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ConiFA responded to the protest of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan in connection with the participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the World Cup of the unrecognized countries.

“In fact this is what ConIFA is all about: Giving unrepresented regions, people, minorities, nations and isolated territories the chance to represent them through football. Without judging on the political situation or the dependence or independence of Nagorno-Karabkah we will insist on our invitation, which we communicated to the AFFA (Azerbaijani Football Federation – ed.) in written form today,” the statement reads.

“The ConIFA World Football Cup and furthermore the ConIFA in general is about bridging the world and representing the unrepresented. It is a fact that Nagorno-Karabakh is self-controlled today and in particular, and this is one of the major facts for us, that the Artsakh Football Federation is neither a part of the AFFA nor any other FIFA member. This means that football in Nagorno-Karabakh is totally isolated from the world community and Nagorno-Karabakh players and clubs neither get the chance to enter any international matches nor play in international cups,” the statement reads.

The confederation believes that people from each angle of the world should have the chance to play international football and to represent their culture!

“Thus we were left with no choice but declining the request of AFFA. Nevertheless we hope that AFFA respects our decision and we want to point out again that this decision should not be understood as a political statement or an offense against AFFA, the Republic of Azerbaijan or the Azerbaijani people. We respect everyone equally regardless of his or her heritage, culture, religion or political views,” the ConiFA concludes.

Yesterday AFFA protested the ConiFA in connection with the planned participation of the football team of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the World Cup. ConiFA disseminated information about the first World Cup to be held from June 1 to 8, among the unrecognized countries. NKR team is also invited to participate in it.