N.F.-Board

The N.F.-Board (New Football Federations-Board; NFB) is a federation for football associations established on 12 December 2003. The NFB is made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, regions and micronations not affiliated to FIFA.

One of the founders was Luc Misson, a lawyer who represented Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in a case that led to the Bosman ruling.

History

Foundation

The N.F.-Board was founded on 12 December 2003 by the World Football Observatory (French: Observatoire Mondial des Footballs; OMF) in À la Mort Subite, a bar in Brussels, consisting of 5 members: Northern Cyprus, Sápmi, Monaco, Western Sahara, and the Chagos Islands.

When the NFB was founded, a deadline was set for applications: 15 January 2004. However, at some point, it was postponed to May, and the candidate member list ballooned to 76 members. This list included the Falkland Islands, Greenland, Tibet, Guadelope, Jersey, Vatican City, Corsica, Brittany, and Catalonia.

Many more members came to apply soon after the founding. The first known four to apply were Greenland, Tibet, and possibly Jersey, and Guernsey.

At first, the N.F.-Board had planned to host their first event, the Viva World Cup, in 2005. However, due to a lack of budget at the time, it was postponed to 2006.

Early controversies

ELF Cup

In 2006, the first Viva World Cup was initially planned in Northern Cyprus after validation of a reconnaissance visit by the management of the N.F.-Board, political changes took place in the meantime in this territory, with repercussions on the Federation of Northern Cyprus football. Northern Cyprus no longer admits to receiving certain football associations, the Emergency Committee of the N.F.-Board takes the decision to cancel the edition planned there and to transfer the competition to Hyères in France. In response, the Northern Cyprus Football Federation announced the organization of the ELF Cup and promised to pay the travel expenses of the participants, the competition will be won by the Northern Cyprus selection.

Departure of Monaco

In 2010, the Monaco Football Association left the N.F.-Board. The captain of the selection at the time, Yohan Garino, explains: "For political reasons, we are not authorized by our government to play against certain teams. We also had some problems with the NF-Board which used photos of the Monaco Football Association and Prince Albert as advertising for their many matches without authorization. We were particularly disappointed by this last point which is very detrimental to us".

Breakup of the N.F.-Board

During the Kurdistan 2012 Viva World Cup, a large sum of money intended for the event disappeared. The Belgian tax authorities subsequently investigated. Disputes arose among the founders. At the 2013 Annual General Meeting in Munich, Christian Michelis, one of the founders of the N.F.-Board, resigned as president, but as there were still many financial irregularities in his presidency that needed investigation, the NFB did not accept. Michelis denied this, and the association subsequently suspended him. Thus, the organizational structure collapsed, and the association existed only on paper.

Swedish referee Per-Anders Blind, who also officiated at Viva World Cup matches and attended the Annual General Meeting in Munich, was subsequently approached by various member associations to make a new football confederation. Blind, in response, founded the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CIFA; now CONIFA) in August 2013. In 2024, the NFB also made the claim that Michelis had reached out to Per-Anders Blind to approve of the creation of CONIFA, shortly after his resignation.

Due to the N.F.-Board's problem with organising tournaments ever since the fracture, CONIFA has been the new ruler of the Non-FIFA scene ever since.

Cease and Desist

On 17 November 2013, a cease and desist was filed against the N.F.-Board by CONIFA, for defamation by Jean Luc-Kit and . However, no followup actions have been taken despite its continuation.

Statuses of Yap and Pohnpei

The N.F.-Board lists Yap and Pohnpei as members. However, in 2015, former coach of the Pohnpei soccer team, Paul Watson, revealed that neither of them had actually joined. He further elaborated in 2017, saying: "At the time I was on Pohnpei, the only non-FIFA organisation was the NF-Board. Although they organised some very impressive Viva World Cups for non-FIFA teams, around the time I was in Pohnpei they had become less active and their communications weren’t very convincing. They seemed to want Pohnpei on their list for the sake of listing them, so we never joined. In spite of that, the NF-Board continues to list Pohnpei and Yap, despite the fact nobody on the island has ever spoken to them".

Attempted revival

2014 Viva World Cup

Plans for the 2014 Viva World Cup fell through, first with Östersund in Sápmi, of whom had applied in 2010, however left for CONIFA; then with the Isle of Man who did so at an unknown time, however the NFB claimed to continue the application again for a "pseudo European Championship" in 2015; and finally with Tatarstan in 2013–2014, as Andrei Rudakov, the person they were discussing with to make the tournament, had been summoned for embezzlement, and a lack of time to organise a new tournament as the Viva World Cup for that year.

The Viva Cups of 2017

On 6 May 2017, the N.F.-Board announced its return, making the claim that they would be taking over leadership of the Non-FIFA scene once again. 2 weeks later, on 21 May, they announced the 2017 Euro Viva Cup, the 2018 Women Viva World Cup, and the possibility of making a second European branch of the N.F.-Board called NFB-EUROPE, all in Vichy. One day later, they updated the countries' positions on the NFB's website, suspending most Associates and graduating the provisional associations to Associate, or suspending them, or even removing them entirely.[clarification needed] On 6 December, however, the Vichy authorities had communicated that negotiations with the N.F.-Board had been interrupted for some time, and that no tournament would be held.

2025 Mixed Viva World Cup

On 1 February 2024, the N.F.-Board announced the 2025 Mixed Viva World Cup, which would have "both a mix of genres and a mix of rules of the game", and is said to be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, subdivisions of countries, and transnational/indigenous people. The cup was scheduled to run from June 20–29. However, the event was cancelled due to unknown reasons.[non-primary source needed]

2026 and 2028 Viva World Cups

On 18 January 2025, they, once again, announced 2 new Viva World Cups for 2026 and 2028, saying the 2026 Viva World Cup would also be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, 2028, to the non-FIFA islands and archipelagos. But, they refused to disclose more detail about the two new Viva World Cups beyond that.

Viva World Cup

The events that were placed are as follows (stricken-out events are cancelled, italicized ones are planned):

• 2006 Viva World Cup in Hyères, Occitania (Champion: Sápmi)
• 2008 Viva World Cup in Gällivare, Sápmi (Champion: Padania)
• 2009 Viva World Cup in Padania (Varese, Novara, Brescia, and Verona) (Champion: Padania)
• 2010 Viva World Cup in Gozo (Xewkija, and Sannat) (Champion: Padania)
• 2012 Viva World Cup in Kurdistan (Erbil, Salahaddin, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok) (Champion: Kurdistan)
• 2014 Viva World Cup in Kazan, Tatarstan
• 2017 Viva World Cup in Vichy, France
• 2026 Viva World Cup in TBD
• 2028 Viva World Cup in TBD

Women's editions

The N.F.-Board also hosted women's editions of the Viva World Cup.

• 2008 Women Viva World Cup in Gällivare, Sápmi (Champion: Sápmi)
• 2010 Women Viva World Cup in Gozo (Champion: Padania)
• 2011 Women Viva World Cup in Padania
• 2013 Women Viva World Cup in Tifariti, Western Sahara
• 2018 Women Viva World Cup in Vichy, France

Other versions of the Viva World Cup

There have also been multiple attempts to have different forms of the Viva World Cup, those being:

• 2017 Euro Viva Cup in Vichy, France
• 2025 Mixed Viva World Cup in Drôme de Collines, France

Both attempts, however, were cancelled.

N.F.-Board former members

Source of member list: The members in bold competed in at least one Viva World Cup. The members in italic competed in one of the N.F.-Board's tournaments for women. * means a member has an association, but currently, does not have a team.

Joke members

There is one joke member of the N.F.-Board:

• / South Lower Saxony (Association: South Lower Saxony Football Federation; Code: BSX) was said to be a joke by the president of the organisation. No team was made for the association and they only went to one meeting to celebrate their creation.

Non-members listed as members

The N.F.-Board also claims to have three members that never actually applied to the federation:

• Kiribati (Association: Kiribati Islands Football Association; Code: KIR)
• Yap (Association: Yap Soccer Association; Code: YAP)
• Pohnpei (Association: Pohnpei Soccer Association; Code: POH)

Yap seems to be the only one of the three which actually objected to being listed as a member, despite them never applying.

Executive Committee

Presidents

Premier Vice-Presidents

Vice-Presidents

General Secretaries

Confederation of European New Federations (CENF)

On 30 December 2007, the Confederation of European New Federations (CENF) was created to be the European confederation of the N.F.-Board.

It was dissolved on 9 March 2009 before their planned tournament, the CENF Cup could be hosted, due to the N.F.-Board thought that they didn't need a European confederation at the time. Most of the former leadership of the CENF went on to be part of the Non-FIFA News Agency after its dissolution.

Due to the link rot of content related to the CENF, it is unknown if it garnered any member associations in its lifetime.

Leadership of the CENF

Presidents

NF North America & Arctic Confederation (NFNAAC)

In 2008, the N.F.-Board took interest in the fact, that Carlos Rodriguez wanted to start a confederation of the NFB. It was most recently referred to as the NF North America & Arctic Confederation (NFNAAC), and previously as the North American and Arctic New Federations (NAANF) and the Confederation of North American New Federations (CNANF) (it had no official name up to 2014). It's supposed to represent teams from North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Arctic region that are not affiliated with FIFA.

Potential members include the Greenland, Québec, and the Wyandot Nation.

In December 2013, it was announced that the NFNAAC was going to have a meeting with the N.F.-Board in January 2014 in Québec, in order to actually found the confederation.[citation needed]

See also

• Non-FIFA international football
• Confederation of Independent Football Associations

Notes