Greenland national football team

Greenland
Kalaallit Nunaat
Grønland

Nickname (s)	Polar-Bamserne ( German  Die Polar-Teddybären )
Association	Kalaallit Arsaattartut Kattuffiat
confederacy	CONIFA
Technical sponsor	bumblebee
Head coach	Morten Rutkjaer
Home stadium	Nuuk Stadium
First jersey Second jersey
Balance sheet
76 games 24 wins 9 draws 43 losses
statistics
First international game Faroe Islands 6-0 Greenland ( Sauðárkrókur , Iceland ; July 2, 1980 )
Biggest win Greenland 16-0 soccer selection by Sark ( Blanche Pierre , Guernsey ; July 1, 2003 )
Biggest defeats Faroe Islands 6-0 Greenland ( Sauðárkrókur , Iceland ; July 2, 1980 ) Guernsey 6-0 Greenland ( Hamnavoe , Shetland ; July 13, 2005 ) Menorca 6: 0 Greenland ( Åland ; June 29, 2009 ) Isle of Man 6: 0 Greenland ( Gotland ; June 30, 2017 )
(As of June 30, 2017)

The Greenland national football team is the football team of Greenland .

history

The Greenland National Football Team in Northern Cyprus (2006)

Greenland has had its own football association, the Kalaallit Arsaattartut Kattuffiat , since 1971 . The country formed a nationwide team for the first time in 1977, under the Dane Niels Møller four games against lower-class Danish clubs, of which two were won and two lost. Greenland played the first time against a national team in 1980. Under Uvdlo Jakobsen, two games were lost against the Faroe Islands and Iceland .

In 1989 the team took part in a tournament for the first time. At the Island Games in 1989, the team was able to achieve a victory for the first time. They won against Shetland 4-1 at the beginning. The remaining games of the tournament were lost, however, and Greenland ended up fourth out of five participants. Two years later, Greenland lost all games and finished last among eight participants. The team was more successful in 1993 when they reached fourth place. At the Island Games in 1995 Greenland was group winners, but then lost both the semi-finals and the third-place match. In 1997, Greenland was the last of nine teams. In 1999 even fourteen teams took part. Greenland did well and finished second in their group, but then lost the group runner-up semi-finals and then the game for 7th place.

It caused a sensation in the summer of 2001 when a Greenland selection under coach Sepp Piontek played against a representative of Tibet in the Copenhagen suburb of Vanløse . Despite major protests by the Chinese government in Beijing against any efforts to underscore Tibet's autonomous status, the game took place. 5,011 spectators saw the game, which Greenland won 4-1. Curiously, Piontek was only able to fall back on two of his tried and tested national players for this game - the other players could not travel to Denmark due to a transport strike in Greenland. So without further ado, Greenlandic students who Piontek had never seen play had to help out.

At the Island Games 2001, Greenland finished bottom of the group, but then prevailed against the other bottom group and finished ninth. Two years later Greenland was in a group with Sark, who were hopelessly inferior to all opponents . With a 16-0 win, Greenland scored the highest victory in its national team history, for Sark it was the best game of the preliminary round after a 0:19 and a 0:20. In the end, Greenland achieved a mixed tenth place. Two years later, Greenland was eighth of ten teams.

In 2006 the Greenlanders took part in the FIFI Wild Cup in Hamburg , which was held in the FC St. Pauli stadium , the stadium at Millerntor . Greenland and Tibet were eliminated in the preliminary round. In the same year the team took part in the ELF Cup , which was designed similarly to the FIFI Wild Cup. In this Greenland was also eliminated in the preliminary round. Instead, Greenland did not take part in the 2007 Island Games.

After almost three years without a game, Greenland did not participate again until the Island Games 2009. The team followed up on their previous results, finishing twelfth out of sixteen. It was similar in 2011 when they finished eleventh.

In 2013, Eritrean Tekle Ghebrelul became the national team coach. Only four teams took part in the 2013 Island Games and Greenland came in second. Two years later, Greenland narrowly missed group victory and finished the tournament in fifth place. In 2017 the team achieved their best result. After winning the group, Greenland also won the semi-finals and won the silver medal after a 6-0 defeat in the final. Despite the success, Ghebrelul was fired in 2017 due to controversial backgrounds. The trainer who had become a victim of racism should officially be brought out of the line of fire.

No football competition was held at the Island Games 2019. Greenland hasn't played a football game since 2017 and has focused on futsal ever since .

Memberships

Greenland became a member of the NF Board in 2003 . However, Greenland never took part in its Viva World Cup . Greenland is also a member of the successor association CONIFA , but did not even take part in a championship.

As an autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland has been trying for a long time to become a member of both FIFA and UEFA or CONCACAF . So far, however, the world association has refused membership. The reason given was initially a lack of natural grass pitch. Since 2006, international competitive games have also been allowed to be played on artificial turf. Greenland has had such a place in Qaqortoq since September 2010 . In September 2010, FIFA President Blatter followed up with the argument that the existence of a sovereign state and its recognition by the UN are a prerequisite for admission . In addition, associations from areas that are not independent can only become members if the association of the state to which the area belongs agrees (cf. Art. 10 No. 6 of the FIFA Statutes), as is the case with the Faroe Islands was the case.

Well-known Greenlandic football players

Greenlandic players are usually amateurs. Only a few Greenlanders played in professional leagues abroad. The best known player of the national team is team captain Niklas Kreutzmann , who played for Aarhus Fremad in the 2nd Danish league . Another Greenlander abroad is Vitus Kofoed , who played in the Faroe Islands and in the second Danish league.

Participation in the Island Games

• 1989 : 4th place out of 5
• 1991 : 8th place out of 8
• 1993 : 4th place out of 8
• 1995 : 4th place out of 8
• 1997 : 9th place out of 9
• 1999 : 8th place out of 14
• 2001 : 9th place out of 12
• 2003 : 10th place out of 15
• 2005 : 8th place out of 10
• 2007 : did not participate
• 2009 : 12th place out of 16
• 2011 : 11th place out of 15
• 2013 : 2nd place out of 4
• 2015 : 5th place out of 16
• 2017 : 2nd place out of 16

Trainer

The coaches of the Greenland national football team are:

• 1977: Niels Møller-0000
• 1980: Uvdlo Jakobsen-0000
• 1983: Uvdlo Jakobsen, Elisæus Kreutzmann-0000
• 1984: Lars Lundblad-0000
• 1989: Simon Simonsen-0000
• 1991–1995: Isak Nielsen Kleist
• 1995–1996: Ulf Abrahamsen
• 1996–1997: Lars Olsvig
• 1997: Isak Nielsen Kleist-0000
• 1998–1999: Isak Nielsen Kleist
• 1999–2002: Sepp Piontek
• 2003: Jens Tang Olesen, Kristian Lyberth-0000
• 2004: Sepp Piontek-0000
• 2005–2010: Hans Frederik Olsen, Jens Tang Olesen
• 2010–2012: Tønnes Berthelsen, René Olsen
• 2013–2017: Tekle Ghebrelul , René Olsen
• since 2020: Morten Rutkjær

See also

• List of international matches for the Greenland national soccer team

Web links

• Website of the Greenland Football Association
• All Greenland international matches on rsssf.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Groenland ne peut devenir membre. In: L'Équipe.fr. L'Équipe, September 16, 2010, accessed February 20, 2016 (French). 
2. ↑ Le Groenland ne peut devenir membre de la FIFA. In: rtbf.be. RTBF, September 16, 2010, accessed on February 20, 2016 (French). 
3. ↑ List of coaches in Greenland at polar-bamserne.wifeo.com