--- title: The CONIFA Soccer World Cup for Unrecognized States Begins description: A total of 12 teams will be taking part in the second ever soccer Conifa World Cup for unrecognized states canonical: https://time.com/4351589/world-cup-conifa-soccer-abhkazia-unrecognized-states/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-30T06:45:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:54:54.215Z article:section: Sports og:title: Soccer World Cup for Unrecognized States Kicks Off in Abkhazia og:description: Featuring teams like Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus and Somaliland og:url: https://time.com/4351589/world-cup-conifa-soccer-abhkazia-unrecognized-states/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1347051bb2f3244b/6988957cbc6cfc1f323dd2e8/rtx173pm.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A flag of Abkhazia is on display inside a car in the town of Tkvarcheli og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Soccer World Cup for Unrecognized States Kicks Off in Abkhazia twitter:description: Featuring teams like Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus and Somaliland twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1347051bb2f3244b/6988957cbc6cfc1f323dd2e8/rtx173pm.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Soccer World Cup Started This Week, but It's Not the One You Think It Is > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 30, 2016 6:45 AM UTC  A flag of Abkhazia is on display inside a car in the town of Tkvarcheli, southeast of Sukhumi, the capital of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia Dec. 27, 2013. A flag of Abkhazia is on display inside a car in the town of Tkvarcheli, southeast of Sukhumi, the capital of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia Dec. 27, 2013.Maxim Shemetov—Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar May 30, 2016 6:45 AM UTC As soccer powerhouses like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay gear up for the prestigious Copa America tournament this weekend and England, France, Germany and Spain prepare to compete at Euro 2016 just a few days later, a World Cup is [already under way](http://www.conifa.org/en/2016/04/01/conifa-world-football-cup-2016-draw-is-set/) — albeit with slightly lesser known “national” sides like Kurdistan, Somaliland and Northern Cyprus — in the autonomous region of Abkhazia in eastern Europe. A total of 12 teams will be [taking part](http://www.conifa.org/en/2016/01/17/abkhazia2016-participants/) in the second ever soccer World Cup organized by the Confederation of International Football Associations (CONIFA) for unrecognized states. The first edition of the CONIFA World Cup was held in 2014 in Sweden’s Östersund, when the County of Nice defeated the Isle of Man to be crowned inaugural champions. Neither team is participating this time around, [according](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/27/conifa-world-cup-unrecognised-states-kicks-off-abkhazia) to the _Guardian_, with the former citing “organizational restructuring” and the latter pulling out because its parent country, the U.K., strongly discourages travel to Abkhazia — a de facto independent state widely considered a part of Georgia. All 35 members of CONIFA, including names you’ve probably never heard of such as Padania (a [region](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padania) in the north of Italy), the Chagos Islands (an archipelago in the Indian Ocean about 300 miles from the Maldives) and Cascadia (a “[distinct cultural entity](http://www.conifa.org/en/members/cascadia/)” in North America made up of players from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia), are unrecognized by the U.N. as well as by soccer’s global governing body FIFA. In the tournament’s opening match in the Abkhazian capital city of Sukhum on Sunday, Kurdistan [defeated](http://www.conifa.org/en/2016/05/29/abkhazia2016-match-summaries-day-1/) Szekely Land, a region in Romania comprising primarily of Hungarian speakers, by a margin of 3-0\. According to Kurdish news site Rudaw, the team [dedicated](http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/290520163) its victory to the Iraqi region’s _peshmerga_ fighters. 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