Emerging Nations Cup

The Emerging Nations Cup is an international association football competition for traditionally low-ranking or weak teams. The first two editions were contensted by four teams, with the weakest nation in each confederation's respective qualifying tournament being invited to compete. It was expanded to eight teams from the 2016 edition, with the two nations with the worst records in each confederation's respective qualifying tournament now taking part.

The tournament was first contested in 2014, which was won by the River Warriors.

The tournament is seen as a chance for low-ranking sides to play more competitive and balanced fixtures than in their qualification groups and gives an opportunity for such teams to develop.

History

The tournament was initially conceived by a meeting between the FMF, the FLV, the River Warriors' FA and the Sports Institute, to provide meaningful competitive fixtures for Micras' lowest rankings sides. Whilst the FMF gave its blessings and some financial backings, the first competition was held in Incontinentia, with the Franklin Islands, Lucerne and the River Warriors being invited to participate. Although all four nations were perceived to be weak, they were not selected based off of their qualifying record nor on a confederational basis, with both Lucerne and the River Warriors having competed in AEFA qualifying, and both finishing with a better record than Cheltia. None of Cheltia (AEFA), Walstadt (CTFA), Presburn (EMUFA) and Zeeburg (WMFA), who all recorded the worst qualification records in each confederation, were invited.

For the 2015 edition, the FMF sought to represent each confederation, with Lucerne were replaced by Tiěyá, who finished with the worst record in the CTFA qualifying section that year, though the River Warriors still represented the AEFA despite finishing with a better qualifying record than Stars. Furthermore, the competition was held by the previous champions, the River Warriors.

Ahead of the 2016 edition, the FMF expanded the competition from four to eight teams, introducing a quarter-final round, and giving two berths at the tournament to each confederation. It also formally declared that the nations with the two weakest records in qualifying would qualify for the tournament, and that the tournament would be hosted by one of the qualifying participants by virtue of a hosting rota, which saw each confederation host over four years. As such, the 2016 tournament was held in Centralya, a nation that had neither participated in the tournament before nor had any say in the competition's establishment.

Since then, the format of the tournament has remained stable. The tournament follows the completion of qualifying in July, though the first edition was held in December, and the second edition in August.

Previous tournaments

Year	Hosts	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
2014 Details	Incontinentia	River Warriors	3–1	Lucerne	Incontinentia	9–0	Franklin Islands
2015 Details	River Warriors	Incontinentia	4–1	Tiěyá	River Warriors	11–0	Franklin Islands
2016 Details	Centralya	Nessus	1–0	Tyrenia	Mishalan	2–1	Lucerne
2017 Details	Blackstone	East Gerenia	2–1	Blackstone	Saint Andre	1–0	Centralya
2018 Details	Xang Muang	Xang Muang	4–2	Qavaqaqqaqqaniitqeqertaq	Lusa	2–0	Hondon
2019 Details	Florian Eura	Incontinentia	2–0	Florian Eura	Two Martyrs	3–1	Goëtia
2020 Details	Two Martyrs	Two Martyrs	3–0	Goëtia	Jääland	1–0	Strait of Haifa
2021 Details	Hazarese Taka'atui	Jääland	1–0	Goëtia	International Mandate	2–0	Plazas de Irian
2022 Details	Forajasaki	Whales	2–0	Ecclesiastical Mountain Republic	Forajasaki	3–1	United Isles
2023 Details	Saint Andre		–			–

Titles by nation

•  Incontinentia: 2
•  Whales: 2
•  East Gerenia: 1
•  Jääland: 1
•  Nessus: 1
•  River Warriors: 1
•  Xang Muang: 1