At an extraordinary congress in Miami on June 9, all 41 Concacaf countries said no to the admission of Greenland.
Morten Rutkjær, Greenland’s national football coach, still feels that the North American Football Confederation (Concacaf) turned its thumbs down in early June in relation to including Greenland in the fold.
That’s what the national coach says to TV 2 Sport.
– Greenland can never ever play an official international match now. It is unimaginable. It is a shame for children and young people in Greenland that there is now nothing to play and dream about. We do not think it is fair that we are excluded from football, says Morten Rutkjær.
It was at an extraordinary congress in Concacaf on June 9 in Miami, USA, that the 41 member countries were to vote on Greenland’s admission. Concacaf covers North and Central America as well as the Caribbean.
According to the Greenlandic national coach, it was a no from all 41 countries.
– I had at least expected that we would be told what we had to work on so that we could eventually become a member. But I am shocked that we are being rejected on 10 lines without any justification, he tells TV 2 Sport.
It will only be for practice matches
Subsequently, according to the national coach, Greenland sought an answer as to whether the Football Association could have done anything differently in the process that would have made the country better off.
– They replied that they had followed the procedure, where all member countries were given the opportunity to vote at the congress. So everything was done correctly. And then they wished us “good luck” in the future, says Rutkjær.
This means that Greenland remains without membership in a continental football association and can only play training matches that are not sanctioned by the International Football Association Board (FIFA).
You also cannot participate in qualifying tournaments.
With its affiliation with Denmark, it would be obvious that Greenland, like the Faroe Islands, belonged to the European Football Association (UEFA).
However, UEFA requires that a member country must be a member of the UN. Greenland is not.
Concacaf does not have that requirement, and therefore Greenland applied for admission there, but without success.