N.F.-Board

The N.F.-Board (NFB) is a federation for football associations established on 12 December 2003. The NFB is made up of teams that represent nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, regions and micronations not affiliated to FIFA.

One of the founders was Luc Misson, a lawyer who represented Belgian footballer Jean-Marc Bosman in a case that led to the Bosman ruling.

History

Foundation

The N.F.-Board was founded on 12 December 2003.

Controversies

In 2006, the first VIVA World Cup was initially planned in Northern Cyprus after validation of a reconnaissance visit by the management of the N.F.-Board, political changes took place in the meantime in this territory, with repercussions on the Federation of Northern Cyprus football. Northern Cyprus no longer admits to receiving certain football associations, the Emergency Committee of the N.F.-Board takes the decision to cancel the edition planned there and to transfer the competition to Hyères in France. In response, the Northern Cyprus Football Federation announced the organization of the ELF Cup and promised to pay the travel expenses of the participants, the competition will be won by the Northern Cyprus selection.

In 2010, the Monaco Football Association left the N.F.-Board. The captain of the selection at the time, Yohan Garino, explains: “For political reasons, we are not authorized by our government to play against certain teams. We also had some problems with the NF-Board which used photos of the Monaco Football Association and Prince Albert as advertising for their many matches without authorization. We were particularly disappointed by this last point which is very detrimental to us".

Fragmentation

During the Kurdistan 2012 VIVA World Cup, a large sum of money intended for the event disappeared. The Belgian tax authorities subsequently investigated. Disputes arose among the founders. At the 2013 Annual General Meeting in Munich, Christian Michelis, one of the founders of the N.F.-Board, resigned as president, but as there were still many financial irregularities in his presidency that needed investigation, the NFB did not accept. Michelis denied this, and the association subsequently suspended him. Thus, the organizational structure collapsed, and the association existed only on paper.

Swedish referee Per-Anders Blind, who also officiated at VIVA World Cup matches and attended the Annual General Meeting in Munich, was subsequently approached by various member associations to make a new football confederation. Blind, in response, founded the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CIFA; now CONIFA) in July 2013; and as the N.F.-Board can't seem to organise a tournament properly at the moment, they've been the new kings of the Non-FIFA scene ever since.

According to the NFB's own statements, it was reorganised in the summer of 2014, and in 2024, they made the claim that Michelis had reached out to Per-Anders Blind to approve of the creation of CONIFA, shortly after his resignation.

Plans for the 2014 VIVA World Cup fell through, first with Östersund in Sápmi, of whom had applied in 2010, however left for CONIFA; then with the Isle of Man who did so at an unknown time, however the NFB claimed to continue the application again for a "pseudo European Championship" in 2015; and finally with Tatarstan in 2013–2014, as Andrei Rudakov, the person they were discussing with to make the tournament, had been summoned for embezzlement, and a lack of time to organise a new tournament ''as'' the VIVA World Cup for that year.

Revival

On 6 May 2017, the N.F.-Board announced it's return, making the claim that they would be taking over leadership of the Non-FIFA scene once again. 2 weeks later, on 21 May, they announced the 2017 Euro Viva Cup, a 2018 Women's Viva World Cup, and announced the possibility of setting up a branch of the N.F.-Board called NFB-EUROPE, all in Vichy. One day later, they updated the countries' positions on the NFB's website, suspending most Associates and graduating the provisional associations to Associate, or suspending them, or even removing them entirely. On 6 December, however, the Vichy authorities had communicated that negotiations with the N.F.-Board had been interrupted for some time, and that no tournament would be held.

On 20 June 2023, the N.F.-Board moved their headquarters from Liège to Saint-Christophe-et-le-Laris.

Post-2023 VIVA World Cup announcements

On 1 February 2024, the N.F.-Board announced the 2025 Mixed Viva World Cup, which would have "both a mix of genres and a mix of rules of the game", and is said to be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, subdivisions of countries, and transnational/indigenous people. The cup is scheduled to run from June 20–29.

On 18 January 2025, they, once again, announced 2 new VIVA World Cups for 2026 and 2028, saying the 2026 VIVA World Cup would ''also'' be restricted to non-FIFA UN countries, 2028, to the non-FIFA islands and archipelagos. But, they refused to disclose more detail about the two new VIVA World Cups beyond that.

VIVA World Cup

N.F.-Board organized five and planned six VIVA World Cups, including the inaugural games in November 2006. As of 2012, the reigning champion is Kurdistan, and the runner up is Northern Cyprus national football team.
The events that were placed are as follows (striken-out events are cancelled, italicized ones are planned):
* 2006 Viva World Cup in Hyères, Occitania
* 2008 Viva World Cup in Gällivare, Sápmi
* 2009 Viva World Cup in Padania (Varese, Novara, Brescia, and Verona)
* 2010 Viva World Cup in Gozo (Xewkija, and Sannat)
* 2012 Viva World Cup in Kurdistan (Erbil, Salahaddin, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok)
* 2014 Viva World Cup in Kazan, Tatarstan

* 2017 Viva World Cup in Vichy, France
*'' 2025 Viva World Cup in Drôme de Collines, France''
*'' 2026 Viva World Cup in TBD''
*'' 2028 Viva World Cup in TBD''

They also hosted woman editions in 2008 and 2010 in the same locations as the men's tournament.

Members of the NF-Board

''Source of member list
[5]
'

The members in bold competed in at least one Viva World Cup">]">[5]
'

The members in bold competed in at least one Viva World Cup.

The members in ''italic'' competed in one of the N.F.-Board's tournaments for women.

* means a member has an association, but currently, does not have a team.

Leadership

Executive Committee

Presidents

Founders

See also

* Non-FIFA international football
* Confederation of Independent Football Associations

External links

*

nfbviva
on Twitter (possibl
NF___Board
too?)
*
*

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nf Board
N.F.-Board
Association football governing bodies
Football governing bodies in France
Sports organizations established in 2003