ISIS to Field a Team in World Football?

ISIS declared the establishment of a worldwide caliphate in 2014. It occupies territory. It provides services to the people living within its borders. It claims to be a state.

So the obvious question on everyone’s mind is certainly,

WHEN WILL ISIS FIELD A FOOTBALL TEAM IN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION?

And, presuming there is a World Cup in 2022,

WILL ISIS COMPETE IN THE 2022 WORLD CUP?

World football has a long history of adapting to the consequences of war, conquest, and the redrawing of international boundaries. In 1938 Austria ceased to exist as an independent nation following annexation (Anschluss) by Nazi Germany. FIFA adjusted and competitions continued to take place. Far from banning the Nazi state, Nazi Germany submitted a bid to host the 1942 World Cup. Later, East and West Germany competed separately for many years before they were reunited in 1990.

Consider the recent example of South Sudan. After a long bloody history of civil war and inter-ethnic conflict within Sudan, which claimed countless lives and led to a massive refugee crisis, the independent country of South Sudan emerged in 2011.

By 2012 South Sudan was affiliated with the African Football Confederation (CAF). It is presently involved in ongoing qualification efforts for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

So how might this work with ISIS? First, a little background…

For purposes of international competition, FIFA (the governing body of world football) has divided the world up into 6 confederations representing the various parts of the globe. They include the African Confederation (CAF), the confederation representing North and Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), the confederation representing South America (CONMEBOL), the confederation representing Europe (UEFA)(which includes Russia despite it’s majority-Asian landmass, and Israel which is physically outside of Europe), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC)(which includes Asian nations south of Russia, bounded in the west by the Arabian peninsula and in the East by China, and that also includes Japan, Australia, and Indonesia), and the Oceana confederation, which is the smallest confederation and is made up of 11 Pacific Island Nations (most prominently New Zealand). International competitive football takes place under the supervision FIFA and its various conferences. Nations earn the right to compete in the World Cup, which is held every four years, through succeeding in their conference’s World Cup qualifying tournament.

What would the Islamic State need to do to enter into world football?

First, it would need to establish a governing body for football within the Islamic State. Once a hypothetical Islamic State Football Association (ISFA) was established, it could then begin the process of seeking membership in FIFA. That would likely occur via an application for membership in FIFA’s Asian Football Conference (AFC). The statutes governing membership in the AFC provide that “[a]ny Football Association which is responsible for governing and supervising football in all of its forms in its country or territory may become a Member Association.”

In this way, subject to FIFA and/or AFC approval, ISIS could begin participating in world football very quickly. It took South Sudan one year.

For now, world football is likely safe. ISIS has demonstrated no interest in fielding a football team. In fact, its attitude toward the beautiful game and football fans has been anything but benevolent. It has been reported that ISIS has directed severe punishment for individuals seen even wearing football jerseys.

Nevertheless, international prestige is measured using a variety of different yardsticks. Success in world football is one of them. If baseball is America’s pastime, football is the world’s obsession. The longer ISIS exists, the more likely it is you will see a team wearing ISIS jerseys in world football competition.