Greenland national football team

Greenland

Nickname(s)	Polar-Bamserne (The Polar Teddy Bears)
Association	Grønlands Boldspil-Union
Confederation	ConIFA
Head coach	Rene Olsen & Tekle Ghrebrelul[1]
Captain	Niklas Kreutzmann
Home stadium	Nuuk Stadion
FIFA code	GRL (not official)
First colours Second colours
Elo ranking
Current	199[2]
Highest	186 (July 1980)
Lowest	203 (June 1993)
First international
Faroe Islands 6–0 Greenland (Sauðárkrókur, Iceland; 2 July 1980)
Biggest win
Greenland 16–0 Sark  (St Martin's, Guernsey, Channel Islands; 1 July 2003)
Biggest defeat
Faroe Islands 6–0 Greenland (Sauðárkrókur, Iceland; 2 July 1980) Guernsey 6–0 Greenland (Stromness, West Burra, Shetland; 13 July 2005)  Minorca 6–0 Greenland (Åland Islands; 29 June 2009)

The Greenland national football team represents Greenland in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Greenland. Although it has the same status as the Faroe Islands within the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is not, like the Faroe Islands national football team, a member of FIFA nor of any continental confederation and therefore is not eligible to enter the World Cup or other sanctioned tournaments. Most of the matches they have played have been against the Faroe Islands and Iceland, but neither of the two consider those games full internationals.

Overview

Greenland is a member of the International Island Games Association and has taken part in Football at the Island Games. Since 13 October 2005, it is a provisional member of the N.F.-Board and since 25 March 2006 it is full-member. On 17 October 2009 the team was accepted as a provisional member of the IFU. Greenland also played Tibet, another non-FIFA team, in 2001 at Copenhagen's Vanlose Arena. However, the team was composed of players who were of Tibetan heritage and not from Tibet themselves. The match drew international attention when China threatened to embargo Greenland's shrimp exports because of Tibet's contested sovereignty. Greenland won the match 4–1.^[3][4]

Island Games

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1989	Semifinals	4th	4	1	0	3	4	8
1991	Round 1	8th	4	0	0	4	8	15
1993	Semifinals	4th	4	2	0	2	1	6
1995	Semifinals	4th	5	2	0	3	10	10
1997	Round 1	9th	4	0	1	3	3	9
1999	Quarterfinals	8th	5	2	0	3	11	19
2001	Round 1	9th	4	2	1	1	6	2
2003	Round 1	10th	2	3	0	2	22	5
2005	Round 1	8th	5	1	2	2	8	14
2007	Did not enter
2009	Round 1	9th	4	1	0	3	8	15
2011	Round 1	11	4	1	0	3	5	7
2013	Finals	Runners-up	5	2	0	3	21	5
2015	Play-offs	5th	4	3	1	0	8	4

Key

  Champion   Runners-up   3rd Place

**Red border color indicates the tournament was held at home.

Nuuk Stadium, Greenland's current national stadium

FIFI Wild Cup participation

Greenland participated in the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup. The team played two games and lost both, the first 0–1 against the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the second 2–4 against Zanzibar. They were eliminated in the First Round.

ELF Cup participation

Greenland was eliminated in Round 1 of the ELF Cup. They played three matches in total, beating the national team of Gagauzia 2–0, drawing 1–1 with Zanzibar and losing 1–0 to Kyrgyzstan.

Future international participation

Typical playing surfaces in Greenland, such as this one in Ilulissat, do not meet FIFA regulations.

Greenland has been seeking to participate in confederated football since at least 1998 when then national team manager Sepp Piontek stated that he had already asked UEFA to look into the possibility of Greenland becoming a member of the organization.^[5] About the issue, former DBU president Allan Hansen stated, "Concerning the GBU, I’m not convinced [they] officially applied for FIFA and UEFA membership at around the same time as Gibraltar. As I’m informed, the GBU in the late nineties sent a letter [requesting clarification on a number of issues] but..there were no follow-up actions." Additionally, he stated, "I can’t foretell what will happen in the future, but I have attended a meeting with UEFA, DBU and GBU and I'm convinced that the day DBU and GBU present a partnership agreement and a road-map for the development of Greenlandic football, UEFA will be ready to discuss options for supporting the development of Greenlandic football as well as football on an administrative level."^[6] However, another report from 2010 states that an application was submitted but other factors such as the admittance of former Soviet and Yugoslav nations made for bad timing of the application.^[7]

FIFA's approval of FieldTurf may allow Greenland to create FIFA-standard playing pitches and apply to play full internationals. They would join either UEFA (due to links with Denmark) or CONCACAF (geographically, Greenland is part of North America). The first artificial turf in Greenland was completed and inaugurated in Qaqortoq in September 2009. On 13 September 2010, FIFA president Sepp Blatter arrived in Qaqortoq, Greenland, and announced FIFA's approval of the new field, which is seen as a major step towards the country being granted FIFA membership.^[8]

In 2011, Allan Hansen, chairman of the Danish Football Association stated that he did not believe that Greenland had the opportunity to become a member of FIFA or a confederation immediately. However, in December 2014 the DBU and Greenland's GBU formed a partnership with the aim of having Greenland included as a UEFA and FIFA member by 2020. One of the greatest barriers to admittance at that time was FIFA's strict regulations on stadiums and playing surfaces. The DBU's support of a Greenlandic application to FIFA included financial support which would be used to replace the clay courts of at least one field in each of the country's four municipalities, with artificial turf. Additionally, it was announced in May 2015 the national government had allocated one million dollars to design a plan for the construction of a new covered national stadium in Nuuk.^[9] The intentions of the plan were to design a covered and heated facility that would have a capacity of several thousand spectators, with the plan to be presented to the Parliament of Greenland later in the autumn session of 2016.^[10] Although unrelated to the stadium proposal, the first artificial pitch was laid in Nuuk, the country's capital, in June 2015^[11] and at the national stadium in July 2016.^[12]

Before becoming a member of FIFA, Greenland would be required to be a member of a continental confederation. However, UEFA now requires new members to be recognized by the United Nations as fully independent. Another possibility would be for Greenland to join CONCACAF as it is geographically closer to North America and the confederation allows dependent territories to join as new members.^[13]

New National Stadium

Kit

Greenland's current kit is provided by Spanish sportswear company Kelme.^[14]

Current squad

The following 20 players were called up by Rene Olsen and Tekle Ghrebrelul for the 2015 Island Games.^[15]

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
	GK	Loke Svane	3 November 1982	B-67
	GK	Malik Hermarij		Inuit Timersoqatigiiffiat-79
	DF	Aputsiaq Birch	4 June 1985	B-67
	DF	Anders H. Petersen	6 March 1981	B-67
	DF	Niels Svane		FC Malamuk
	DF	Nukannguaq Zeeb		G-44 Qeqertarsuaq
	MF	Maasi Maqe	2 November 1987	B-67
	MF	Kaassannguaq Zeeb	10 December 1985	Inuit Timersoqatigiiffiat-79
	FW	Johan Bidstrup		B-67
	FW	John Ludvig Broberg		B-67
	FW	Frederik Funch		B-67
	FW	Kaali Lund Mathæussen	1 January 1988	Nagdlunguaq-48
	FW	Norsaq Mathæussen		B-67
		Lars Peter Broberg		B-67
		Lars Erik Reimer		Nagdlunguaq-48
		Katu Madsen		Siumut Amerdlok Kunuk
		Søren Kreutzmann		Siumut Amerdlok Kunuk
		Malik Juhl	18 June 1989	B-67
		Nikki Petersen		B-67
		Hans Karl Berthelsen		Inuit Timersoqatigiiffiat-79

Managers

Greenland national team in Northern Cyprus

Manager	Year (s)
Niels Møller	1977
Uvdlo Jakobsen Elisaeus Kreutzmann	1983
Lars Lundblad	1984
Simon Simonsen	1989
Isak Nielsen Kleist	1993–1995
Ulf Abrahamsen	1996
Lars Olsvig Jens Jorgen Egede	1997
Sepp Piontek	1999–2002
Jens Tang Olesen Kristian Lyberth	2003
Sepp Piontek	2004
Jens Tang Olesen Hans Frederik Olsen	2005–2010
Tonnes Berthelsen René Olsen	2010–2012
René Olsen [16]Tekre Ghebrelul	2013–

• Source: polar-bamserne.wifeo.com

• 
  German Sepp Piontek served two stints as Greenland's manager from 1999–2002 and 2004.
• 
  Dane Jens Tang Olesen (center) was Greenland's manager in 2003 and again from 2005–2010.
• 
  Hans Frederik Olsen served as co-manager with Olesen from 2005 to 2010.

Sponsors

• Kelme
• Air Greenland
• Arla Foods
• Pilersuisoq
• Coca-Cola
• Brugsen
• H.A.P's Agentur
• NunaFonden
• Paarisa
• Royal Arctic Line

International opponents

(Last update: 21 July 2013)

Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
Åland Islands	5	0	0	5	8	17
Alderney	1	1	0	0	3	0
Bermuda	2	0	0	2	0	4
Falkland Islands	2	2	0	0	13	0
Faroe Islands	7	0	1	6	6	20
Frøya	3	2	0	1	15	1
Găgăuzia	1	1	0	0	2	0
Gibraltar	4	2	0	2	7	7
Gotland	3	0	0	3	6	13
Guernsey	2	0	1	1	0	6
Isle of Man	1	1	0	0	4	0
Isle of Wight	5	1	1	3	6	13
Iceland	2	0	0	2	1	5
Jersey	6	0	0	6	10	24
Kyrgyzstan	1	0	1	0	1	1
Minorca	2	0	0	2	2	9
Northern Cyprus	1	0	0	1	0	1
Orkney	1	1	0	0	2	1
Rhodes	3	0	0	3	1	6
Saare County	2	2	0	0	6	1
Sápmi	1	0	0	1	1	5
Sark	1	1	0	0	16	0
Shetland	3	2	0	1	9	7
Tibet	1	1	0	0	4	1
Western Isles	2	1	1	0	5	4
Ynys Môn	4	1	1	2	2	3
Zanzibar	1	0	0	1	2	4
Total	67	19	6	42	132	153

References

1. Hansen, Nukappiaaluk. "Country coaches in football for A-national teams for men and women has taken teams to the Island Games in 2015, which takes place in Jersey" (in Danish). sermitsiaq.ag. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
2. "ELO Rankings". ELO. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
3. Knox, Tomos. "The unlikely success story of football on the massive island of Greenland". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
4. Thomsen, Per Bech. "Defiant Greenland will play Tibet". ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
5. Burton, Mark. "Football: Greenland presses for recognition". Independent. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
6. "THE ROAD AHEAD FOR FOOTBALL IN GREENLAND - A VIEW FROM WITHIN UEFA". patmcguinness.blogspot.com. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
7. "Grønlands dyre stadionprojekt er genvej til Fifa-familien". Politiken.dk. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
8. Haydon, John (14 September 2010). "FIFA gives blessing to Greenland's new soccer venue". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
9. Krarup, Poul. "Nyt parløb skal bringe Grønland ind i Uefa-familien" (in Danish). sermitsiaq.ag. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
10. "Første skridt mod et nationalt stadion i Nuuk" (in Danish). sermitsiaq.ag. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
11. "Første kunstgræsbane i Nuuk klar til indvielse" (in Danish). sermitsiaq.ag. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
12. "Kunstgræsbanen klar til indvielse" (in Danish). Sermitsiaq. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
13. Homewood, Brian. "Danish FA supports Greenland's bid to join UEFA, FIFA". Reuters. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
14. "KELME Catálogo Team 2015–16". Kelme. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
15. Hansen, Nukappiaaluk. "Landsholdsspillerne i fodbold for kvinder og herrer er udtaget". sermitsiaq.ag. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
16. "Grønlandske fodboldspillere på græs for første gang" (in Danish). fyens.dk. Retrieved 8 June 2015.

External links

• Official site of The Football Association of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaanni Isikkamik Arsaattartut Kattuffiat)
• Official site of the Football Association of Nuuk
• Greenlandic Football
• Greenland on www.rsssf.com (List of International Matches)