NICE CUT-KURDISTAN

Had my haircut today in Barnsley, where there are a number of very pleasant barbers' shops, and having chosen one, had a chat with my man about his country's football team.

The Kurdistan National team represents South Kurdistan and the FA badge (above) includes a yellow football representing the sun, the lush green landscape, red fire known as Nowroz, torches held at New Year, and lettering. Some say a bit messy, I quite like it. Here is the Franz Hariri Stadium in Hewler, South Kurdistan were the home national team plays. Their first game however was v The Sapmi in July 2008 in Sweden, ending in a draw 2-2.
Below is a blog on the "Sami" or "Sampi" which loyal readers will have read already.
https://baileyfootballblog.blogspot.com/2017/07/from-dracular-to-sami.html

The Kurdistan team is part of the Non-FIFA Board, which is a group of unrecognised states, stateless peoples, dependences and micro-nations who cannot compete in FIFA competitions.

There are various alternative competitions, including an "Alternative World Cup" which first aired in Jordan in 1988. The FIFI (for Football Independents) tournaments was held in 2006.
Another tournament in Cyprus called the ELF (Equality, Liberty, Fraternity) was run in 2006 also.

Kurdistan, hosted the last N-F Board tournament and holds the present trophy, having beaten Northern Cyprus 2-1, the first time their opposition had lost a Non-FIFA tournament in their history of playing. Zanzibar came 3rd and Provence 4th.

The winning trophy below.
The Nelson Mandela Trophy sculptured by Gerard Pigault.
Other participants have included Zanzibar, Provence, Monaco, Greenland, Sardinia, Tibet and Chagos Islands. Plenty of footy going on all over!