News marks latest CONIFA expansion in North America and the Caribbean

To watch the live press conference please follow the links – https://www.facebook.com/CONIFA and https://www.facebook.com/SomosBalompie/

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is proud to announce the sanctioning of Liga de Balompié Mexicano (LBM). The LBM is the first league to be sanctioned by CONIFA, making it the organization’s first venture into league sanctioning worldwide. The same values CONIFA upholds are held by the Liga de Balompié Mexicano.

An agreement co-signed by CONIFA President Per-Anders Blind and LBM President Victor Montiel commits Liga de Balompié Mexicano to CONIFA’s code of conduct. The agreement follows the recent confirmation of the Asociación National de Balompié Mexicano (ABMN) as a CONIFA Football Association.

An ABMN National Team, representing native Mexican peoples, will reside under the jurisdiction of CONIFA North America and Caribbean.

The induction of LBM and ABMN are CONIFA’s latest moves in Mexico and Central America. On Wednesday, CONIFA announced that the Asociación de Fútbol Kuskatan, representing the indigenous Nahuas, or Pipil, people of western El Salvador, was approved as a CONIFA FA.

They join the Cascadia Association Football Federation (representing the Cascadia region of the U.S. and Canada) and Les Québécois (representing the French-speaking Canadian region of Québec) to compete for CONIFA tournament qualification and regional titles.

“I could not be more excited to welcome the ABMN to the CONIFA family. They are a very exciting group that will raise the level of competition in our regional and global competitions,” said Aaron Johnsen, President of CONIFA’s North America and Caribbean region. “We are looking forward to working with them as well as other leagues around the world to grow the game,”

As of this release, 10 professional teams are committed to the LBM with 15 more looking to occupy the 10 remaining spots in the inaugural campaign. There are ongoing plans to grow a three-tiered system consisting of 60 teams, with movement between levels to be dictated by promotion or relegation.

The league’s teams span across Mexico from Baja California to Yucatán. The league plans to start in September 2020.

Moving forward, CONIFA will explore opportunities for clubs to compete in new national and international competitions.

More information and contacts

CONIFA, is the football federation for all associations outside FIFA. It’s a global non-profit organization that supports representatives of international football teams from nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports-isolated territories.

Inquiries:

Global media: Please contact James Cronin, james.cronin@conifa.org
Mexican media: Please contact Javier Levy, javier.levy@balompiemexicano.com
Other North American media: Please contact Aaron Johnsen, aaron.johnsen@conifa.org
Online:

CONIFA: Web site | Twitter
CONIFA North America and Caribbean: Twitter
LBM: Twitter