Stateless Soccer

In early June, Abkhazia played host to the Second World Football Cup of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations. The confederation was founded in 2013 and includes teams from numerous unrecognized and semi-autonomous states around the world, ranging from Quebec and Somaliland to Greenland, Monaco and the Isle of Man.

On a sultry Sunday evening in the seaside town of Sukhumi, Abkhazia (a separatist region of Georgia that seeks independence) faced off against Panjab (representing the Punjabi diaspora in the UK). It seemed as if all of Abkhazia had shown up at the match. The stadium was full to overflowing; fans were sitting in the aisles, lying on roofs and clinging to poles and fences.

At some point, the police stopped letting people into the overloaded stadium. Frustrated fans crowded outside the fences, clutching valid tickets to the finals. Clearly, a large number of fans had “leaked” into the stadium because they knew someone.

Abkhazians are a temperamental folk and they are also football fanatics. It was a potentially explosive situation. When, at the end of regulation time, Abkhazia and Panjab were tied 1:1 and the referees handed out a series of penalties, the fans lost control. The human mass flooded from the stands, and with each penalty kick their encirclement of the field tightened. For their part, the police were torn between duty and passion: they rushed to contain the fans, yet also gleefully rushed with them toward the field.

Finally, Abkhazia scored the winning goal and the stands exploded. In the space of seconds the crowd swarmed the field. The players were subsumed by the tide of happy Abkhazians, then popped up to the surface and soon the newly minted national heroes were floating atop cheering human waves.

The Abkhazians yelled, laughed, cried and sang, and soon everyone was singing, dancing, and hugging anyone in reach.