Wikipedia

FIFI Wild Cup

Not to be confused with FIFA World Cup.

The FIFI Wild Cup was an alternative to the FIFA World Cup, held from May 29 to June 3, 2006 in Hamburg, Germany, prior to the official FIFA World Cup which started one week later. It was run by the Federation of International Football Independents (FIFI).

2006 FIFI Wild Cup
Tournament details
Host countryRepublic of St. Pauli (official)
Germany Germany (location)
Dates29 May–3 June
Teams6
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions Northern Cyprus (1st title)
Runners-up Zanzibar
Third place Gibraltar
Fourth placeRepublic of St. Pauli
Tournament statistics
Matches played10
Goals scored33 (3.3 per match)

FIFI was a body composed of countries not recognized at the time by FIFA and those whose logistics or political disputes prevented them from playing representative football.[1] The Millerntor-Stadion in Hamburg hosted all the tournament matches.[2] The tournament was sponsored by a German online gambling consortium called myBet, as well as Goool.de Sportswear GmbH, who paid a combined €750,000 to fund the tournament. The tournament had 2 mascots, Schäfer and Schmitz. Media patronage was provided by TV stations DSF and ProSieben. The tournament was organized by Essen Agencies, Carat Sponsorship GmbH, and Western Star GmbH.

According to organizer Jorg Pommeranz, FIFI had to overcome various obstacles, such as China and FIFA applying pressure to exclude Tibet, and difficulties for players representing Northern Cyprus obtaining visas to enter Germany.[3]

The tournament winners were the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Spectator attendance was reported as “relatively weak”, with an average of 400 fans per match, although this could have been affected by poor weather.[4] Consequently, a second edition of the tournament was deemed to be unlikely, although they considered a 2010 edition to be hosted by Greenland.[5]

To give the organizers credit, they tried to make it feel like a proper tournament. Flags flew above the stadium and anthems played. A skydiver was hired to fly in and deliver the match ball for the final.[4]


Minutes 1-77 of the cup final can be watched here.

Participants edit


Monaco was invited but withdrew before the tournament began.[4]

Group stage edit

Group A edit

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
Republic of St. Pauli 4 2 1 1 0 8 1 +7
  Gibraltar 4 2 1 1 0 6 1 +5
  Tibet 0 2 0 0 2 0 12 −12
Republic of St. Pauli1–1  Gibraltar
Hakan Demirci   ?' Lee Casciaro   ?'
Attendance: ~400
Republic of St. Pauli7–0  Tibet
Abdul Yilmaz   ?', ?', ?', ?'
Hakan Demirci   ?', ?'
Dennis Daube   ?'
Attendance: ~400
Tibet  0–5  Gibraltar
Attendance: ~400

Group B edit

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
  Northern Cyprus 6 2 2 0 0 4 1 +3
  Zanzibar 3 2 1 0 1 5 5 0
  Greenland 0 2 0 0 2 2 5 −3
Northern Cyprus  1–0  Greenland
Ali Oraloğlu   55'
Attendance: ~400
Referee: Tobias Mayer, Germany
Northern Cyprus  3–1  Zanzibar
Agrey Morris   12' (o.g.)
Derviş Kolcu   20' (pen.)
Çagan Çerkez   60'		 Salum Ussi Hamad   43'
Attendance: ~400
Referee: Peter Postel, Germany
Greenland  2–4  Zanzibar
Kaassannguaq Zeeb   ?'
Anders Cortsen   ?'		 Alek Mohammed   ?', ?'
Abdallah Juma Ally   ?', ?'
Attendance: ~400

Knockout stage edit

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
  Northern Cyprus2
 
 
 
  Gibraltar 0
 
  Northern Cyprus0 (4)
 
 
 
  Zanzibar0 (1)
 
 Republic of St. Pauli1
 
 
  Zanzibar2
 
Third place
 
 
 
 
 
  Gibraltar2
 
 
 Republic of St. Pauli1

Semi-finals edit

Northern Cyprus  2–0  Gibraltar
Ali Oraloğlu   39'
Dylan   90+2' (o.g.)
Attendance: ~400
Referee: Markus Dahmas, Germany
Republic of St. Pauli1–2  Zanzibar
Sierra Mauni   13' Coaui Maise   10', 90'
Attendance: ~400

Third-place match edit

Republic of St. Pauli1–2  Gibraltar
Attendance: ~400

Final edit

Northern Cyprus  0–0  Zanzibar
Penalties
Amcaoglu  
Taşkıran  
Uçaner  
Ulusoy  		 4–1 Abdulla  
Mwinyi  
Ali  
Attendance: 4,122
Referee: Moritz Hermann, Germany

Goalscorers edit

Note: Some goalscorers from Gibraltar and Republic of St. Pauli are not listed because there is not enough information on those games.

4 Goals edit

Abdul Yilmaz (Republic of St. Pauli)

3 Goals edit

Hakan Demirci (Republic of St. Pauli)

2 Goals edit

Ali Oraloğlu (Northern Cyprus)

Abdallah Juma Ally (Zanzibar)

Alek Mohamed (Zanzibar)

Coaui Maise (Zanzibar)

1 Goal edit

Lee Cascario (Gibraltar)

Anders Cortsen (Greenland)

Kassannguaq Zeeb (Greenland)

Çagan Çerkez (Northern Cyprus)

Derviş Colcu (Northern Cyprus)

Dennis Daube (Republic of St. Pauli)

Sierra Mauni (Republic of St. Pauli)

Salum Ussi Hamad (Zanzibar)

1 Own-Goal edit

Dylan (Gibraltar)

Agrey Morris (Zanzibar)

Final Standings edit

Team Rank Pld W D L GF GA GD Win %
Northern Cyprus 1 4 4 0 0 6 1 5 1.000
Zanzibar 2 4 2 0 2 7 6 1 .500
Gibraltar 3 4 2 1 1 8 4 4 .625
Republic of St. Pauli 4 4 1 1 2 10 5 5 .375
Greenland 5 2 0 0 2 2 5 -3 .000
Tibet 6 2 0 0 2 0 12 -12 .000

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Also-rans find World of own". New York Daily News. 4 June 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. ^ "Willkommen beim FIFI Wild Cup 2006". wild-cup.de. 15 June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  3. ^ "Filip Bondy: Also-rans find World of own". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 21 June 2006. Retrieved 21 June 2006.
  4. ^ a b c Lawry, Charlie (14 February 2018). "Defying FIFA: When 5 outcast nations competed in the 2006 Wild Cup". Planet Football. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Nordzypern feiert ausgelassen Triumph beim "Fifi Wild Cup"" (in German). welt.de. 6 June 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  6. ^ "Gibraltar given full Uefa membership at London Congress". www.bbc.co.uk. 24 May 2013. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  7. ^ "Fifa: Kosovo and Gibraltar become members of world governing body". www.bbc.co.uk. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
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