Nova England national football team

**Nova England**
Association	NEFA
FMF member	2006–08, 2008–
Confederation	EMUFA
Home stadium	West Grinstead National Stadium
FMF code	NEN
First FMF intermicronational
	Nova England 1–0 New Oscland
Biggest win
	NEN 57–0 Franklin Islands
Biggest defeat
	Nova England 0–6 Taesong
FMF World Cup
Appearances	6 (first in 2006)
Best result	Runners-up
EMU Championships
Appearances	6 (first in 2007)
Best result	Third place

The Nova England national football team is the football team which currently represents the Mercurian autonomous region of Nova England, and previously represented the Riponian autonomous territory and independent kingdom of the same name. The team is a founding member of both the FMF and the EMUFA, and is run by the NEFA.

The team has existed twice in the FMF's history; firstly between the organisation's foundation and 2008 as an independent nation and an autonomous territory of Riponia, and secondly since mid-2008 again as an independent nation and in its current form. The team is generally seen as one of the strongest national sides on Micras, having appeared in six FMF World Cups, reaching the final in 2009.

History

Nova England was one of the founding members of the FMF when the organisation was created in October 2006 prior to the first FMF World Cup. The national team competed in the tournament, advancing from their group with four points. After beating Craitland in the quarter-finals on penalties, the team lost to Gaia by the same means before losing 1–0 in the third-place play-off to finish in fourth.

The following year, the team was less successful in their World Cup campaign, only managing third in their qualifying group, meaning that they even missed-out on a play-off place. Later in the year, Nova England and Nova English Korea were announced as joint-hosts of the inaugural EMU Championships. The team topped their group and beat invitees New Brittania 2–1 in the quarter-finals, before losing 1–0 to both Passas and Craitland to come fourth in their second consecutive tournament.

In early 2008, Nova England was annexed by Riponia but retained its separate national team. However, only a few months later, Riponia was declared dead and left Micras, along with Nova England. In mid-2008, Nova England returned to Micras as an independent nation again, and was granted FMF membership in time to be involved in that year's World Cup qualifiers. The team topped their six-team group, only losing once, and successfully qualified for the 2008 FMF World Cup. In the finals, the team could only manage third in their group, finishing behind fellow EMUFA members Bobalania and Hamland.

The following year again saw a successful Nova English qualfying campaign, with the team being unbeaten as they won their group. The team came third in the sole five-team EMU 2009 group, sealing third place in the process. They continued their good form into the World Cup finals, topping their group on goal difference, seeing-off Passas after extra time in the quarter-finals and beating 2006 champions Beaugium in the semi-finals. In the final, however, the team lost 2–0 to hosts Alexandria, but still secured their best finish as runners-up.

In 2010's qualifiers, the team again qualified successfully by comfortably topping their group unbeaten. Despite winning their opening game in the finals, the team then lost their following two matches to finish third in their group to miss-out on advancing to the knock-out stages.

The team continued their good form in qualifiers the following year, again going unbeaten as they topped their group by a point. In their EMU 2011 group, the team finished second behind Hamland without losing, before being beaten by Interland in the third-place play-off. In the World Cup finals later in the year, the team had their worst performance, finishing bottom of their group without gaining a point.

In 2012's qualifiers, the team failed to qualify for the the finals for the first time since 2007. However, a second-placed finish in their five-team group meant that they would appear in a fourth EMU Championships. Following qualification, Nova England left Micras but the team was granted permission to remain playing due to Mercury's foundation of a non-successive autonomous region of the same name soon afterwards. In EMU 2012, the team finished second in their group behind hosts and eventual runners-up Mercury. Later in the year, the team competed in the first Territories Cup, where they finished second in the football tournament.

The 2013 qualification rounds saw success for the team as they won their group with 19 points to reach both the World Cup and EMU 2013. In EMU 2013, the team finished second in their three-team group with three points. In the World Cup, the team could only finish bottom of their group with only one point to their name.

Nova England finished third in their four-team 2014 qualifying group with seven points, but automatically qualified for EMU 2014 after successfully bidding to host the tournament for a second time. In the tournament, the team topped their group with four points but were then heavily beaten by Passas and Hamland, and finished in fourth place.

In the following year's qualifiers, the team struggled in an evenly-matched five-team group, and finished in fourth place with ten points to their name.

Chronological competitive participation

Players

Current squad

No.	Pos.	Player	Age	Club
1	1GK	Nicholas Harfield	24	AFC Heartpool
2	3DF	Clive Austonov	29	AFC Heartpool
3	3DF	Matthew Ragnus	26	Kealb FC
4	3DF	John Mattel	25	AFC Heartpool
5	3DF	Max Herbert	30	St John's FC
6	5MF	Jeff Johnson	29	Porapa FC
7	5MF	Theo Sinclair	21	Eĵars Town FC
8	5MF	Nigel Bradford	24	AFC Heartpool
9	7FW	Andrew Lee	29	Róndlinga Diamonds FC
10	7FW	Ka'an Peterson	32	AFC Heartpool
11	5MF	Richard Jones	30	Spleazure Swifts
12	1GK	Owen Jones	23	Hänävissen-ó-Cräiteland FC
13	3DF	Filipe Da Costa	28	Mortis Mercatoria FC
14	3DF	Phillip Hadden	28	West Grinstead FC
15	5MF	Jack Jones	27	Spleazure Swifts
16	7FW	Ricardo Jones	22	Zidado West United
17	5MF	Peter Nelson	27	West Grinstead FC
18	1GK	Chris Patel	25	Spleazure Swifts
19	3DF	Harley Smith	22	AFC Heartpool
20	5MF	Vincent Weber	29	New Kirrie Thistle
21	5MF	Robert Alcott	25	Asga Nomads
22	7FW	Callum Sorrel	31	AFC Heartpool
23	7FW	Alex Kiker	30	Xäiville Teflons FC