Guadeloupe National Football Team
The Guadeloupe regional football team (French: Sélection de la Guadeloupe de football) represents the French overseas department and region of Guadeloupe in international football. The team is controlled by the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football (English: Guadeloupean Football League), a local branch of French Football Federation (French: Fédération Française de Football).
As an overseas department of the French Republic, Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or any competition organized first-hand by the organization. Guadeloupeans, being French citizens, are eligible to play for the France national football team. Guadeloupe is, however, a member of CONCACAF and the CFU and is eligible for all competitions organized by both organizations. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF (article 34, paragraph 6): "Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to participate to them." A special rule of the CONCACAF Gold Cup only allows players to join the team if they have not played for France during the past five years. On the other side, any player joining Guadeloupe is allowed to join the France national team after-wards without any time restrictions.
Guadeloupe's highest honor to date was reaching the final at the 2010 Caribbean Championship where they were defeated by Jamaica on penalties. In the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Guadeloupe reached the semi-finals in 2007. The team performed well in the group stage defeating Canada and drawing with Haiti. In the knockout stage of the competition, Guadeloupe eliminated Honduras in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, Guadeloupe lost to Mexico 1–0. The regional team also participates in the Caribbean Cup and the Coupe de l'Outre-Mer. Guadeloupe has yet to win either competition.
Read more about Guadeloupe National Football Team: Results
Famous quotes containing the words football team, national, football and/or team:
“You can’t be a Real Country unless you have A BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.”
—Frank Zappa (1940–1993)
“Let him [the President] once win the admiration and confidence of the country, and no other single force can withstand him, no combination of forces will easily overpower him.... If he rightly interpret the national thought and boldly insist upon it, he is irresistible; and the country never feels the zest of action so much as when the President is of such insight and caliber.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“... in the minds of search committees there is the lingering question: Can she manage the football coach?”
—Donna E. Shalala (b. 1941)
“giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.””
—Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863)