Why Greenland Can’t Play International Football

There are plenty of people out there that don’t care about international football. More often than not, it is people who support a club side that has enjoyed success over the years, so the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United fans don’t need to pin their hopes on England winning a major tournament in the same way that, say, supporters of Rotherham United and Everton do.

That might well be slightly different if the country that they call home wasn’t allowed to play international football, which is the situation that Greenland finds itself in. The question is, how and why is that the case?

Football in Greenland

Not only is football the most popular sport in Greenland, it is also the national sport. Taken to the country by settlers from Denmark, a big part of the problem in the area is the fact that the conditions mean that grass pitches can’t be supported there naturally. Instead, matches take place on artificial turf, which has obviously improved immeasurably since the first league was formed in Greenland back in 1954. The Greenlandic Football Championship has taken place every year since 1969, whilst the Football Association of Greenland was formed two years later and has controlled the game since.

🇬🇱🏟️ Greenland simply has the most stunning football pitches in the world 🤩 pic.twitter.com/CzB41cBVJt

— The Sweeper (@SweeperPod) July 28, 2025

In order to get a sense of just how popular football is in the country, it is worth bearing in mind that there are around 5,500 registered players out of a population of in the region of 55,000. In other words, about ten percent of the residents of Greenland are registered footballers, which is the highest figure per capita in the world. The fact that the country is a vast expanse of ice and snow for the majority of the year means that the football season is one of the shortest around, lasting between May and September, although it can last for longer in one part of the country than the other.

No International Football

Although Greenland’s football team was a member of the International Football Union and the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, neither of those organisations are members of FIFA. Greenland is technically part of Denmark, which means that it is not allowed to join UEFA. The same is not true of the Faroe Islands, which is also a dependency of Denmark. For the purposes of international football, Greenland counts as Denmark. As a result, there is no ability for Greenland to take part in competitions such as the European Championships and the World Cup.

In 2015, the Greenland Football Association entered an agreement with the Danish DBU to improve the sport in the country and work towards it being able to join UEFA and FIFA by 2022. When UEFA altered their statutes to forbid non-independent regions from being able to join, however, that meant that the path to membership of that governing body was closed. Instead, Greenland made an application to join CONCACAF on the basis of the fact that it is geographically part of North America. That application was also rejected, however, leaving the country without a home in a footballing sense.

A CONCACAF statement on the matter said, “Based on a thorough assessment conducted by the CONCACAF administration and Council, and in accordance with the CONCACAF Statutes, the Member Associations reviewed the membership application submitted by the Greenlandic Football Association and unanimously rejected it.” In terms of size, Greenland is larger than Western Europe, but it is the fact that it is essentially a large sheet of ice for the majority of it that makes football there so difficult. There are 76 football clubs in the country, but no ability to play on the international stage.

What Next For Greenland?

The fact that neither UEFA nor CONCACAF are willing to accept Greenland into their governing bodies means that the country doesn’t have many places left to turn in a footballing sense. Whilst the calls of US President Donald Trump to take ownership of Greenland have been met with widespread condemnation, the rest of the world has done a metaphorical shrug over the lack of international football for the nation. In some ways, Greenland is the perfect country for FIFA, given the seeming determination of Gianni Infantino to see football played as much as humanly possible.

The country has sunlight 24 hours a day in the summer months, meaning that Infantino and his ilk could see a game being played any time they wanted to turn on the television. During those same periods, the temperatures are a much more manageable five to ten degrees Celsius, which is why thousands of people on the island take to the football pitches at that time. Instead of being able to play international football officially for the first time, Greenland residents instead have to put up with non-official friendlies, played in the national stadium that has enough room for around 2,000 people.