Passas national football team

Passas

Association	RNSL
FMF member	2007–09, 2010, 2011–
Confederation	EMUFA
Head coach	Harland Sanders
FMF code	PAS
First FMF intermicronational
Nova England 0–0 Passas
Biggest win
Passas 7–1 Iridia
Biggest defeat
Passas 1–4 Craitland
FMF World Cup
Appearances	6 (first in 2007)
Best result	Runners-up
EMU Championships
Appearances	6 (first in 2007)
Best result	Winners

The Passas national football team is the football team which currently represents the Hammish autonomous region of Passas, and previously represented the Craitish autonomous territory, Gralan constituent nation and independent republic of the same name. It is a member of the EMUFA and is run by the RNSL.

The team is traditionally seen as one of the strongest national sides on Micras, having qualified for six FMF World Cups, reaching the final in 2008, and winning the first two EMU Championships. The team has existed three times in the FMF's history; firstly between 2007 and mid-2009 as an independent nation, a Gralan constituent nation and an autonomous territory of Craitland, secondly in 2010 again as an independent nation, and thirdly since early 2011 in its current form.

History

The team was founded in 2007 after Passas was granted FMF membership after existing on Micras since late 2006. Later in the year, the team competed in their first qualifiers for the FMF World Cup, where they finished second in their group to advance to the play-off group, beating Col and drawing with Riponia to qualify. In the finals, the team topped their group. After a 4–3 victory over Leon and Venezia, the team lost to eventual champions Craitland in the semi-finals. The team finished third thanks to a 2–1 win over Gaia in the third-place play-off. Near the end of the year, the team also competed in the inaugural EMU Championships, winning their group without dropping any points. The team continued their success throughout the knock-out stages with wins against Interland and hosts Nova England, before beating Riponia 2–1 in the final for their first title.

Passas joined with Novatainia and Tokidoki to form Gralus, with each constituent nation retaining its separate FMF membership, at the end of 2007. In the following year's World Cup qualifiers, the team qualified by winning their six-team group unbeaten. In the finals, the team topped their group, again unbeaten, beat New South Vietnam in the quarter-finals and won an epic 6–4 encounter with Alexandria in the semi-finals. However, a 4–1 loss to Craitland in the final left the team finishing second. Prior to the World Cup, Passas became an independent nation again.

Another unbeaten qualification campaign in 2009 meant the team successfully qualified for the 2009 FMF World Cup and also EMU 2009, where they advanced to the final after topping the five-team group and beat Craitland 2–1 in extra time for a second consecutive title. In the World Cup, they advanced from their group with five points before losing 2–1 in extra time to Nova England in the quarter-finals. For a short while in the summer of that year, Passas was annexed by Craitland, becoming an autonomous territory before leaving Micras.

Passas returned to Micras as an independent nation in 2010 and competed in the year's qualifiers, where the team finished second in their five-team group, five points behind Nova England, and qualified. In the the finals, the team failed to advance to the knock-out stages for the first time, finishing third in their group behind hosts Hamland by virtue of their loss to Toketi after the two finished with identical head-to-head records. Later in the year, Passas again left Micras after being declared dead.

Passas was reëstablished as an autonomous region of Hamland in early 2011 and the team rejoined the FMF. The team was entered into the qualifying campaign for the 2011 World Cup, where they went unbeaten to qualify. The team topped their finals group but lost 4–2 to Hamland in the quarter-finals. In between the qualifiers and the World Cup, the team competed in the 2011 EMU Championships, where they could only finish third in their six-team group.

The team's fortunes lessened in the following year's World Cup qualifying, where they could only manage to finish second in their five-team group behind the Nordic Union by one point. In doing so the team failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time ever, but did secure a place in EMU 2012, where they finished second in their group behind eventual champions Hamland.

The 2013 qualifier saw Passas fail to reach the the finals for a second time, missing-out on goal difference to Hamland, but the team finished second in their four-team group to qualify for EMU 2013. Following qualifying, the team competed in the first Nations' Cup, where they finished second with five points. In EMU 2013, the team finished second in their three-team group with three points, behind hosts and eventual champions Interland.

Passas failed to reach the World Cup for the third year in a row after finishing second in their four-team 2014 qualifying group with 13 points. However, the team qualified for EMU 2014, where they advanced from their group thanks to tiebreaking criteria and comfortably beat hosts Nova England before losing to Mercury 2–0 in the final to place second.

In the 2015 qualifiers, the team secured a first World Cup appearance in four years after topping their five-team group unbeaten with 18 points. The team's success continued into the finals as they topped their group with eight points, without losing a match, before overcoming Alexandria on penalties in the quarter-finals. Despite losing to Hamland 2–1 in the semi-finals, they beat Gerenia 3–2 to finish in third place.

Chronological competitive participation

• 2007 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2007 FMF World Cup
• 2007 EMU Championships
• 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
• 2013 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2013 Nations' Cup
• 2013 EMU Championships
• 2014 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2014 EMU Championships
• 2015 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2015 FMF World Cup

Honours

• FMF World Cup: 0
  • 2008 – Runners-up
  • 2015 – Third place
  • 2007 – Fourth place
• EMU Championships: 2
  • 2007, 2009
  • 2014 – Runners-up
• Nations' Cup: 0
  • 2013 – Runners-up

Flag

Passas has used the following flag during all three of its FMF affiliations:

2007–09 2010 2011–

See also

• Passas national under-21 football team