Nova England national football team

 Nova England

Association	NEFA
FMF member	2006–08, 2008–
Confederation	EMUFA
Home stadium	West Grinstead National Stadium
FMF code	NEN
First FMF intermicronational
Nova England 1–0  New Oscland
Biggest win
NEN 57–0  Franklin Islands
Biggest defeat
Nova England 0–6  Taesong
FMF World Cup
Appearances	7 (first in 2006)
Best result	Runners-up
EMU Championships
Appearances	8 (first in 2007)
Best result	Runners-up

The Nova England national football team is the football team which currently represents the micronation of Nova England, and previously represented the Riponian autonomous territory and Mercurian autonomous region of the same name. The team is a founding member of both the FMF and the EMUFA, and is run by the NEFA.

The team has existed twice in the FMF's history; firstly between the organisation's foundation and 2008 as an independent nation and an autonomous territory of Riponia, and secondly since mid-2008 as an autonomous region of Mercury and again independently. The team is traditionally seen as one of the strongest national sides on Micras, having appeared in seven FMF World Cups, reaching the final in 2009.

History

Nova England was one of the founding members of the FMF when the organisation was created in October 2006 prior to the first FMF World Cup. The national team competed in the tournament, advancing from their group with four points. After beating Craitland in the quarter-finals on penalties, the team lost to Gaia by the same means before losing 1–0 in the third-place play-off to finish in fourth.

The following year, the team was less successful in their World Cup campaign, only managing third in their qualifying group, meaning that they even missed-out on a play-off place. Later in the year, Nova England and Nova English Korea were announced as joint-hosts of the inaugural EMU Championships. The team topped their group and beat invitees New Brittania 2–1 in the quarter-finals, before losing 1–0 to both Passas and Craitland to come fourth in their second consecutive tournament.

In early 2008, Nova England was annexed by Riponia but retained its separate national team. However, only a few months later, Riponia was declared dead and left Micras, along with Nova England. In mid-2008, Nova England returned to Micras as an independent nation again, and was granted FMF membership in time to be involved in that year's World Cup qualifiers. The team topped their six-team group, only losing once, and successfully qualified for the 2008 FMF World Cup. In the finals, the team could only manage third in their group, finishing behind fellow EMUFA members Bobalania and Hamland.

The following year again saw a successful Nova English qualfying campaign, with the team being unbeaten as they won their group. The team came third in the sole five-team EMU 2009 group, sealing third place in the process. They continued their good form into the World Cup finals, topping their group on goal difference, seeing-off Passas after extra time in the quarter-finals and beating 2006 champions Beaugium in the semi-finals. In the final, however, the team lost 2–0 to hosts Alexandria, but still secured their best finish as runners-up.

In 2010's qualifiers, the team again qualified successfully by comfortably topping their group unbeaten. Despite winning their opening game in the finals, the team then lost their following two matches to finish third in their group to miss-out on advancing to the knock-out stages.

The team continued their good form in qualifiers the following year, again going unbeaten as they topped their group by a point. In their EMU 2011 group, the team finished second behind Hamland without losing, before being beaten by Interland in the third-place play-off. In the World Cup finals later in the year, the team had their worst performance, finishing bottom of their group without gaining a point.

In 2012's qualifiers, the team failed to qualify for the the finals for the first time since 2007. However, a second-placed finish in their five-team group meant that they would appear in a fourth EMU Championships. Following qualification, Nova England left Micras but the team was granted permission to remain playing due to Mercury's foundation of a non-successive autonomous region of the same name soon afterwards. In EMU 2012, the team finished second in their group behind hosts and eventual runners-up Mercury. Later in the year, the team competed in the first Territories Cup, where they finished second in the football tournament.

The 2013 qualification rounds saw success for the team as they won their group with 19 points to reach both the World Cup and EMU 2013. In EMU 2013, the team finished second in their three-team group with three points. In the World Cup, the team could only finish bottom of their group with only one point to their name.

Nova England finished third in their four-team 2014 qualifying group with seven points, but automatically qualified for EMU 2014 after successfully bidding to host the tournament for a second time. In the tournament, the team topped their group with four points but were then heavily beaten by Passas and Hamland, and finished in fourth place.

In the following year's qualifiers, the team struggled in an evenly-matched five-team group, and finished in fourth place with ten points to their name.

The qualifying rounds for EMU 2016 saw Nova England win their five-team group with 15 points to qualify for the finals. In the finals, the team's success continued as they topped a difficult group on goal difference with six points to advance before beating Mercury on penalties in the semi-finals, but were well beaten 4–0 by Passas in the final to finish as runners-up.

In early 2017, during the progress of that year's World Cup qualifiers, Nova England regained independence. In the qualifiers themselves, the team was unbeaten as they finished top of their five-team group with twenty points and advanced to their seventh World Cup finals. In the finals, the team finished fourth in their group with five points, behind the advancing Elwynn on goal difference.

The team competed in the 2018 EMU Championships qualification rounds, where they topped their five-team group unbeaten with 22 points to qualify for the finals. At EMU 2018, the team finished third in their four-team group with four points, one point below holders Passas, and did not advance.

In the 2019 World Cup qualifiers, the team finished second in their six-team group, behind Passas on goal difference, with 27 points, and qualified for their eighth tournament finals.

Chronological competitive participation

• 2006 FMF World Cup
• 2007 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2007 EMU Championships (co-hosts)
• 2008 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2008 FMF World Cup
• 2009 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2009 EMU Championships
• 2009 FMF World Cup
• 2010 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2010 FMF World Cup
• 2011 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2011 EMU Championships
• 2011 FMF World Cup
• 2012 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2012 EMU Championships
• 2012 Territories Cup
• 2013 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2013 EMU Championships
• 2013 FMF World Cup
• 2014 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2014 EMU Championships (hosts)
• 2015 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2016 EMU Championships qualification
• 2016 EMU Championships
• 2017 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2017 FMF World Cup
• 2018 EMU Championships qualification
• 2018 EMU Championships
• 2019 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2019 FMF World Cup

Kit

Honours

• FMF World Cup: 0
  • 2009 – Runners-up
  • 2006 – Fourth place

• EMU Championships: 0
  • 2016 – Runners-up
  • 2009 – Third place
  • 2007, 2011, 2014 – Fourth place

• Territories Cup: 0
  • 2012 – Runners-up

Flag

Nova England has used the following flag during both of its FMF affiliations:

2006–08 2008–