Greenland's request to join CONCACAF as official members rejected "unanimously"

Football is hugely popular in Greenland. In an island with only 56,583 people, there are 5,500 registered football players in 76 clubs, around 10% of the population. However, the Football Association of Greenland, while running the island men's and women's football teams, is not recognised by FIFA, as Greenland is, of course, not a country, but a sovereign territory of Denmark.

UEFA has denied Greenland's attempts to join, because UEFA only allows countries recognised by the United Nations. But CONCACAF, the FIFA confederation governing North and Central American countries, including the Caribbean, does not have that restriction. Thus, Greenland applied in May 2024 to join CONCACAF... but they have been "unanimously rejected".

"In accordance with the Concacaf Statutes, the Member Associations reviewed the membership application submitted by the Greenlandic Football Association and unanimously rejected it", CONCACAF said in a press release.

Greenland has played unofficial international friendlies, but hopes to play international football. But neither UEFA nor CONCACAF can admit it, as it is not a country. Playing football in Greenland is very difficult, as pitches have to be artificial and can only play outdoors for five months per year.

In recent months, the island of Greenland (which is the largest island in the world, larger than western Europe, despite having less than 60,000 inhabitants) has been in the target of Donald Trump, who wants to take control of the island (even if the nearest country geographically is Canada).