The 2006 Viva World Cup was the first Viva World Cup, an association football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions unaffiliated with FIFA, which took place in Occitania from 20 November 2006 to 24 November 2006.

2006 VIVA World Cup
Tournament details
Host countryOccitania
Dates20–24 November
Teams4 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Sápmi (1st title)
Runners-up Monaco
Third place Occitania
Fourth place Southern Cameroons
Tournament statistics
Matches played8
Goals scored60 (7.5 per match)
Top scorer(s)Sápmi Eirik Lamøy
Sápmi Tom Høgli
Sápmi Steffen Nystrøm (6 goals)
2008

Tournament Background

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The Inaugural Tournament

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In April 2005, the NF-Board announced that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus had been chosen to host the inaugural VIVA World Cup, having successfully hosted a tournament to celebrate 50 years of the KTFF, the KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup, featuring fellow NF-Board member Sápmi and FIFA-unaffiliated Kosovo. The NF-Board hoped that sixteen teams would take part, drawn from across its membership.

Controversy

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In the Spring of 2005, a new government was elected in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, keen to foster relations with other nations. The NF-Board claimed that the government of Ferdi Sabit Soyer insisted on restricting which nations could and could not take part in order to head off potential political arguments. For their part, the KTFF claimed that the NF-Board made unreasonable financial demands.[1]

The upshot of this was that the NF-Board decided to grant the hosting rights for the tournament to Occitania. In response, the KTFF announced that they would hold their own tournament, the ELF Cup, scheduled for the same time as the VIVA World Cup. Some NF-Board members have accepted invitations to take part in the ELF Cup.

Occitania 2006

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Occitania announced that the tournament would still be held from 19–25 November 2006, with games played in and around Hyères les Palmiers, near Toulon. The number of entrants was downsized to eight, in anticipation of the ELF Cup - which agreed to pay expenses - drawing NF-Board members away from the VIVA World Cup. However, a lack of suitable competitors meant that the tournament was to include six teams: Monaco, the Roma, the Sápmi, Southern Cameroons, West Papua, and the hosts.

However, the failure of West Papua and Southern Cameroon to attend the NF-Board General Assembly in September 2006, and logistical problems facing the Roma,[2] threw new doubt on the tournament, which looked as though it may go ahead with just three teams. Fortunately, Southern Cameroons were able to agree to send a team, and four teams - twelve fewer than initially hoped for - were set to contest the title.

There were yet more problems for the organisers when Southern Cameroons were unable to take part because of visa problems, resulting in walkovers in all their games.

By the end of the week, Sápmi had triumphed, scoring 42 goals in their three games, and lifting the first VIVA World Cup trophy.

Squads

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For a list of all squads that appeared in the final tournament, see 2006 VIVA World Cup squads.

Results

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The four teams played a round-robin group stage, with the top two playing off for the title.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
  Sápmi 3 3 0 0 24 0 +24 9
  Monaco 3 2 0 1 6 16 –10 6
  Occitania 3 1 0 2 5 10 –5 3
  Southern Cameroons 3 0 0 3 0 9 –9 0

  Monaco3–0  Southern Cameroons
walkover[3]

  Occitania0–7  Sápmi
(Report) Høgli   22', 25'
Lamøy   38'
Nystrøm   49'
Råstad   57'
Nilssen   63'
Bruer   72'

  Sápmi3–0  Southern Cameroons
walkover

  Occitania2–3  Monaco
Léglise   51'
Rojas   72'
(Report) Lechner   20'
Platto   53'
Houry   59'

  Occitania3–0  Southern Cameroons
walkover

  Sápmi14–0  Monaco
Olsen   5', 17', 45', 50'
Nystrøm   12', 16', 23', 28'
Andersen   26'
Råstad   40'
Lamøy   57'
Bruer   66'
Høgli   77'
Johansen   83'
(Report)

Third place match

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  Occitania3–0  Southern Cameroons
walkover

Final

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  Sápmi21–1  Monaco
Olsen   5'
Høgli   7', 20', 40'
Lamøy   32', 39', 51', 55'
Nystrøm   35'
Råstad   38', 45' (pen.)
Bruer   59', 81'
Johansen   62', 65', 88'
Brekke   72' (pen.)
Nilssen   76', 78'
Minde   84'
Eira   87'
(Report) Armita   50'

2006 VIVA World Cup Winners
 
Sápmi
First Title

Scorers

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6 goals

Notes

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  1. ^ Steve Menary (October 2006). "Worlds apart". World Soccer Magazine. p. 105.
  2. ^ "The VIVA World Cup remains in question!". l'Associacion Occitana de Fotbòl official website (in Occitan). Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved October 30, 2006.
  3. ^ This result - and those of all of Southern Cameroons' matches - was declared a 3–0 walkover when Southern Cameroons were unable to show, due to visa problems
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