• Director(s):

    TREGAN (François-Xavier)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2016

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET

As the Euro 2016 ends, a small stadium, located between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea, is playing host to a world cup with a difference.

The football world cup for players who are excluded from FIFA welcomes unrecognised identities, ethnic groups and autonomous regions from all over the world, under a collective entitled CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Associations). A total of 12 teams are meeting in Abkhazia, including Somaliland, Koreans of Japan, the Chagos Islands of the Indian Ocean, and Kurdistan.
The entity of Abkhazia spans less than 9,000 square kilometres, and has a population of 250,000. It is left over from the shockwave caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and by lasting ambitions of independence in the heart of the Caucasus. 
Here, in this “country” that has no legal existence, and is only recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru, 12 football teams will represent the world’s some 5,500 ethnic groups and autonomous regions. Compared to the 209 member States of FIFA, the small Dinamo stadium will be a unique platform to promote those identities that are either unrecognised or have quite simply been forgotten.