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2021 FMF World Cup Final

Event	2021 FMF World Cup
Floria Cratiland  Floria  Craitland 1 0
Date	15 August 2021 (2021-08-15)
Venue	Sports City, Northcliff
Man of the Match	Rhys Chase (Floria)
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The 2021 FMF World Cup Final was the final match of the 2021 World Cup, the 13th edition of FMF's competition for national football teams. The match was played at the Sports City in Northcliff, Floria, on 15 August 2021, and was contested by Floria and Craitland. The tournament comprised hosts Floria and 19 other teams who emerged from the qualification phase, organized by four FMF confederations. The 20 teams competed in a group stage, from which 8 teams qualify for the knockout stage. En route to the final, Floria topped group A winning all but one game, after which they defeated Lamantia in the quarter-finals, and then Senya in the semi-finals. Craitland went unbeaten in Group C, before proceeding to beat Thracistan in the quarter-finals, followed by Meckelnburgh in the semi-finals.

The final had one sole goal scored by Floria's Rhys Chase whose run into the box gave him an opportunity to leap and connect his head with Kylian Saint-Pierre's cross before both sides evenly matched out towards the end.

Floria's win meant that the nation secured their first ever World Cup title while Craitland lost their first ever final, winning all four of their previous finals with the last win dating back to 2011. Chase was named man of the match, while his comrade Patrick Williams was named as the tournament's best player. This final also marked the 9th match in which the losing team did not score any goals out of 13 finals in the tournament's history. In the subsequent continental competitions held in 2022, Floria were knocked out in the semi-finals by hosts Senya while Craitland defeated Tellia for their first ever title.

Background

The 2021 FMF World Cup was the 13th edition of the World Cup, FMF's football competition for national teams, held in Floria from 10 July to 15 August 2021. Floria qualified automatically as hosts, while 85 teams competed for the remaining 19 spots through qualifying rounds organized by the four FMF confederations. In the finals, teams were divided into four groups of five with each team playing each other once in a round-robin format. The group winners will automatically qualify for the knockout stages while the second and third ranked teams of each group will play in the playoffs for a spot in the quarter-finals. The defending champions from the 2019 World Cup were Senya. Barely missing out on the final when they lost 2-1 to Floria.

Floria had only played in one World Cup prior to this year's tournament in 2019 although playing as the Florian Republic where they lost out to Senya in the quarter-finals. They also played in the 2018 Copa Apollonia and finished third in their debut campaign before winning the 2020 edition. Craitland are a veteran in the competition having participated in every edition since 2006 winning four titles, their worst result being quarter finalists on four ocassions. Craitland were also EMU Championship winners having won the 2011 edition which they hosted before switching to the WMFA where they had yet to win a title prior.

The official match ball for the final was provided by Farrar Sports featuring red and black circular strokes on a predominantly white ball.

Venue

The final was held in the Sports City, in Northcliff located in the Kingsland state, which was selected by the FMF Executives as the final venue. The stadium also hosted five other matches including the opening match, three other group stage matches, and one semi-final match.

Route to the final

Floria

Floria's route to the final

	Opponent	Result
1	Passas	3-0
2	Calbion	1-0
3	Alduria	2-1
4	Tellia	0-2
QF	Lamantia	2-1
SF	Senya	2-1

Floria entered as one of the favourites to win the whole tournament after their 2020 Copa Apollonia victory, qualifying automatically for the finals as hosts where they were drawn against Passas, Calbion, Alduria, and Tellia. Their opening match against Passas was held in Northcliff in the Sports City stadium on 10 July. The Florians kicked off their World Cup campaign in a 3-0 victory against Passas where it took almost an hour for the deadlock to be broken with Sam Butcher scoring just 15 yards away from goal. Floria would triple their lead later on when Dave Wheeler scored an incredibe solo goal and Kylian Saint-Pierre pouncing on a Timothy Johnson mistake in a man-of-the-match performance. The hosts continued on this incredible form against Calbion when Patrick Williams nodded one in during a set-piece assisted by Saint-Pierre, who missed a penalty later on in the match. Floria kept their winning streak going into their third match against Alduria who caused alarms as Javier de la Fuente put his side up in the middle of the first half but defensive complecencies from the Aldurians allowed two trivela goals from Kian Wright to confirm qualification to the quarter-finals. With one more group stage match left to play, the Florians matched up against Tellia in a surprising defeat to the public eye with goals scored by Marko Zajc and Gianluca Salmoiraghi. Nonetheless, Floria qualified to the quarter-finals with Lamantia to face.

In the quarter-finals, Floria matched up against fellow AEFA member Lamantia. As expected, the hosts took first blood when Saint-Pierre faked our Matthias Sagner and whipped in a cross for Butcher to head home 10 minutes before scoring his second when Cristiano Ramirez' corner wasn't cleared, allowing Wheeler to pass it back to his captain who crossed it in on his second attempt allowing Butcher to head in his brace. Floria were not let off the hook just yet as minutes later when Sven Ebersbascher's long ranged hit slammed into the top corner. Ultimately, Floria held on strong and proceeded into the semi-finals matched up against defending champions Senya who broke Florian hearts in 2019. Having lost 2-1 in 2019, Floria beat the Senyans by the same scoreline with captain Cristiano Ramirez scoring his first goals of the 2021 campaign - his first being a freekick from over 30 yards and his second off an Alex Mound header. But like the quarter-finals, Floria could not keep their clean sheet intact when Alesandrœ Danetskë's last ditched effort swerved into the bottom corner with minutes to play. In the end, Floria ended up victorious and headed into the finals for the first time in their history.

Cratiland

Craitland's route to the final

	Opponent	Result
1	North Antarctic Domain	5-0
2	Meckelnburgh	1-1
3	Unified Governorates	2-4
4	The Hexarchy	1-3
QF	Thracistan	3-0
SF	Meckelnburgh	0-1

Craitland were also favourites to win the tournament as four-time champions, having gone unbeaten during their qualifying phase going 8-0-0 in WMFA's Group A qualifiers. Their opener was against the North Antarctic Domain in group C. The Craits opened the scoring in as early as 4 minutes thanks to Ĵulian Ólsen's freekick, and it didn't take long for them to double the scoring when Jan-Morteņ Juliaĵsen smartly finished into the bottom right corner. It took only three minutes for the Craits to add on another to their tally when Juan Pellegrino headed in to mark his first goal of the campaign. Craitland were awarded a penalty minutes later to which Will Zóma converts. Daniel Hjansen scored the last goal of the game as he drove into the box to punish the opponents' lack of defensive ability. As if the Domain weren't being played around enough, the Napians saw themselves ending the match with ten men when defender Makoun Makwandire was given his marching orders, having received a second yellow for dragging down Alexis Pellegrino. While the Craits were on good form, they were brought back down to reality by opponents Meckelnburgh for their second game of the tournament