FUEN: Federal Union of European Nationalities

The championship, in which 24 men’s teams and for the first time also 6 women’s teams will participate, takes place from 18 until 26 June 2016 in the Pustertal and Badia Valleys in South Tyrol. There will be football matches in Niederdorf, Olang, Al Plan de Mareo / St. Vigil in Enneberg, San Martin de Tor / St. Martin in Thurn, Pfalzen, Mühlwald, Sand in Taufers and Ahrntal. 

Six minorities will both compete in the women’s and in the men’s tournament: the South Tyroleans and the Ladins from Italy, the Lusatian Sorbs from Germany, the Occitans from France, the Romansh from Switzerland and the Germans in Russia. Furthermore the are the following men’s teams: the Germans in Denmark, the Danes in Germany, the North Frisians – also from Germany, the selection of the minorities in Estonia, the Turkish minority of Western Thrace in Greece, the Cimbrians from Italy, the Serbs in Croatia, the Carinthian Slovenes from Austria, the Germans in Poland, the Hungarians in Romania, the Aromanians – also from Romania, the Croats in Serbia, the Hungarians in Slovakia, the Crimean Tatars from Ukraine, the Germans in Hungary, the Slovaks in Hungary, the Roma – also from Hungary, and the team from the Isle of Man (British Islands). 

On 15 February, the team representing the Karachay-Balkars from Russia, that was originally on the list, cancelled their participation in the EUROPEADA 2016. In accordance with the ranking on the reserve list the minority of Croats in Serbia moved up and has taken over the place of the Karachay-Balkars in Group B. They played in the final in 2008 and came third in 2012. 

The preliminary round for the women’s tournament takes place in two groups of three; the preliminary round for the men is in six groups of four. For the women follows then the semi-final, where the group winners meet the second-bests of the other group. Thereafter the two final matches take place in order to determine who will come first and third place. The two teams coming third in the preliminary round play for the fifth place directly after the preliminaries.

In the men’s tournament the six group winners and the two best-placed second-best teams play in the quarterfinals; the remaining teams play classification matches against each other. The main round is a classic knockout system, in which the losers of the quarterfinals play in a consolation round for places five to eight.

Some additional information about the criteria that were used in determining the programme of matches:

The matches in the women’s tournament were scheduled late in the morning, the matches for the men in the afternoon and early in the evening. This way we can guarantee that the audience can see all the matches of the men’s and women’s teams of the same minority. 

In the preliminary round of the men’s tournament in each group the team that was classified first in the group draw of 14 December 2015 will play its first match against the fourth classified team. On the second day the team will play against the third classified team and on the last day against the second classified team. In the women’s tournament the principle applies that the first classified team of each group has its first match against the third classified team, that it has a free day on the second day and plays against the second classified team on the third and last day of the preliminaries. 

The fixture for the quarterfinals of the men’s teams will take place following the preliminaries, because we want to avoid that two teams from the same group have to play again against each other. The draw therefore takes place from two bowls with four teams each. One bowl contains the winners of the four groups, in which the second-best teams did not qualify. In the other bowl are the winners and second-best teams of the remaining two groups. In the semi-finals the winners of the first and second quarterfinals and the winners of the third and fourth quarterfinals play against each other; the same applies to the consolation round.