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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Reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq has proven far harder than the invasions of those two countries. In Afghanistan, a newly released report from a British think tank claims that the Taliban can attack US and coalition forces in over half of the country. In Iraq, the cost of occupation may soon hit $1 trillion dollars, yet the country lacks security in many places.

One important aspect of the US military’s reconstruction work has been an attempt to win over Afghan and Iraqi “hearts and minds.” This work has seen the American military (along with private contractors and the State Department) to use soccer, a popular sport in both countries, to gain support from locals. In doing so, they have run into many obstacles, several of which are emblematic of the larger difficulties the US military has faced in attempting to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Sandoval, from Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, juggles a soccer ball before giving it away to a boy in the Maghdad district of Kirkuk, Iraq, Sept. 30, 2006. (Photo: TheDonovan.com / U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Bendet)

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The Qaddafi family of Libya treats soccer just like they treat politics: strangely. Father Muamar Qaddafi, Libya’s leader of the past forty years, has gone from international outcast and sponsor of terrorism to host of a peace conference between rebels in Daruf and the Sudanese government.

Son Al-Saadi Qaddafi, meanwhile, has signed for several Italian Serie A teams, played no more than one game for each, and been banned for drug use. Trying to understand the way that the family’s mind works, on politics or soccer, is difficult, is mind-boggling.

Father and son (photos: Getty Images/BBC and AP/BBC)

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Matches between Turkey and Greece almost always have a political edge to them. The two countries have been historical rivals and continue to feud over the status of the divided island of Cyprus. One would expect, then, that games would become an arena for fans to express grievances toward their Mediterranean neighbors.

When Greece and Turkey faced off in a recent Euro 2008 qualifier, politics hung heavy in the air. But it had nothing to do with Turkish-Greek relations. Instead, the game, played in Istanbul, offered the local fans a venue to air their more recent grievances against the Kurdish PKK group, which recently killed 12 Turkish soldiers.

Turkish fans wave flags before kick-off (photo: Asher Kohn)

I was tipped off to this by Asher Kohn, a student at the University of Maryland, who is spending the semester abroad in Turkey. Asher went to the game (which Greece won 1-0, their first ever victory over Turkey) and sent me this account of what he saw.
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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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Sepp Blatter will not be walking the streets of Bolivia any time soon. The FIFA president is public enemy number one in the Andean country after announcing the decision to ban games at altitudes above 2500 meters. The move has angered many Bolivians, who claim it is discriminatory.

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