2023 FMF World Cup
 | |
| Tournament details | |
|---|---|
| Host country |
 Mercury |
| Dates | 8 Jul – 13 Aug 2023 |
| Teams | 20 (from 4 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 10 (in 8 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |
 Senya (2nd title) |
| Runners-up |
 Calbion |
| Third place |
 Phinbella |
| Fourth place |
Mercury |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 147 (2.83 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |
Alesandrœ Danetskë |
| Best player |
Mark Jacobs |
← 2021 2025 → | |
The 2023 FMF World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FMF World Cup, and was held in Mercury between 8 July and 13 August 2023. The twenty competing national teams all qualified successfully to be involved. The tournament's matches were played in ten stadiums in eight different cities around Mercury.
The tournament was won by Senya, for their second title, who beat Calbion in the final in Mercury.
Hosts
Mercury was chosen as the host of the tournament after submitting one of three applications. The FMF Executives agreed that the Mercurian bid was more suited for hosting than the other applicants' and announced that the host's national team would receive an automatic berth in the tournament, as well as the winners of the previous tournament.
Bids
Stadiums
- Freddie Mercury Memorial Arena, Mercury
- Galileo Ground, Mercury
- Huntington Avenue Ground, Kuiper
- Ironworks Road, Tow Law
- Little Wembley, Tow Law
- May Road, May
- Mercury Road, Innuendo
- Montreaux Road, Deacon
- Taylor Sporting Club, Taylor
- The Works Ground, Mullen
Qualification
List of qualified teams
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Squads
Teams will be required to name a twenty-three-man squad for the tournament, with three goalkeepers, numbered 1 to 23.
Group stage
Seedings
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Mercury (hosts) Senya (1) Craitland (3) Floria (4)
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 Nouvelle Alexandrie (5) Tellia (6) Sanama (7) Calbion (8)
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Phinbella (9) Unified Governorates (10) Natopia (11) Lamantia (12)
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 Raspur (13) The Hexarchy (17) Tiana (18) Meckelnburgh (21)
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 Sovereign Confederation (22) Vegno (24) Osktrava (28) New Batavia (31)
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Group A
| Team | Pld |
W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury
|
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 12 | Advances to quarter-finals |
| Sanama
|
4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | Advances to play-off round |
| Meckelnburgh
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4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 | |
| Sovereign Confederation
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4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 3 | |
| Lamantia
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4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 2 |
12 July 2023
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| Sovereign Confederation
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2 – 2 | Meckelnburgh
|
|---|---|---|
Wheathouse  61'Lutheris 77'
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William 14' Lemaire 25'
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Group B
| Team | Pld |
W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phinbella
|
4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 10 | Advances to quarter-finals |
| Nouvelle Alexandrie
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4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 7 | Advances to play-off round |
| Craitland
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4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | |
| Raspur
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4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | |
| New Batavia
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4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 9 | −8 | 0 |
17 July 2023
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| Nouvelle Alexandrie
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2 – 3 | Raspur
|
|---|---|---|
| Henry 32' Miller 55'
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Aryamanesh 14' Kheldumeh 65'Kamis 87'
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Group C
| Team | Pld |
W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senya
|
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 | +11 | 12 | Advances to quarter-finals |
| Tellia
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4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 9 | Advances to play-off round |
| Tiana
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4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 3 | |
| Natopia
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4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 3 | |
| Osktrava
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4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 3 |
10 July 2023
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| Natopia
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4 – 3 | Tiana
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|---|---|---|
| Alexander 36' (pen.) Sullivan 39'De Olivera 47' (o.g.)Coady-Creggs 62'
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Passero 3' Tardelli 73'Buongiorna 90'
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Group D
| Team | Pld |
W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calbion
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4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 3 | +8 | 9 | Advances to quarter-finals |
| Vegno
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4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 8 | Advances to play-off round |
| Floria
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4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 6 | |
| Unified Governorates
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4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | −5 | 4 | |
| The Hexarchy
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4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 |
23 July 2023
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| Calbion
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6 – 1 | Unified Governorates
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|---|---|---|
| Morgan 34' Lycett 40'Wyn-Jones 68' (pen.), 90'Baine 78'Huw 82'
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Talbot 51'
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Knock-out stages
Bracket
| Play-off round | Quarter-final | Semi-final | Final | |||||||||||
| 3 August – Mercury | ||||||||||||||
| 30 July – May | ||||||||||||||
| Mercury (a.e.t.)
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1 | |||||||||||||
| Tellia
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2 | 8 August – Taylor | ||||||||||||
| Floria
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0 | |||||||||||||
| Floria
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4 | Mercury
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0 | |||||||||||
| 4 August – Mercury | ||||||||||||||
| 29 July – Mullen | Calbion (a.e.t.)
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1 | ||||||||||||
| Calbion (p)
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1 (5) | |||||||||||||
| Nouvelle Alexandrie
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1 | 13 August – Mercury | ||||||||||||
| Nouvelle Alexandrie
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1 (4) | |||||||||||||
| Meckelnburgh
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0 | Calbion
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0 | |||||||||||
| 3 August – Deacon | ||||||||||||||
| 30 July – Tow Law | Senya
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1 | ||||||||||||
| Phinbella
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2 | |||||||||||||
| Vegno
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2 | 9 August – May | ||||||||||||
| Vegno
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1 | |||||||||||||
| Tiana
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0 | Phinbella
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0 | Third-place play-off | ||||||||||
| 4 August – Taylor | ||||||||||||||
| 29 July – Tow Law | Senya
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3 | ||||||||||||
| Senya (p)
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1 (5) | |||||||||||||
| Sanama
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2 | Mercury
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3 (6) | |||||||||||
| Craitland
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1 (3) | |||||||||||||
| Craitland (a.e.t.)
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5 | Phinbella (p)
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3 (7) | |||||||||||
| 12 August – Tow Law | ||||||||||||||
Play-off round
29 July 2023
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| Sanama
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2 – 5 (a.e.t.) |
Craitland
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|---|---|---|
| Däl 32' (o.g.) Kanti 34'
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Zóma 30', 98', 113' Alexis 38', 118'
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Quarter-finals
4 August 2023
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| Senya
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1 – 1 (a.e.t.) |
Craitland
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|---|---|---|
| Danetskë 64'
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Alexis 61'
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| Penalties | ||
Hazlan  Kalpsing Hands Grezem Maytek
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5 – 3 | Juliaĵsen Dräsen Huläj Alexis
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4 August 2023
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| Calbion
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1 – 1 (a.e.t.) |
Nouvelle Alexandrie
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|---|---|---|
| Baine 12'
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Lahaye 8'
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| Penalties | ||
| Huw Baine Ross Hughes Morgan
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5 – 4 | Lahaye Miller de Herrera Peck d'Oliviera
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Semi-finals
Third-place play-off
12 August 2023
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| Mercury
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3 – 3 (a.e.t.) |
Phinbella
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|---|---|---|
| Rydberg 53' Partridge 67'Foxon 98'
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Hanekom 3' M.P. Flynn 25'M.V.V. Flynn 107'
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| Penalties | ||
| Foxon Wressle Partridge Rydberg Stoker Mullins Fizeau-Blake Greene Cooper Vader Bailey
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6 – 7 | Marɂdzukiɂ Ri M.P. Flynn M.V.V. Flynn Hanekom Vanot Tenma Murad Ranmaru L'Esperance-O'Kirwan Kumar
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Final
| 2023 FMF World Cup Winners |
|---|
 Senya |
Goalscorers
- 9 goals
- 6 goals
- 5 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- 1 own goal
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Team of the Tournament
Italics signify the tournament's best player.
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
Controversy
Despite being considered by most as a successful and entertaining World Cup on the field, the tournament was marred by the murder of the Unified Governorates' captain Harold Forester by his own teammates following the team's elimination from the group stage. Forester had also been appointed as interim head coach ahead of the side's final group match against Floria after the sacking of Uri Segler following the heavy 6–1 defeat to Calbion one game prior. In the evening after losing 1–0 to Floria, in a fixture where a draw would have secured the team's place in the knock-out rounds, reports first spread on Tweeter that Forester had fallen from the fifth-floor balcony of the hotel at which the team were staying during the tournament and was in critical condition. Subsequent news would unveil that Forester had been defenestrated by a number of teammates, succumbing to the injuries he sustained, with four unnamed players being arrested by Mercurian law enforcement on suspicion of murder the following morning.
Forester's death would lead to murder convictions in Mercury for the four arrested players, while the remaining squad members would be sentenced in their homeland, in what were widely reported as "show trials", and subsequently sent to the Benacian Labour Reserve as punishment. The Gubernatorial Magisters-Carnifex also decreed that all footballing institutions in the Unified Governorates were to be liquidated as a result of the team's conduct, effectively completely abolishing the sport of football in the nation. The FMF would accordingly suspend the Unified Governorates' membership indefinitely afterwards.
See also
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