Watch Abkhazia defeat Panjab in the football World Cup final you didn’t know about

On Sunday, “Panjab” must have thought they had won the match. But with just a 1-0 lead and two minutes left to go, 22-year old Ruslan Shoniya managed to thrust his foot out to make contact with a cross and score the equaliser for his team Abkhazia. The game went down to a thrilling penalty-shootout where Abkhazia, after missing two of their first three penalties, stormed back to score all the rest, winning the ConIFA World Football Cup 6-5 on penalties.

Excuse me, the World Cup?

Yes.

Abkhazia and Panjab were competing in the final of the 2016 ConIFA World Cup, an international tournament for states which as of yet do not have any international recognition, and are unaffiliated with FIFA. It was hosted by Confederation of Independent Football Organisations, the world football governing body for national teams unable to join FIFA.

As the above video shows, Abkhazia’s title triumph was richly celebrated, mainly because they were playing at home, at the Dinamo Stadium in their capital Sukhumi. Located on the coast of the Black Sea and officially a part of Georgia, Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, though that claim is recognised by only Russia and a few other countries.

The decision to host the tournament in the region was in protest against teams from Abkhazia and South Ossetia not being provided visas to participate in the last ConIFA World Cup in 2015, which was held in Hungary.

As for their opponents, players from Panjab represent the undivided Punjab which was ruled by Maharaja Ranjeet Singh between 1799 and 1849. Harprit Sinkh, the chairman of the Panjab Football Association, told BBC that his aim was to reawaken lost identity. “They have kind of forgotten their identity of who they are – today they are British, Indian, Pakistani or American.”

The team representing this Panjab had a great run through the tournament, notably beating Western Armenia 3-2 and Padania 1-0 on their way to the final.

The tournament goes beyond football – it is a celebration of different states that have often felt marginalised by the larger community. Take the case of the team representing Chagos Islands, who are the descendants of the people who lived on the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but were dispossessed by the British Army in 1967.

Ever since then the Chagossian diaspora have been running a campaign for their cause. As their coach Serge Jean-Louis pointed out, the Chagos Islands’ participation in the tournament was a “great opportunity to raise awareness about the Chagossian struggle.”

In their mission statement the organisers state, “We want to invite all teams that feel unrepresented by the 209 FIFA members to embrace themselves, tell us and the rest of the world about them and enjoy the beauty of football together.” And as a joyous Abkhazian crowd celebrated their team’s winning penalty kick, it was just another reminder of a familiar platitude – sport really does go beyond the field.