The N.F.-Board (New Football Federations-Board;[a]NFB) is a federation for football associations established on 12 December 2003.[6] The NFB is made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, regions and micronations not affiliated to FIFA.
At first, the N.F.-Board had planned to host their first event, the Viva World Cup, in 2005.[13] However, due to a lack of budget at the time, it was postponed to 2006.[14]
In 2006, the first Viva World Cup was initially planned in Northern Cyprus after validation of a reconnaissance visit by the management of the N.F.-Board, political changes took place in the meantime in this territory, with repercussions on the Federation of Northern Cyprus football.[15] Northern Cyprus no longer admits to receiving certain football associations, the Emergency Committee of the N.F.-Board takes the decision to cancel the edition planned there and to transfer the competition to Hyères in France.[16] In response, the Northern Cyprus Football Federation announced the organization of the ELF Cup and promised to pay the travel expenses of the participants, the competition will be won by the Northern Cyprus selection.[17]
Departure of Monaco
In 2010, the Monaco Football Association left the N.F.-Board. The captain of the selection at the time, Yohan Garino, explains: "For political reasons, we are not authorized by our government to play against certain teams. We also had some problems with the NF-Board which used photos of the Monaco Football Association and Prince Albert as advertising for their many matches without authorization. We were particularly disappointed by this last point which is very detrimental to us".[18]
Breakup of the N.F.-Board
During the Kurdistan 2012 Viva World Cup, a large sum of money intended for the event disappeared. The Belgian tax authorities subsequently investigated. Disputes arose among the founders. At the 2013 Annual General Meeting in Munich, Christian Michelis, one of the founders of the N.F.-Board, resigned as president, but as there were still many financial irregularities in his presidency that needed investigation, the NFB did not accept. Michelis denied this, and the association subsequently suspended him.[19][20] Thus, the organizational structure collapsed, and the association existed only on paper.[20][21]
Swedish referee Per-Anders Blind, who also officiated at Viva World Cup matches and attended the Annual General Meeting in Munich, was subsequently approached by various member associations to make a new football confederation. Blind, in response, founded the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CIFA; now CONIFA) in August 2013.[22][23][20][21] In 2024, the NFB also made the claim that Michelis had reached out to Per-Anders Blind to approve of the creation of CONIFA, shortly after his resignation.[24]
Due to the N.F.-Board's problem with organising tournaments ever since the fracture, CONIFA has been the new ruler of the Non-FIFA scene ever since.
Cease and Desist
On 17 November 2013, a cease and desist was filed against the N.F.-Board by CONIFA, for defamation by Jean Luc-Kit and the NFB's official website.[25] However, no followup actions have been taken despite its continuation.
Statuses of Yap and Pohnpei
The N.F.-Board lists Yap and Pohnpei as members. However, in 2015, former coach of the Pohnpei soccer team, Paul Watson, revealed that neither of them had actually joined.[20] He further elaborated in 2017, saying: "At the time I was on Pohnpei, the only non-FIFA organisation was the NF-Board. Although they organised some very impressive Viva World Cups for non-FIFA teams, around the time I was in Pohnpei they had become less active and their communications weren’t very convincing. They seemed to want Pohnpei on their list for the sake of listing them, so we never joined. In spite of that, the NF-Board continues to list Pohnpei and Yap, despite the fact nobody on the island has ever spoken to them".[26]
Attempted revival
2014 Viva World Cup
Plans for the 2014 Viva World Cup fell through, first with Östersund in Sápmi, of whom had applied in 2010, however left for CONIFA; then with the Isle of Man who did so at an unknown time, however the NFB claimed to continue the application again for a "pseudo European Championship" in 2015; and finally with Tatarstan in 2013–2014, as Andrei Rudakov, the person they were discussing with to make the tournament, had been summoned for embezzlement, and a lack of time to organise a new tournament as the Viva World Cup for that year.[27]
The Viva Cups of 2017
On 6 May 2017, the N.F.-Board announced its return, making the claim that they would be taking over leadership of the Non-FIFA scene once again.[28] 2 weeks later, on 21 May, they announced the 2017 Euro Viva Cup,[d] the 2018 Women Viva World Cup, and the possibility of making a second[e] European branch of the N.F.-Board called NFB-EUROPE, all in Vichy.[29] One day later, they updated the countries' positions on the NFB's website, suspending most Associates and graduating the provisional associations to Associate, or suspending them, or even removing them entirely.[30][clarification needed] On 6 December, however, the Vichy authorities had communicated that negotiations with the N.F.-Board had been interrupted for some time, and that no tournament would be held.[31]
2025 Mixed Viva World Cup
On 1 February 2024, the N.F.-Board announced the 2025 Mixed Viva World Cup, which would have "both a mix of genres and a mix of rules of the game", and is said to be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, subdivisions of countries, and transnational/indigenous people. The cup was scheduled to run from June 20–29.[32] However, the event was cancelled due to unknown reasons.[non-primary source needed]
2026 and 2028 Viva World Cups
On 18 January 2025, they, once again, announced 2 new Viva World Cups for 2026 and 2028, saying the 2026 Viva World Cup would also be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, 2028, to the non-FIFA islands and archipelagos. But, they refused to disclose more detail about the two new Viva World Cups beyond that.[33][34]
Source of member list: https://nfbwebsite.wixsite.com/nfboard/fa The members in bold competed in at least one Viva World Cup.[62] The members in italic competed in one of the N.F.-Board's tournaments for women.[63][64] * means a member has an association, but currently, does not have a team.
Joke members
There is one joke member of the N.F.-Board:
/ South Lower Saxony (Association: South Lower Saxony Football Federation; Code: BSX) was said to be a joke by the president of the organisation. No team was made for the association and they only went to one meeting to celebrate their creation.[65]
Non-members listed as members
The N.F.-Board also claims to have three members that never actually applied to the federation:
On 30 December 2007, the Confederation of European New Federations (CENF) was created to be the European confederation of the N.F.-Board.[66][67]
It was dissolved on 9 March 2009 before their planned tournament, the CENF Cup could be hosted,[68] due to the N.F.-Board thought that they didn't need a European confederation at the time.[69] Most of the former leadership of the CENF went on to be part of the Non-FIFA News Agency after its dissolution.[70]
Due to the link rot of content related to the CENF, it is unknown if it garnered any member associations in its lifetime.
In 2008, the N.F.-Board took interest in the fact, that Carlos Rodriguez wanted to start a confederation of the NFB. It was most recently referred to as the NF North America & Arctic Confederation (NFNAAC), and previously as the North American and Arctic New Federations (NAANF) and the Confederation of North American New Federations (CNANF) (it had no official name up to 2014[71]). It's supposed to represent teams from North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Arctic region that are not affiliated with FIFA.[72]
In December 2013, it was announced that the NFNAAC was going to have a meeting with the N.F.-Board in January 2014 in Québec, in order to actually found the confederation.[citation needed]
↑"Monagasques quit NF-Board"(PDF). Soccer Business World. World Sports Economics. 18 May 2010. p.3. Archived from the original(PDF) on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
↑"cenf.eu/cenf/cenf.html". Confederation of European New Federations. 1 December 2007. Archived from the original on 1 April 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
↑"N.F.B. News - CENF"(PDF). N.F-Board News. No.4. 2009. p.11. Archived from the original(PDF) on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
12"CENF News"(PDF). CENF. 15 May 2008. p.2, A New Confederation. Archived(PDF) from the original on 20 June 2025. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
Notes
12Commonly known as the New Federations-Board,[2] and unofficially as the Nouvelle Fédération-Board,[3] or the Non-FIFA Board.[4] Later in its lifespan, the N.F.-Board directly said the name Nouvelle Fédération-Board was wrong, as well as any other expansions of the name.[5]
↑In 2017, the N.F.-Board said they had 53 member associations, of which 27 were Associates, 20 were "Suspended" (withdrawn), and 6 were "Historical".[1] Of that number, 42 of the FAs have teams, whilst 8 of them do not; 1 (Southern Lower Saxony) is a joke FA, and 2 weren't members of the NFB at all (Yap and Pohnpei, three if you count Kiribati).
↑The first one was the Confederation of European New Federations, which lasted from 2007–2009
↑Franconia applied in 2013, at the meeting of which it broke down. They never spoke again ever since that meeting, however it seems they may still be in it.
↑Applied for the N.F.-Board, but was never formally approved. Treated as a member by the NFB anyway
1234Officially, the N.F.-Board gave the "Suspended" status to the countries which left the NFB to join CONIFA. In practice they withdrew from the organisation.[24]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
David Aranda
