List of men's national association football teams
This is a list of the men's national association football teams in the world. There are more nations with football teams than for any other sport, with teams representing 191 of the 193 UN member states, as well as several dependent territories, sub-national entities, and states who are not members of the United Nations. This list divides teams into two main groups: This list excludes other teams, which generally play outside FIFA's recognition. Excluded teams include those who represent ethnic groups, sub-national entities, separatist movements, and pseudo- or  micro-nations. Members of FIFA affiliated confederations. This section lists the current: FIFA members are eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup and matches between them are recognized as official international matches. Based on their match results over the previous four-year period, the FIFA World Rankings, published monthly by FIFA, compare the relative strengths of the national teams. Some national teams who are members of a confederation but not FIFA members compete in confederation-level and subregional tournaments. These teams, however, are not allowed to participate in the World Cup. The six confederations are: FIFA runs the World Cup  as a tournament for national teams to find the world champion. Each confederation also runs its own championship to find the best team from among its members: The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) contains Arab League member nations outside of the confederations structure. All 22 national governing bodies that form UAFA are also members of both FIFA and either the AFC or CAF. National teams from UAFA member countries are noted in the list below. The Arab Cup is the top championship tournament for national teams, organized historically by UAFA and by FIFA in 2021. The Confederation of Independent  Football Associations (ConIFA) is an organization for teams representing unrecognised states, subnational regions, and stateless minorities, as well as teams from recognised states that have not managed to gain entry into FIFA. ConIFA is a successor to the Nouvelle Fédération-Board (N.F.-Board), which also organized tournaments for non-FIFA member teams. While none of the current ConIFA members are also members of FIFA, a few hold associate membership in one of the confederations affiliated with it. These teams are also noted in the list below. The ConIFA World Football Cup is the top tournament for ConIFA member nations. AFC (Asia ). Due to the geographical size of Asia, the AFC is subdivided into five sub-federations: CAF (Africa). Due to the geographical size of Africa, CAF is divided into five regional federations: CONCACAF (North, Central America, and the Caribbean). The CONCACAF federation is divided into three regional federations that have responsibility for part of the region's geographical area: National teams not affiliated to FIFA confederations. The national football teams included in this section are not members of FIFA, or of any of its affiliated continental confederations. The teams are not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or any continental  confederation championships. FIFA's statutes do not allow member teams to compete against these sides without FIFA's prior permission. Several national associations for teams included in this section are members of ConIFA; these are indicated in the lists below. This section lists: Unaffiliated United Nations states. Seven United Nations member and observer states are not members of FIFA or any confederation. Five of them, however, have fielded national association-organised teams in unofficial friendly matches or in tournaments held outside the auspices of FIFA. These teams are listed below. Two other UN member states (the Marshall Islands and Nauru ) have never fielded a national association-organised football team, though there are reports that amateur football teams claiming to represent the latter have participated in local friendly matches on at least two occasions. Unaffiliated non-UN states. Three states with limited international recognition and no UN membership are members of both FIFA and an affiliated confederation: the Republic of China (as Chinese Taipei), Kosovo, and Palestine. The Cook Islands is an associated state with no UN membership, but it is a member of both FIFA and the OFC. These states are all listed above. A further eight associated, de facto , or partially recognized states with no UN membership have fielded football teams in non-FIFA football tournaments or unsanctioned friendly matches. None of these states, however, are currently members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Others. Membership criteria of FIFA and affiliated confederations. Historically, the majority of FIFA and confederation members have been sovereign states with wide diplomatic recognition. Exceptions to this rule have included the British Home Nations (due to their seminal role in the development of football), Palestine (accepted into FIFA after the creation of the Palestinian National Authority), the Republic of China (which does  not enjoy wide recognition but is still accepted as representative of the Taiwan area), and certain dependent territories, autonomous areas, and protectorates which, on the grounds of their political autonomy, separate status, and/or distance from their parent state, have been allowed to hold membership in FIFA and/or one of its affiliated confederations. At present, FIFA members include 23 subnational and dependent territories, as well as three states with limited international recognition. A further nine overseas, dependent, and autonomous territories with close ties to a sovereign state do not have membership in FIFA, but are members of one of its affiliated  confederations (either in a full or associate capacity). In 2016, FIFA made changes to its statutes to define 'country' as "an independent state recognized by the international community". The statutes further specify that a non-independent region can become a member with the authorization of the national association of the country where it is located. In 2011, UEFA had already changed its statutes so that only countries recognised as independent states by the United Nations could join the organization. Nonetheless, the associations of Kosovo (a state with limited recognition whose sovereignty is disputed by Serbia) and Gibraltar (a British dependent  territory claimed by Spain), neither of whom have separate UN membership, were accepted into both FIFA and UEFA in 2016. Conversely, the application of the British crown dependency of Jersey to join UEFA was rejected in 2018, on the grounds of it not being a sovereign country as defined by the UN. Recently, FIFA and its affiliated confederations have rejected or rescinded membership for non-sovereign territories arguing that they cannot include more than one football association from the same country. For example, CAF rescinded Zanzibar's full membership (which had been approved only months before) in 2017 on  the grounds that football in Zanzibar is under the auspices of the Tanzanian federation. In 2019, FIFA used a similar argument to reject Bonaire's bid to join as a football association separate from the Netherlands, despite Bonaire being a full CONCACAF member in its own right. Separatist, subnational, and ethnic teams. Beyond this list, a variety of teams representing dependent territories or national, separatist, sub-national, ethnic, and diaspora groups have been formed. These teams often play in international tournaments against each other, and in some cases in unsanctioned friendly games against FIFA members (for example, teams representing specific  Spanish autonomous communities). Some subnational and dependent territory teams with no FIFA membership participate in regional football tournaments against FIFA or UN member nations (for example, the Mayotte and Reunion teams at the Indian Ocean Island Games or individual Micronesian state teams at the Micronesian Games). The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), was founded with the aim of regularising non-FIFA international football, by having a two-year international tournament cycle, with the ConIFA World Football Cup in even numbered years, and continental tournaments in odd-numbered years. This developed the work of the now-defunct N.F.-Board (Nouvelle Fédération -Board), founded in 2001, which also organized football tournaments between FIFA-unrecognised teams. ConIFA aims to help unrecognised national teams gain recognition, but also to provide a platform for representative teams of regions or diasporas, which do not have a place in a system of international football based on nation-states. As of August 2021, 59 member associations from all over the world are affiliared with ConIFA. ConIFA is not the only body dedicated to organising football tournaments between non-FIFA national teams; other initiatives include the Island Games football tournament, the now-defunct Coupe de l'Outremer for French overseas  territories, and the CSANF competitions between (mostly) South American regional and ethnic communities, among others. Former national football teams. These national teams no longer exist due to the dissolution of the nation or territory that they represented. Only national teams that were once members of FIFA are listed below. New names. In addition to the above, other nations have been renamed: