A huge thank you to @MontserratFooty (X) for helping research this thread and to @OliverPaoloWHU (X) for letting us use some of his pictures from the island.
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10/10 - Clash with India? 🇮🇳
On our podcast, we called for a match between the smallest and biggest FIFA nations - Montserrat and India. Montserrat governor Harriet Cross endorsed the challenge!
A listener has even updated the Wikipedia page for the Montserrat national team 😅
9/10 - Facebook adverts 📱
Lee Bowyer became Montserrat coach in September 2023. It wasn’t publicly announced; it was discovered via pics on social media.
Montserrat have now turned to social media again to find a new coach. But for those tempted to apply, the deadline passed on 17 April.
8/10 - Famous faces ⭐️
Montserrat have fielded some well-known players over the years. Spurs' Ruel Fox picked himself while head coach. Bruce Dyer, England’s first £1 million-teenager, played a friendly.
More recently, former Nottingham Forest striker Lyle Taylor has led the line for Montserrat.
7/10 - Rapid rise and bad luck 🍀
Montserrat saw a dramatic upturn with the arrival of Scottish coach Willie Donachie and a pivot towards diaspora talent.
They won 3 of 4 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers - but didn't make it after Barbados fielded an ineligible player, gifting Guyana a 3-0 win.
6/10 - First FIFA victory ✅
Montserrat secured their first victory as a FIFA member in some style when they beat the British Virgin Islands 7-0 on 9 September 2012.
The game was part of 2012 Caribbean Cup qualification. But Montserrat lost their other games to Suriname (7-1) and Martinique (5-0).
5/10 - The Other Final 🏆
In 2002, a Dutch film-maker organised an alternative World Cup final for the two lowest teams in FIFA’s Rankings - Bhutan and Montserrat.
Incidentally 2002 was the first World Cup Montserrat entered, losing 6-1 to the Dominican Republic on aggregate in qualifying.
4/10 - Tourist on the team 👕
A college student on holiday in Montserrat once ended up playing for their national team v. Antigua.
It is said Alvin Poteen was visiting Montserrat, where his father was born, spotted the team training & asked to join in. He was so good coach Kenneth Dyer picked him.
3/10 - Playing Network Rail 🚂
In May 2012, Montserrat played an unlikely friendly against a Network Rail XI - the company who run most of Great Britain’s railways.
The game was brokered by the brother of Montserrat coach Kenneth Dyer, Lloyd, who was an engineer for Network Rail. It ended 4-4!
2/10 - No domestic league ❌
Montserrat is one of very few FIFA members with no domestic league.
There's been a Montserrat Championship on and off since 1974, but for many years details are scarce.
Teams include Jolly Roger, Montserrat Volcano Observatory Tremors and Royal Montserrat Police.
1/10 - Smallest population 🌎
Home to only 4,300 people, Montserrat is the smallest of FIFA’s 211 members.
But the on-island population doesn’t tell the full story. Due to a 1997 volcano eruption, many people left.
The diaspora in the UK alone is estimated to be double the on-island population.
🇲🇸 The island of Montserrat, the smallest of FIFA's 211 members, is advertising on Facebook for its first-ever full-time coach to lead the national team.
From cap-winning holidaymakers to friendlies against railway companies, here are 10 fun facts about football on Montserrat.
THREAD 🧵
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8/8 - Total dominance 👑
To illustrate that last point, Víkingur Gøta have three teams in the top three divisions - and they almost completed a clean sweep back in 2024!
The Víkingur first team were Faroese champions & the reserves won the second tier, but the third team were third-tier runners-up.
7/8 - B teams galore 🅱️
The Faroes have a football pyramid of four divisions containing 50 teams! With 55,000 people, that means there is almost one team per 1,000!
But they are not all individual clubs, with many reserves: In fact, 5 of the 10 teams currently in the second division are B teams!
6/10 - European trailblazers 👩
Bundesliga club Union Berlin have recently made headlines by appointing female coach Marie-Louise Eta, but did you know that Faroe Islands club TB were pioneers?
In 2021 they appointed Helen Nkwocha - the first woman to manage a top-tier men's team in Europe.
5/10 - Special free-kick rule 🌬️
The windswept Faroes are so exposed - no point is over 5km from the sea - that FIFA has introduced a rule for the archipelago.
When a set-piece is awarded, a team-mate may hold onto the ball so the wind does not blow it away during the run-up, according to fifa.com.
4/10 - Remote derbies 🏝️
One of the most remote derbies in Europe takes place on the southern island of Suðuroy between second-tier TB and Suðuroy.
They are a two-hour ferry journey away from the rest of the country, but the government already has plans to expand its undersea tunnel network.
3/8 - Undersea tunnels 🌊
There are many ways to travel to a game but the trip for fans of the Tórshavn clubs to B68 on neighbouring Eysturoy is unique.
They would take the 11.2km tunnel connecting the islands, which is up to 189m under the water & features the world's first undersea roundabout.
2/8 - Frozen pizza salesman 🍕
Among the top scorers this term is Árni Frederiksberg, who plays for reigning champions KÍ Klaksvík and has three goals to his name.
Frederiksberg, the star of the show in the 2023/24 UEFA Conference League, combines football with a day job as a frozen pizza salesman.
1/8 - A unique ground share 🏟️
Ground shares are not uncommon, but the stadium shared by rivals HB & B36 in the capital city of Tórshavn is relatively unique.
The 5,000-capacity Gundadalur Stadium has two stands side by side - each of which bears the name & colours of one of the teams.
🇫🇴 Cut adrift in the North Atlantic & with 300 days of rain per year, the Faroe Islands might not seem the ideal location for football.
But the country, whose season got under way last month, is one of the most unique in Europe. Here are eight things you should know.
THREAD 🧵
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And check out our pod. Episodes come out every Tuesday with content you won't find anywhere else, and can be found in all the usual places.
8/8 - The caveat ⚠️
The FIFA Rankings are of course flawed and not good for comparing teams from different confederations.
The Worst World Cup is just a bit of fun and we needed a framework to decide who to invite.
Would you like to see it? And who do you think would win?
7/8 - Possible hosts 🏟️
How about a European bid with games in San Marino, Gibraltar, Andorra & Liechtenstein?
Or host it in the Caribbean between the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Anguilla, and the Turks and Caicos Islands?
6/8 - Outsiders ⛔️
San Marino are the outsiders per the rankings, but they have improved vastly recently.
Anguilla and the two Virgin Islands (US and British) sit alongside San Marino but American Samoa's recent FIFA Series defeats suggest they and Tonga may suffer against other confederations.
5/8 - Dark horses 🐎
Teams can suffer in the World Rankings due to a competitive confederation; others are at a low ebb or have unfulfilled potential.
In Asia, Cambodia & Bangladesh could make a splash, while South Sudan can upset the odds.
After FIFA Series heroics, Aruba may fancy their chances.
4/8 - The favourites 🙌
Technically, at 164 in the World Rankings (48th from bottom), Cuba are favourites.
Eswatini (47th lowest) would be second favourites on paper, but in reality hold one of international football’s longest winless streaks of 22 games.
3/8 - Participants by continental confederation 🌍
AFC: 15 🇵🇰🇬🇺🇹🇱🇲🇴🇧🇳🇱🇰🇲🇳🇧🇹🇱🇦🇧🇩🇰🇭🇳🇵🇹🇼🇲🇻🇦🇫
CONCACAF: 15 🇦🇮🇻🇮🇻🇬🇧🇸🇹🇨🇰🇾🇦🇼🇩🇲🇧🇿🇧🇧🇲🇸🇻🇨🇱🇨🇧🇲 🇨🇺
CAF: 9 🇸🇨🇸🇴🇩🇯🇸🇹🇪🇷🇹🇩🇲🇺🇸🇸🇸🇿
OFC: 5 🇹🇴🇦🇸🇼🇸🇨🇰🇵🇬
UEFA: 4 🇸🇲🇱🇮🇬🇮🇦🇩
CONMEBOL: None - the lowest ranked South American team (76) are Bolivia.
2/8 - The qualifiers ✅
As per the current FIFA rankings, the 48 countries would be: 🇸🇲🇦🇮🇻🇮🇻🇬🇧🇸🇱🇮🇹🇨🇸🇨🇬🇮🇵🇰🇬🇺🇹🇱🇹🇴🇸🇴🇩🇯🇸🇹🇰🇾🇲🇴🇧🇳🇦🇸🇱🇰🇼🇸🇦🇼🇨🇰🇲🇳🇧🇹🇱🇦🇪🇷🇹🇩🇩🇲🇧🇩🇧🇿🇧🇧🇲🇺🇰🇭🇳🇵🇲🇸🇹🇼🇦🇩🇲🇻🇻🇨🇸🇸🇦🇫🇵🇬🇱🇨🇧🇲🇸🇿🇨🇺