament. As a result of the draw, the teams were divided into four groups: A, B, C, D. Group A included the County of Nice, Northern Cyprus and Sardinia, group B included Abkhazia, Szekey region and Sapmi, and group D - Padania, Western Armenia and Chameria.
In January, the South Ossetian national team, as the reigning European champion, qualified for the European Championship - 2021 according to CONIFA. 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 will not be able to 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.
As a reminder, CONIFA is the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, established in 2013, to assist in 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.
