Turkish Cypriot football team in FIFI Wild Cup

GREEK Cypriots living in Germany have been left stunned after switching over the channel only to see the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ playing in an international football tournament in the German city of St. Pauli.

The Turkish Cypriot football team was invited to participate in unofficial mini-football tournament called the “FIFI Wild Cup 2006” – a spoof competition of the 2006 FIFA World Cup that kicks off across Germany on June 9.

The private tournament, which includes the sides of Zanzibar, Gibraltar, Greenland, Tibet and German hosts Republik St. Pauli, is not affiliated to FIFA, which is the official world governing body for football and which recognises only Cypriot teams affiliated to the Cyprus Football Association (CFA).

Yesterday, Politis reported that Cypriots living in Germany had told the paper they were stunned to hear the commentator of German sports TV channel (DSF) state that “all of Cyprus is celebrating because their national team is in the final” following the Turkish Cypriot side’s victory over Gibraltar.

Scores of Turks and Turkish Cypriots have been following the team in Germany with supporters holding up flags of the ‘TRNC’ and Turkey.

The organisers of the tournament have opted to refer to the team as “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” on their website and on score boards, with German cheer leaders holding Turkish Cypriot flag as the two teams walk out onto the pitch.

The Turkish Cypriot team scored victories against Greenland and Zanzibar in their group before beating Gibraltar 2-0 in the semifinal.

They were last night set to face Zanzibar in the final – a game which was set to be aired live in the north at 7pm.

Turkish Cypriot newspapers have claimed that the CFA tried to stop organisers from allowing the Turkish Cypriot team to enter the tournament, but that their protests fell on deaf ears.

An official of the Cyprus Sports Federation (CSF) said yesterday that “the organisers of the tournament did not give themselves any credit by allowing an illegal state to participate.”

The President of the CFA, Costakis Koutsokoumnis, was yesterday unavailable for comment.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.