El Mundial

To be able to have an own national team…

1) We do need the will

Sport federations are not political institutions. They are private bodies and are not governed by any political party. Therefore, the possibility of becoming an integral member of an international sports federation is not limited by any governmental structure and neither does it depend on the political status of a nation. To have a national sports team depends only and exclusively on two factors: the effective will of a particular nation to have a team and its acceptance by the chosen international federation.

2) We don’t need to be an independent state

Whereas the Organization of United Nations (the UN) has 187 members, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has 198. The members of the FIFA who are not represented in the UN are: Anguile, The Dutch Antilles, Aruba, Bermuda, Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Faeroe, Cook, Tahití, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Macedonia, Palestine, Taipei, Hong Kong and Guam. Switzerland has recently entered the UN.

In other international sporting fields, there are many other stateless nations who compete to no disadvantage in official competitions.

3) We don’t need to organize competitions and/or independent leagues

In football for example Wales always has had a national football team in spite of the lack of its own football League until recently. Even nowadays, the most important Welsh teams are integrated into the English leagues, like the Cardiff City for instance. The national team of Andorra made its football debut in 1998 of official way front to Armenia, although it had previously played friendly matches (first in 1996 against Estonia). With a football league of its own, Andorra also has teams integrated into the Spanish football leagues too.