# Provence football team

The Provence football team is the football team for the French territory of Provence. The team does not have affiliation with UEFA or FIFA, but is an affiliate member of the NF-Board since December 2008. It occasionally participates in international competitions, such as the Viva World Cup, finished fourth in 2009 and 2012.

## History

The Provence football team played its first matches against Catalonia on 3 and 4 April 1921, which ended in losses.
After years of uncertainty and rumours of a reformation in the 1960s, the team was relaunched in 2006, and it played its first matches since 1921 at the 2008 Viva World Cup, in Gällivare, Sweden, where they finished in the last place after losing all of their matches against Padania, Kurdistan, Assyrians (under the Aramean label), and Sápmi. After a losing streak of six games, the team finally claimed their first-ever win in a friendly match against Monaco (3–2). Three further participations followed in 2009, 2010, and 2012. Provence finished fourth in 2009, following a defeat in penalty shootouts to Sápmi in the match for third place.
Since then, the national team has been taken over by Philippe Burgio, and the former Valencia player revamped the team by calling up several players that he had trained when he was Olympique de Marseille's youth coach, who in 2012, were playing in the fourth to seventh French divisions. On 12 April 2012, the Provençal team played against EUGA Ardziv [oc], intended to develop cohesion and create a team spirit around the project of Thierry Marcadé, President of the APF, which consists in making a good performance in the upcoming VIVA World Cup. With Burgio at the helm, they surprised many by finishing above Northern Cyprus in the group-stages, eventually losing to hosts Kurdistan in the semi-finals. lost in the semifinals of the 2012 edition to Kurdistan, and then lost the third-place match to Zanzibar (2–7).
In June 2013, the Provençale Association, in partnership with the Partners Sports International (PSI), organized the first edition of the International Tournament of Peoples, Cultures and Tribes, which took place between 22 June and 29 June 2013 in Marseille. In order to prepare itself for the tournament, Provence played a warm-up match against FC Sète 34 on 31 May, which presented themselves with a large group of 20 players including 7 on trial; trailing 2–1 at half-time, Provence was able to develop its collective game in the second half to win the game 3–2. In the tournament, Provence faced several teams, including Quebec, led by former Montreal Impact player Patrick Leduc, and reached the final, where they faced the reigning champions of the Viva World Cup, but ultimately losing 0–1.

## Notable players

* Samir Abbès - played professionally in Algeria

## Tournament records
### VIVA World Cup record

VIVA World Cup :
| Year | Pos | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
| 2006 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2008 | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | –18 |
| 2009 | 4th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | –12 |
| 2010 | 6th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | –6 |
| 2012 | 4th | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 23 | –10 |
| Total | 4th place | 5 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 38 | –46 |