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This is a list of the men's national association football teams in the world. There are more nations with football teams than for any other sport, with teams representing all UN member states except the Marshall Islands, as well as several dependent territories, sub-national entities and states who are not members of the United Nations. This list divides teams into two main groups:
Contents
- Members of FIFA affiliated confederations
- AFC Asia
- CAF Africa
- CONCACAF North America Central America and the Caribbean
- National teams not affiliated to FIFA confederations
- Unaffiliated United Nations states
- Unaffiliated non UN states
- Others
- Former national football teams
- New names
- References
This list excludes other teams, which generally play outside of FIFA's recognition. Excluded teams include those who represent ethnic groups, sub-national entities and dependent territories other than those recognized by FIFA or its confederations, competitors at the Island Games, unrecognized states, separatist movements, and pseudo or micro-nations.
Members of FIFA affiliated confederations
This section lists the current:
FIFA members are eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup and matches between them are recognized as official international matches. Based on their match results over the previous four-year period, the FIFA World Rankings, published monthly by FIFA, compare the relative strengths of the national teams.
Some national teams who are members of a confederation but not FIFA members compete in confederation-level and subregional tournaments. These teams, however, are not allowed to participate in the World Cup.
The six confederations are:
FIFA runs the World Cup as a tournament for national teams to find the world champion. Each confederation also runs its own championship to find the best team from among its members:
While not a confederation in itself, the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) coordinates football activities between Arabic-speaking countries. All 22 national governing bodies that form UAFA are also members of both FIFA and either the AFC or CAF. National teams from UAFA member countries are noted in the list below.
Members of FIFA and its affiliated confederations include a majority of United Nations member states, as well as one state that is an observer at the United Nations (Palestine). They also include several constituent countries, autonomous areas, associated states, dependent territories, and two sovereign states who are neither UN members or observers (Kosovo and the Republic of China). The team from the Republic of China is designated as "Chinese Taipei" by both FIFA and its affiliated continental confederations.
Some national football associations are members of a continental federation, but their national teams have never participated in a tournament organized by FIFA or the corresponding confederation. These teams are noted in each subsection below.
AFC (Asia)
Due to the geographical size of Asia, the AFC is subdivided into five sub-federations:
CAF (Africa)
Due to the geographical size of Africa, CAF is divided into five regional federations:
CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)
The CONCACAF federation is divided into three regional federations that have responsibility for part of the region's geographical area:
National teams not affiliated to FIFA confederations
The national football teams included in this section are not members of FIFA, or of any of its affiliated continental confederations. The teams are not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or any continental confederation championships. FIFA's statutes do not allow member teams to compete against these sides without FIFA's prior permission.
This section lists:
Unaffiliated United Nations states
There are seven United Nations member and observer states which are not members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Five of them, however, have fielded national teams in unofficial friendlies, Olympic-level tournaments (such as the Pacific Games or Micronesian Games), or in tournaments held outside the auspices of FIFA. These teams are listed below.
1: National governing body is a member of ConIFA
2: The United Kingdom national team has only played unofficial friendly matches under the name "Great Britain". Otherwise, the United Kingdom is represented in FIFA- and UEFA-organized football by the teams of its constituent countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales (these teams are listed in the UEFA subsection above). See also Great Britain Olympic football team.
The Marshall Islands and Nauru are the only UN member states which have no recorded national association football team.
Unaffiliated non-UN states
There are eleven states with limited international recognition, de facto sovereign states, and associated states who are not members or observers of the United Nations. Four of these have national teams which are listed above: the Republic of China, which is a member of FIFA and the AFC (as Chinese Taipei); the Cook Islands, which is a member of FIFA and the OFC; Kosovo, which is a member of FIFA and UEFA; and Niue, who has no membership in FIFA but is an associate member of the OFC.
None of the remaining seven de facto sovereign or partially recognized states are members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Six of them, however, have fielded national teams in non-FIFA football matches:
1: in addition to participating in non-FIFA football tournaments, Northern Cyprus participated in the 1980 Islamic Games football competition.
The national associations representing all six of these teams are members of ConIFA, an organization for teams representing unrecognized states, subnational regions, and stateless minorities. Another de facto sovereign state,Transnistria, is also a member of ConIFA. To date, however, it has no recorded national football team.
Others
FIFA's entry criteria state that:
Any association which is responsible for organising and supervising football in all of its forms in its country may become a member of FIFA. Consequently, it is recommended that all member associations involve all relevant stakeholders in football in their own structure.
The main condition for joining FIFA is thus general international recognition as a nation state and membership of the UN. However, this rule is not applied retroactively, and 26 of FIFA's members are not internationally recognised sovereign nations.
Non-sovereign associations may still join FIFA or its affiliated confederations in specific circumstances. FIFA have offered exceptions for associations representing a dependency where the application apply for membership is authorised by the association in its parent state. The New Caledonia team was admitted under this regulation in 2004 on the grounds of the distance of New Caledonia from its 'parent' nation, France. The applications for membership by Gibraltar, a territory of the UK and Kosovo, a sovereign state with limited international recognition, were both initially rejected by FIFA in line with the above policy. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected this decision and both teams were accepted in May 2016.
A variety of other national, separatist, sub-national, pseudo-national, and ethnic teams have formed international football organizations outside of FIFA's jurisdiction, and play in international tournaments against each other. Two organisations have been created as alternatives to FIFA. The older of the two, the N.F.-Board (Nouvelle Fédération-Board), was founded in 2001 to promote international football among sovereign nations, unrecognised nations, regions and stateless peoples that are not members of FIFA, and to assist in their possible future membership of FIFA. A total of 49 member associations nations were listed on the N.F. Board's website as of March 2016, although at least one of these (Monaco) is no longer a member. In 2013, a new organisation, the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), was founded to carry on this work, with a number of its members having previously been affiliated to the NF-Board. ConIFA was founded with the aim of regularising non-FIFA international football, by having a two-year international tournament cycle, with the ConIFA World Football Cup in even numbered years, and continental tournaments in odd-numbered years.
In some cases, participation in non-FIFA football has been a first step for teams who later sought (and in some cases, achieved) the right to participate in matches sanctioned by FIFA or one of its affiliated continental confederations. For example, both Kosovo and Gibraltar played in non-FIFA football tournaments before being recognized by FIFA and UEFA. Similarly, the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, whose national team has been active in non-FIFA football for decades, has applied to join UEFA.
Former national football teams
These national teams no longer exist due to the dissolution of the nation or territory that they represented. Only national teams that were once members of FIFA are listed below.
New names
In addition to the above, other nations have been renamed:
1: Still commonly called Ivory Coast in English-speaking countries