Falkland Islands official football team

The Falkland Islands official football team is a representative football team of the Falkland Islands, organised by the Falkland Islands Football League. The Falkland Islands Football League does not belong to the CONMEBOL, as its member countries support Argentina in the sovereignty conflict, and therefore neither can be a member of FIFA. Thus, the team is not eligible to play in official competitions such as the World Cup and the Copa América. The team has played in the Island Games in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2011 and 2013 where the team enjoyed a record win and a 3rd place medal.

After two years with no League football it was decided that the Falkland Islands Football League (FIFL) would be completely revamped, a Constitution was drawn up and Committee members were put forward and accepted. After the Constitution was passed by interested players, a new league was organised with four teams, with players being picked by each of the team's captains. On 9 November the opening league fixtures were played.

At the same time, the Falkland Islands National team appointed manager Jimmy Curtis to lead the team at the 2009 Island Games in Åland. A squad of over 23 players was picked and training began in September 2008. The long distance needed to travel, the expensive cost to travel on RAF and LAN flights and the need to take between 16–18 players usually prevents the Football team from attending the Island Games more often than every four years. Due to the remoteness of the islands and the small population, the Stanley team can only play military teams or visiting warships.

The Falkland Islands football team will be competing at the NatWest Island Games this year, held between 24 June and 2 July 2011 on the Isle of Wight. Richard Franks has been appointed to lead the team as manager this year. Due to generous funding donated to the Falkland Islands Overseas Games Association the football team are sending 20 players to represent the Islands during this competition. Although some have played at the Island Games in the past, there are a number of new faces. A full team listing is provided below. The team have been drawn in Group C, with Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and Gotland.

This is the fourth time the Falkland Islands have competed in the Island Games and the fourth time they have faced the Isle of Man – as the teams were drawn in the same group in 2001, 2005, 2009 and now 2011. Although the FI's team lost 9–0 to the Isle of Man in 2001 and 2005, they managed only to concede two goals in the 2009 tournament, coming away with a hard fought 2–1 loss. The Falkland Islands played Guernsey for the first and last time in 2001, where the Falklands lost 3–0. They have also only played Gotland once in 2009 where Gotland won 2–0, however during the Gotland Game three Falkland players were given red cards, so the result was not as negative as it could have been.