Greenland is an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands are an autonomous province of Denmark with a population of around 50,000. The Faroe Islands belong to FIFA; Greenland does not. A reasonable person might wonder why the Faroes are given membership into the international soccer governing body while Greenland is excluded. Such a reasonable person would not come up with anything resembling a reasonable answer. Greenland is one of the “countries” featured in Steve Menary’s new book Outcasts: The Lands That FIFA Forgot. The book is a whirlwind tour of forgotten lands scattered throughout the globe. During his visits with teams from places as diverse as Greenland, The Falklands, Northern Cyprus, Zanzibar, and Occitània, Menary introduces us to players, coaches, and officials struggling for international soccer recognition for their countries which, according to FIFA, don’t exist.

The Tibetan national team (photo: Kaos Pilot)

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On December 1, World AIDS Day, numerous events were held around the world to raise awareness about the deadly disease. One of these events was a soccer tournament held in Bloemfontein, South African. Organized by a young woman named Leah Bellow-Handelman and others at the non-profit organization Grassroot Soccer, the event was intended to bring in teams for athletic competition, and to encourage them to get tested for HIV/AIDS. Bellow-Handelman took time out of her busy schedule recently to talk to me about the tournament she was organizing and other work she’s involved with at Grassroot Soccer.

Students involved with Grassroot Soccer (photo: Grassroot Soccer)

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The Spanish Federation’s announcement last week that Africans would no longer count as non-EU players passed with little notice (but I thank Joseph for bringing it to my attention). The decision was made to keep La Liga in line with the Cotonou agreement, ratified last year by the Spanish parliament, which treats workers from 77 African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations as EU workers. Thus, players already playing in Spain from such countries – the most notable being Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o and Real Madrid’s Mahmadou Diarra – will no longer take up one of the three non-EU roster spots per match that teams are permitted, nor will future signings.

This agreement is the latest example of labor policies having a particularly marked effect in the world of soccer. Soccer often seems disconnected from the real world; the effect of labor policies on the sport is one of the ways in which we are reminded that soccer is very much a part of the world we have created.

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A relatively small, but growing trend in Europe involves Christian converting to Islam. Despite the heated “clash of civilizations” rhetoric that 9/11 has provoked, many people are stepping across the Christian-Muslim divide. Peter Ford wrote in the Christian Science Monitor that “[a]lthough there are no precise figures, observers who monitor Europe’s Muslim population estimate that several thousand men and women convert each year.”

In recent years, several I the ranks of these converts to Islam have come from the world of soccer. Most have come from France, the country with the largest Muslim population in Europe.

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During qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup, I had an argument with some friends about how to pronounce the last name of Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope. They said that since Wanchope (who just signed with the Chicago Fire) was from a Spanish-speaking country, the e at the end of his last name had to be pronounced. I claimed it was silent, but I couldn’t explain why. It was only when I went to Costa Rica in 1997 that I came to understand the reason why the e is indeed silent. The reason has everything to do with the history of the Central American country.

Paulo Wanchope (photo: AP / Deutsche Welle)

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very once in a while, stories pop up in the Western press about odd goings-on at a soccer match in a remote part of the world. These stories contain sordid details of spells placed by witch doctors, animals sacrificed by fans, or objects burned by those seeking to affect the outcome of a game.

An African witch doctor (photo: Moonbattery.com)

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