It is a place that is mostly covered in ice and has a population of about 60,000 people.
People spend their time skiing and playing a lot of winter sports. Whale watching is one of ways to pass the time and people just live life in a place that many people rarely hear or read about.
The place is Greenland, an autonomous country in the Kingdom of Denmark, and its 4,000 registered footballers get to play football three months out of the year.
There is a national stadium in the capital (Nuuk) that has artificial turf and there are eight teams that participate in the domestic league known as the Greenlandic Football Championship.
Nukannquag Zeeb, captain of Greenland’s national team, is a teacher and a musician.
It is normal for footballers to have more than one occupation in a place where professional football is non-existent.
Yet it is admirable to see the Greenlandic football players step on the pitch because they are not motivated by money, they are motivated to play the sport they love.
Nukannquag is an avid supporter of Spanish giants Barcelona and he supports Iceland in international football tournaments. He last played for Greenland over one year ago and these days he says he is concentrating more on futsal.
He spends his time skiing, hunting, sailing, or riding around in his snowmobile. But he also loves football and hopes to see the day when Greenland becomes a member of FIFA.
“It is my biggest dream,” Nukannquag said. “If Gibraltar can get FIFA membership, then it is possible for Greenland too.”
Progress has been made over the years in Greenland and with the addition of FIFA-approved artificial turf pitches, it would be wrong to ignore Greenland’s campaign for FIFA membership.
The next step involves getting the funding to build covered stadiums in Greenland and maybe, this might be the last step in helping Greenland secure a future FIFA membership.
It is normal for football supporters in Greenland to support other national teams during international tournaments.
But the Greenlandic footballers hope to make their fans proud one day by stepping onto the pitch to participate in World Cup qualification.
This article was originally published on Nationsleaguefootball.wordpress.com
