Country Banned from World Cup Despite Being Larger Than UK

An African country larger than the United Kingdom has been banned from competing at the World Cup.

Next summer’s tournament will feature 48 countries and will be jointly hosted by the United States of America, Canada, Mexico.

So far, 28 sides have already secured qualification, with England the only European country to have guaranteed their place.

Other home nations Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland still have a chance of making it, but will likely need to go through the play-offs.

In Africa, Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia have all secured qualification automatically.

While Cameroon, DR Congo, Gabon and Nigeria will battle it out in two semi-finals and a final next month for the continent’s final spot.

But one African territory that will not be heading to the World Cup is Western Sahara.

The region is a non-self-governing territory, defined by the United Nations as a territory “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government.”

It has been described as Africa’s last colony, with Spain ruling it until 1976, when it attempted to transfer administration to Morocco and Mauritania.

Roughly 70% of the region is occupied by Morocco and the remaining 30% is controlled by the Polisario Front, a nationalist movement demanding independence from Morocco.

Western Sahara covers a huge stretch of North-West Africa, with a total area of 272,000 km2, compared to the UK at 244,376 km2.

But it is far more sparsely populated, with a population of approximately 560,000, while the UK is home to an estimated 69 million people.

Western Sahara have their own football team, run by the Sahrawi Football Federation.

But because they are not a member of CAF or FIFA, the team cannot compete in World Cup qualifiers or the tournament itself.

Instead, Western Sahara are members of World Unity Football Allegiance, an international body for football teams not affiliated with FIFA.

WUFA only has 19 members, including the Chagos Islands, Yorkshire and Kashmir.

The long-running territorial dispute over Western Sahara has even found itself in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

ADVERTISEMENT

In February, Cas upheld an appeal by the Algerian Football Federation after Moroccan club RS Berkane were allowed to wear a kit showing an extended map of the country.

The Confederation of African Football approved the design, despite the map including the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

It caused a row that led to both games between RS Berkane and Algeria’s USM Alger being called off.