Occitania are one of the most regular and long-standing non-FIFA international teams. Having competed pretty consistently since 2005, they have been around for a while and have had quite a lot of success. They were originally formed to preserve the medieval language of Occitan which is spoken in areas of Italy, France and Spain.
They’ve competed in four of the five VIVA World Cups and were an NF Board member before also becoming a member of ConIFA. They will feature in this summer’s ConIFA World Football Cup in Ostersund, Sweden and have a good chance of doing well.
They finished third twice in the VIVA World Cup, finished fifth in both Europeada tournaments and most recently won last year’s Tynwald Hill Tournament, beating Sealand, Tamil Eeelam and St Johns United on the way. From what I can see, their last game was a 7-1 win over Galicia in December and come into the World Football Cup full of confidence and experience.
I’d like to thank Occitania captain Boris Massare, who plays in the Danish second division, for helping out immensely in getting hold of this shirt. It is their home shirt which was worn in the 2009 VIVA World Cup in Padania. Boris himself is a very interesting character having hitch-hiked to the VIVA World Cup in Kurdistan as well as the Tynwald Hill Tournament. He then proceeded to sleep on the beach in the Isle of Man!
The shirt itself is very striking with the tartan like design and is obviously a bit more special having been match worn and featuring my favourite number on the back. I’ll be cheering Boris and his team-mates on in Sweden!
No FIFA? No Problem! 