Greenland football tries to come in from the cold

US vice-president J D Vance is visiting Greenland today, but he will not be watching a dog sled race or meeting any inhabitants.   They have made it clear that they don't want their ice bound island annexed by the United States.

Greenland have been trying since well before Trump’s proposed land grab to take part in internationals, making noises about becoming a recognised team since the 1990s. As a territory of Denmark (also true of the Faroe Islands), logic would suggest the confederation they would look towards is UEFA, but as even the most amateur cartographers will tell you, there is a geography issue there. Playing UEFA countries would involve a lot of long — and very expensive — journeys, probably all to get battered in every game they played.

In any case, the door to Europe was probably closed. These things can be flexible, but under UEFA’s statutes as they are currently written, they almost certainly would not be admitted as they are not enough of an independent state.

So instead, Greenland turned their attentions to the more proximate and manageable Concacaf, whose 41 members are, generally speaking, a little closer and of a slightly lower average quality, meaning it will be easier to compete. And, perhaps crucially, Concacaf’s criteria for who they allow in is not as stringent as UEFA’s. They can take some inspiration from somewhere like Curacao, the small island in the Caribbean Sea just north of Venezuela: technically part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which famously is in Europe, but they are part of Concacaf, broadly for geographical reasons.

While there have been noises for years, the process of Greenland becoming a recognised footballing nation began in earnest in 2020. That was when Morten Rutkjaer, former manager of B93 in his native Denmark, was appointed as their head coach.

Discussions continued with Concacaf until May 2024, when their application was formally submitted. There was an in-person meeting in February, and another is scheduled for April. “When they said they wanted to talk with us, it was like being world champions,” says Rutkjaer. Nothing has been decided yet, but there have been positive noises. “It’s small steps — but it’s big steps for Greenland.”

Rutkjaer says he has no opinion on whatever Trump has planned, but you do wonder whether it is a coincidence that since the president upped his rhetoric, Concacaf have been a little more proactive in their discussions with Greenland.

“I expect we will be the 42nd member of Concacaf,” says Rutkjaer. “Right now, I’m very positive for Greenlandic football.”

Ultimately this can all depend on where you are in the world. Article five of UEFA’s statutes says membership is limited to those ‘recognised as an independent state by the majority of members of the United Nations’, which has been a little elastic in the past (see: Gibraltar, who got in on a sort of technicality in 2016 after taking UEFA to the Court Of Arbitration for Sport), but is now rather more hardline. It is tricky to see any new UEFA members in the near future.