In August 2019, Asia President Jens Jockel and Member Development Director Paul Watson, headed to The Hague, Netherlands, to meet up with two relatively new CONIFA member teams.

Both West Papua and East Turkistan (formerly named Uyghur) FAs have recently moved their headquarters to the Netherlands, and with this in mind, Jens and Paul were able to spend time with Simon Sapopier, Sophia Sapopier and Jeroen Zandberg from West Papua; and with Elshat Atasoy and Arafat from East Turkistan.

The group met at The Hague Football & Cricket Ground (HV & CV Quick). After a tour round the facilities, discussions took place that covered the possiblility of a friendly being played betwee the two FAs; West Papua’s training plans now they are based in The Hague; and how the East Turkistan team is looking to call up players from across Europe to join its squad. The group also discussed the ‘Freedom Cup’ which took place in Germany in June 2019, which brought together East Turkestan teams from Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and France.

West Papua also discussed becoming a part of CONIFA Asia, rather than Oceania, and the East Turkistan delegation formally requested their name change from Uyghur.

The group also discussed collaborating now they were based in the same country, and all agreed they were excited about the possibility of playing a match against each other in the future!