Polar Bamserne / The Polar Teddybears

Even on the edge of the world people enjoy the beautiful game of football. Greenland is a very large island on top of the Atlantic Ocean that is governed by Denmark. Although several colonies are allowed entry to the FIFA, Greenlands application has been denied until present. The Greenlandic FA (GBU) is now member of the NF-Board (Non-FIFA countries).  At October 17th the GBU joined a new organisation, the International Football Union. This Portugal based organisation wants to join countries that are awaiting a future FIFA membership.


Greenlands' soil has brought up one very strong player in particular, formerly under contract at a.o. Ajax and Chelsea, Jesper Gronkjaer. Since there are no grass pitches in Greenland, games are played on artificial turf.

The knickname of the national team is "Polar Bamserne", Polar Teddybears in English, and the team plays international friendly fixtures since 1977. The main competition in which Greenland makes regularly its appearance, are the Island Games, a kind of Olympic Games for islands from allover the world.

Due to the difficulties in traveling around Greenland, the national league starts with local tournaments (Inlendende runde). The winners of the local tournament proceed to a second phase tournament on regional basis (Mellemrunde). The winners of this second phase proceed to the annual Coca Cola GM final turnament, the National Championship of Greenland. The league winner does not earn acces to any international club tournament.