Team Tibet to tour Europe again

I have a soft spot for minnows, especially in the international game. Unless they’re playing Scotland, I always like to see a good result from the likes of the Faroe Islands or Kazakhstan. Montenegro over Norway this week? Yeah, that was awesome. But as small as those national teams are, at least they have a country to call home. The Tibetan national football team is not so lucky.

The 23-member squad is made up of exiles who represent a country the world doesn’t even recognize as existing. Still, along with playing other non-recognized nations like Gibraltar and Crimea, they have managed to play two matches against real live FIFA teams, Bhutan and Tajikistan, as well as one against a recognized club, 2. Bundesliga’s FC St. Pauli. They lost all three of those matches without scoring a goal, but it’s the thought that counts. They did manage to get their first win late last year, over a Delhi XI side in India, 6-0.

Just a side note. Their record notwithstanding, “The Forbiddens” is probably the coolest team nickname in all of sports.

Now, with the Beijing Olympics on the horizon, and renewed calls for Olympic boycotts in the wake of the recent violence in Tibet, the team is heading to Europe for a tour. Their last trip was in 2006, when they came to Germany for the FIFI Wild Cup, a tournament for similarly unrecognized nations. Now, from April 15 through May 19, they’ll be back in Europe. A match schedule has not yet been published, but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about the tour as it gets closer, especially as the struggles in Tibet continue and we wait to see whether any Olympic nations will go through with a boycott. (NOTE: Belgium is apparently considering a boycott, and Poland announced this week that they would boycott the opening ceremonies, but not the games themselves.)

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football