Novatainia national football team
| 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  NovatainiaNovatainia 4–0  Athlon | |
| 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 title.
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
Flag
Novatainia has used the following flags during its FMF affiliation:
| 2007–08 | 2008– |
|---|---|
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