ELF Cup

Infobox International Football Competition
tourney_name =
year = 2006


size = 200px
caption = Official Logo
country = Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
dates = 19 November – 25 November
num_teams = 8
confederations =
venues = 1
cities = 1
champion = Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
count = 1
second = Crimea
third = KGZ
fourth = Zanzibar
matches = 16
goals = 62
attendance =
top_scorer = flagicon|TRNC Ertaç Taşkıran
6 goals
player =
updated =The ELF Cup ("Equality, Liberty, Fraternity") is an international football tournament organised by the KTFF, a member of the NF-Board. Among the participants are fellow NF-Board teams, and - in the inaugural 2006 tournament - FIFA member teams from the Asian Football Confederation.

ELF Cup 2006

The Inaugural Tournament

The 2006 ELF Cup took place in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus between November 19 and 25. Initially announced for non-FIFA teams only, the 2006 tournament also found places for three teams from the Asian Football Confederation - Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. However, under pressure from FIFA [cite web | title=Afghanistan has withdrawn from the tournament| work=Official ELF Cup website | url=http://www.elfcup.org/index.php?tpl=news_single&newsid=14| accessdate=November 14| accessyear=2006 ] , Afghanistan withdrew from the tournament and was replaced by Gǎgǎuzia. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sent representatives from their futsal national teams.Fact|date=February 2007

Controversy

insisted on restricting which nations could and could not take part. The KTFF, however, claim that the NF-Board made unreasonable financial demands. [cite news
first =
last =
author = Steve Menary
coauthors =
title = Worlds apart
url =
format =
work = World Soccer Magazine
publisher =
pages =
page = 105
date = October 2006
accessdate =
language = ]

In response, the KTFF announced that the ELF Cup would be held at the same time as the VIVA World Cup, and have promised to pay travelling expenses to the participants, which has attracted some NF-Board members. The KTFF hope that the tournament will bring Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus further into the international arena. [cite web | title=The alternative World Cup| work=BBC Online | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6107012.stm| accessdate=November 7| accessyear=2006 ]

Competitors

fb|Crimea - representing the Crimeans, the indigenous people of the Crimea, an autonomous region of Ukraine.

fb|Gagauzia - an autonomous region of Moldova.

fb|Greenland - an autonomous region of Denmark, and nominally under the control of the Danish Football Association and is a NF-Board member.

fb|Kyrgyzstan - a member of the AFC and FIFA, represented here by their futsal team.

fb|Tajikistan - a member of the AFC and FIFA, represented here by their futsal team.

fb|Tibet - an autonomous region of China, fiercely independent in exile and is a NF-Board member.

fb|Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - the hosts, an internationally-unrecognised state and is a NF-Board member.

fb|Zanzibar - historically a part of Tanzania, but with membership of the CAF and of the NF-Board, represented here by their under-20 national team.

Results

The eight participants were drawn into two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stage. For details of the squads, see 2006 ELF Cup Squads.

Group A

Golden Team

corers

;6 goals

*flagicon|TRNC Ertaç Taşkıran

;5 goals

*flagicon|TRNC Hamis Çakır

;4 goals

*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Ulan Riskulov

;3 goals

*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Jenish Mamatov
*flagicon|Tajikistan Daler Aknazarov
*flagicon|TRNC Kemal Uçaner
*flagicon|TRNC Ediz Çukurovalı
*flagicon|Zanzibar Muhammed Seif Muhammed

;2 goals

*flagicon|Gagauzia Piotr Marcov
*flagicon|Crimea|football Marlen Akimov
*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Mihail Sundeev
*flagicon|TRNC Derviş Kolcu
*flagicon|TRNC Sabri Selden
*flagicon|TRNC Coşkun Ulusoy

;1 goal

*flagicon|Crimea|football İrfan Ametov
*flagicon|Crimea|football Ablâmetov Arsen
*flagicon|Crimea|football Ebubekirov Fevziy
*flagicon|Crimea|football Halil Hayredinov
*flagicon|Crimea|football Emiratlı Ruslan
*flagicon|Gagauzia Denis Ceavdari
*flagicon|Greenland Niklas Kreutzmann
*flagicon|Greenland Pelle Mortensen
*flagicon|Greenland Kristian Sandgreen
*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Mustafayev Arsen
*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Dilshat Kadyrov
*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Vadim Kondratkov
*flagicon|Kyrgyzstan Sundeev Mihail
*flagicon|Tajikistan Sergey Almukhamedov

*flagicon|Tajikistan Firdavs Faizullaev
*flagicon|TRNC Atkun Arıkbuka
*flagicon|TRNC Yasin Kansu
*flagicon|TRNC Ekrem Keleşzade
*flagicon|TRNC Hasan Sapsızoğlu
*flagicon|Zanzibar Rajab Rashid Omar
*flagicon|Zanzibar Suleiman Kassim Suleiman

;Own goals
*flagicon|Crimea|football Rizvan Abıltarov (playing against TRNC)

Trivia

* All the matches are played with Adidas Teamgeist balls.

Notes

ee also

*Non-FIFA football
*VIVA World Cup
*FIFI Wild Cup

External links

* [http://www.elfcup.org/ Official site]
* [http://www.kibrisgazetesi.com/popup.php/cat/8/news/34095/PageName/Spor ELF Cup kicks off]
* [http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Tibet+National+Football+Team+to+participate+in+ELF+Cup&id=14702 News about the Tibetan team]
* [http://www.elfcup.org/index.php?men=54&submen=54 Pictures from the tournament]