Concacaf rejects Greenland's application for membership

New York Times

4 hours ago

Greenland is being left in the footballing cold.
Concacaf announced on Monday that the application for membership that was submitted by the Greenlandic Football Association (KAK, an acronym in the native language) has been unanimously rejected. No further details were provided. The announcement came after Concacaf held its 28th extraordinary congress in Miami ahead of the Gold Cup, which begins on June 14.
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In a statement to The Athletic provided by KAK president Kenneth Kleist, he criticized Concacaf's decision.
'We have received a brief letter from General Secretary Philippe Moggio with a rejection of our application to join Concacaf as the 42nd member,' Kleist said in the statement. 'We will use the next 24 hours to evaluate our situation and discuss internally how we will process the decision – but for now we will state, that this is not a victory for football democracy, it does not make football accessible to everyone globally, and it shows that smaller nations are facing extreme difficulties in getting permission to play under their own flag.'
Concacaf did not immediately respond to a request for comment. KAK plans to provide further details about its next steps in the coming days. But this is without a doubt a major blow to Greenland's hopes of being recognized as a member of FIFA. In February, Kleist told The Athletic that a rejection from Concacaf would be a significant setback.
Had Concacaf approved Greenland's application, Greenland would be eligible to participate in the confederation's official tournaments. As it stands, Greenland will continue as a non-Concacaf and non-FIFA member, which does not allow KAK to qualify for youth or senior regional or FIFA World Cup tournaments. Kleist said that KAK did not have plans to apply to join any other confederations.
In February, Kleist said that a negative response from Concacaf would force KAK to continue building relationships with the Danish and Icelandic football federations, regarding youth and senior level friendlies, because 'we don't have a chance with the UEFA.'
'The long term goal for Greenland is to be a member of FIFA, to be recognized as a football nation and to be a part of Concacaf in the sense that we play against the Caribbean Football nations and play in World (Cup) qualification matches,' Kleist said at the time. 'And I'd like clubs in Greenland to have the possibility to play against other clubs, as well. But the meeting with Concacaf is going to be a big part of that because if they're telling us just to back off and that they don't need us, it's going to be … very bad for us.'
Greenland's national team head coach, Morten Rutkjær, expressed in February that joining Concacaf would give his players, and future generations in Greenland, something to play for.
'It'll give meaning to training a lot, to staying in shape,' Rutkjær said. 'Right now they have nothing to look forward to. So for us, it's very important. It's also important to be a member of Concacaf because the small children will have something to dream about, to maybe be part of the national team and play against all of those countries. There's enormous meaning for us to be a part of Concacaf.'
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From a logistical and infrastructural point of view, Greenland's hopes of being accepted as a Concacaf member were a difficult sell. Greenland is the largest island in the world and it is part of North America. That status has recently led to geopolitical strains with the U.S. and the Trump administration.
When Trump told reporters in January he planned to buy Greenland, and claimed that the Greenlandic people wanted to be part of the U.S., it thrust KAK's application into a political arena that it did not intend to confront. Kleist was asked if the political situation had hindered KAK's application in any way.
'It's very difficult to answer that, because I think, in some ways, it's hurting our case a little bit, because there are so many journalists in the football world asking Concacaf and us about Trump,' Kleist said in February. 'But in the big picture, I think it's good for us because everybody's talking about what's next for Greenland.'
What's next for Greenland from a football perspective now is unknown. Any hope that Greenlanders had of playing official matches and potentially becoming both a Concacaf and FIFA member have been put on ice – perhaps, permanently.
'To join Concacaf, it would mean very much for me and the whole of Greenland and to Greenland's football,' national team winger Søren Kreutzmann previously told The Athletic. 'We can bring experiences and develop football all over Greenland, and many more possibilities.'