Novatainia national football team

Novatainia

Association	NFF
FMF member	2007–
Confederation	AEFA
Home stadium	Novatica International Stadium
FMF code	NOV
First FMF intermicronational
Novatainia 0–3 Passas
Biggest win
Dura 0–4 Novatainia
Biggest defeat
Alexandria 5–0 Novatainia
FMF World Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 2007)
Best result	Group stage
Copa Apollonia
Appearances	1 (first in 2012)
Best result	Winners

The Novatainia national football team is the football team which currently represents the Gralan constituent nation of Novatainia, and previously represented the independent kingdom of the same name. It is a member of the AEFA and is run by the NFF.

History

The team was founded in 2007 after Novatainia was granted FMF membership after existing on Micras since late 2006. Novatainia successfully bid to host that year's World Cup alongside neighbours Tokidoki, whose national team had competed in the inaugural tournament the previous year. The team finished third in their group after losing their first two matches but beating Matbaa in their final game. Because of this, the team is the only host side to not advance from their World Cup group since the tournament was founded so far. Later in the year, Novatainia joined with Tokidoki and Passas to form Gralus, with each constituent nation retaining its separate FMF membership.

The team competed in their first World Cup qualifiers the following year, where they finished third in their four-team group with four points and failed to qualify. Novatainia regained its independence from Gralus in mid-2008.

Prior to the 2009 qualifiers, Gralus was reformed as Novatainia joined with Toketi and Relaram. In the qualifiers themselves, the team finished second in their five-team group to advance to the play-offs, where they successfully beat the Torrington Islands 3–1 on aggregate. In the finals, the team lost all three of their group matches and finished bottom of their group.

The team successfully qualified for a second consecutive World Cup in 2010 after topping their qualifying group by a point after not losing a match. However, the team again faltered in their finals campaign, coming bottom of their group with only two 0–0 draws and a narrow loss to Nova England to their name.

In 2011, the team finished second in a tightly-fought qualifying group alongside Mahoz HaSephardim and Victoria. The team finished with the same record as Victoria, but missed-out on qualification by virtue of their head-to-head record, which Victoria bettered with a 4–3 aggregate scoreline.

The team's fortunes improved in 2012's qualifiers despite their group ending almost as tightly as the previous year's. The team finished on eleven points, alongside Babkha and North Antarctica, but topped the group on goal difference to qualify for the finals and the first Copa Apollonia. In the World Cup, the team finished an unbeaten third in their group with three draws to their name. Novatainia's success continued later in the year as they topped their Copa Apollonia group before beating both Hurmu and Mahoz HaSephardim 2–0 in the semi-final and final, respectively, to win their first ever tournament.

Chronological competitive participation

• 2007 FMF World Cup (co-hosts)
• 2008 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2009 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2009 FMF World Cup
• 2010 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2010 FMF World Cup
• 2011 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2012 FMF World Cup qualification
• 2012 FMF World Cup
• 2012 Copa Apollonia

Honours

• Copa Apollonia: 1
  • 2012

Flag

Novatainia has used the following flags during its FMF affiliation:

2007–08	2008–