Somaliland

 

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vs. Sapmi (0:5) | CONIFA WFC | 2016 in Abkhazia

Somaliland. What a team, what a country, what a community. I have so much to say about Somaliland and Somaliland football that I don't know what to start with. So let's start with the obvious here: The shirt. It is from the 2016 CONIFA World Football, the second in the history of the organisation I co-founded in 2013 and the first that was absolutely jam-packed with spectators. The first that felt lifechanging for myself and many of the players, volunteers and everyone else who was on the ground, really. That Somaliland actually competed in the tournament was a bit of miracle. At the time, there were three different Europe-based diaspora groups that claimed to be the representative of Somaliland Football. Two of these applied for CONIFA membership in 2015 and I decided to put forward the application of the UK-based group. Partly, because they had a letter from the actual Somaliland government, showing the backing of the unrecognised state. Partly, because of my gut feeling.

Shortly after joining CONIFA, they were selected to play in the 2016 World Football Cup in Abkhazia and, as I do know now, this was an absolutely mental mission for them. The FA was basically run by three or four students that barely had any funds and only a few strong connections to Somaliland on the horn of Africa. But they were confident and although the government of the state of Somaliland semi-publicly withdrew their support for the team briefly before the World Football Cup, they somehow did manage to raise the funds to fly to Sochi in Russia and participate in the tournament in Abkhazia. Even more, they included 4 or 5 players that were flown in from Somaliland, as it was important for them to include the motherless and not be a full-diaspora team. 

The atmosphere in Somaliland still was critical, with several newspaper articles questioning the legitimacy of the team and CONIFA as a whole. But that changed drastically when they played their first match against Sapmi. Despite losing heavily, they managed to field a national team and the Somaliland flag was flying high over Abkhazia for the first time ever. That led to people publicly protest in Somaliland, asking the government to support the team, and ultimately to a full turn of the sports ministry of Somaliland, which did back them from now on. The Somaliland media did report from every match since and was fully behind the team. The players got famous in Somaliland with thousands of fans welcoming the home-based players at the airport when they returned.

But arguably even more impressive was what happened in Abkhazia. The locals were curious about the team that came all the way from Africa to Abkhazia and local spectators, in particular kids, approached the players to ask them "What is Somaliland?". The team quickly understood that Abkhazians had no idea about Somaliland or its existence. From then on, the players dispersed in the city they played in every day, went to schools and a university, and told everyone "Somaliland is just like Abkhazia: We are a country, but somehow the world does not recognise out. That's why we are here". Naturally, locals understood that and sympathised with the team. So much so, that the later Somaliland matches were sold out with hundreds of Abkhazians shouting "SO-MA-LEE" throughout the 90 minutes of play. After every match, the players spent hours giving autographs. British Sunday League players and Soamliland-based recreational players suddenly became stars, thousands of kilometers away from home.

Not just the Abkhazians fell in love with Somaliland, the team and the lovely management of the team - but I certainly did, too. So much so, that I actually went to Somaliland many years later, in early 2020. Together with my mate and CONIFA colleague Paul Watson and the British team management, I flew into the unrecognised republic and spent a week there, visiting several cities to see potential venues for a Somaliland-hosted World Football Cup. Later, CONIFA indeed granted the hosting rights for the 2020 World Football Cup to Somaliland, but had to withdraw it later due to various reasons. Luckily so, as obviously a tournament during the pandemic was never going to happen.

Me, second from left, in a packed stadium in Hargeisa, Somaliland, during a local cup match in 2020.