{"id":1544,"date":"2018-09-09T09:34:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T08:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/?p=1544"},"modified":"2021-08-05T12:23:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T11:23:22","slug":"looking-forward-to-the-2019-conifa-european-football-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/looking-forward-to-the-2019-conifa-european-football-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking forward to the 2019 CONIFA European Football Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>What happened in Northern Cyprus 2017\u2026 and what to expect from Artsakh 2019!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Heard about the 2019 European Football Cup that\u2019s taking place in Artsakh in 2019? We\u2019re looking forward to bringing you lots of news and information about the tournament and its host as developments unfold ahead of 2019\u2019s CONIFA showpiece event.<\/p>\n<p>But before we get to that, here\u2019s a quick look back at how the 2017 EFC played out\u2026 and a taster of what to expect at 2019\u2019s tournament!<\/p>\n<h2>The 2017 CONIFA European Football Cup<\/h2>\n<p>Held in Northern Cyprus, the 2017 EFC saw eight teams competing for glory across four host cities.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Cyprus is a self-declared state in the north-eastern portion of Cyprus, and it proclaimed its independence in 1983. Recognised by Turkey, it hosted the second-ever European Football Cup, with the following CONIFA members taking part:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Group A<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Abkhazia<\/li>\n<li>South Ossetia<\/li>\n<li>Karpatalya<\/li>\n<li>Northern Cyprus<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Group B<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ellan Vannin<\/li>\n<li>Szekely Land<\/li>\n<li>Padania<\/li>\n<li>Upper Hungary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The locals topped Group A, while then-World Football Cup champions Abkhazia progressed with them, finishing second. In Group B, automatic qualifiers Padania and Szekely Land progressed into the knockout stages.<\/p>\n<p>In the first semi-final, Padania and Abkhazia held each other to a draw after 90 minutes, with Padania eventually beating Abkhazia 6-5 on penalties. Meanwhile, Northern Cyprus triumphed over Szekely Land to set up the final between Padania and Northern Cyprus.<\/p>\n<p>The final ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Padania taking the title, winning 3-2 on penalties.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the 2017 tournament, Padania\u2019s team manager, Marco Gotta, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole tournament was unbelievable: the accommodation in one of the most beautiful resorts I\u2019ve ever seen, the stadiums, the crowd. We\u2019ll love to play in Artsakh in a sold-out stadium, every soccer player gives his best when he\u2019s supported like that. It would be easy to choose the moment we lifted the European Football Cup as Padania\u2019s best moment of the tournament, but the whole week was outstanding, and we hope to experience something like that again in Artsakh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the only team that has taken part in every CONIFA competition and we want to rise again after the defeat in the WFC 2018\u2019s semi-final. This time we\u2019ll aim for gold.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What to expect in Artsakh 2019?<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So when the announcement was made that CONIFA was heading to Artsakh for the 2019 European Football Cup, lots of people said \u2018Where?\u2019 Let us enlighten you. Nagorno-Karabakh is a de-facto state in the Caucasus region. The republic formed its first football league, the Artsakh League, in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>The Artsakh Football Federation (AFF) was established in 2012, led by Samuel Karapetyan, whose aim has been to have Artsakh recognised by UEFA.<br \/>\nCONIFA general secretary Sascha D\u00fcerkop said about the 2019 tournament:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArtsakh 2019 is a huge opportunity to build on the media and public attention we got, especially from London at the 2018 World Football Cup. It is our third World Cup or European tournament being held in an unrecognised or partially recognised country (with Abkhazia in 2016 and Northern Cyprus in 2017), and we hope this time to have a bigger influx of tourists and fans from all over Europe after the success of London. It is an opportunity to really make Artsakh the capital of football in Europe next summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe locals will absolutely get behind the tournament, that\u2019s what we experienced in Northern Cyprus, and most of all in Abkhazia \u2013 so we expect sell-out stadiums, a good level of football and definitely an amazing atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With preparations underway and excitement levels building for the competition next summer, the teams are already beginning to prepare for the tournament. With the standard improving year upon year, D\u00fcerkop believes it will be a very competitive European Football Cup indeed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s early days but Northern Cyprus look in shape. They are building every year, getting better and better with their team. They looked very good in London. However, Karpatalya are the reigning world champions and definitely contenders too. Artsakh, with its home crowd, will be strong as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Follow CONIFA on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/conifaofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConIFA\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/conifaofficial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0for up-to-date news on the 2019 European Football Cup!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happened in Northern Cyprus 2017\u2026 and what to expect from Artsakh 2019! Heard about&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Looking forward to the 2019 CONIFA European Football Cup | CONIFA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/looking-forward-to-the-2019-conifa-european-football-cup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Looking forward to the 2019 CONIFA European Football Cup | CONIFA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happened in Northern Cyprus 2017\u2026 and what to expect from Artsakh 2019! 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