Greenland is a Danish territory with a population near 56,500. For comparison, the Faroe Islands are a Danish territory with a population just below 55,000, but they are members of FIFA and UEFA, the latter governing European soccer.
Last year, Greenland applied for membership in CONCACAF, which governs North and Central America and the Caribbean. Its nearest neighbor is Canada, and U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in taking control of the island.
CONCACAF unanimously rejected Greenland's application for membership on 9 June, dealing a significant blow to Greenland's attempts to play official matches against other countries for the first time.
Morten Rutkjaer, who has been national team coach for Greenland since 2019, has been shocked by the decision.
"Greenland can never get to play an official international match now. It's unbelievable. It is a shame for children and young people in Greenland that there is now nothing to play and dream about. We do not think it is fair that we are excluded from football", says Morten Rutkjær to TV 2 Sport.
It's the first time that a member of the Greenland Football Federation speaks in public about the application after CONCACAF threatened the federation not to speak of their intentions to become a member of the governing body.
"CONCACAF asked us not to communicate in the media that we wanted to be part of CONCACAF, as long as the application was ongoing. If we did, we could risk that our application would not be considered. So basically, we should keep our mouths shut. We just want to play international matches. The fact that it took such a turn is far from my values as a human being. The process has shown me that it is extremely difficult when you are not a strong football nation", says Morten Rutkjaer.
In May 2024, the Greenland Football Federation officially applied for membership, and more than half a year later, the confederation received an invitation to meet with CONCACAF in Miami.
"It was a day of celebration for us but we quickly found out that CONCACAF were actually upset that the whole world was writing about Greenland wanting membership. We thought it was completely harmless. After that, the communication became both direct and negative on their part", reveals Morten Rutkjaer.
The two parties never met as CONCACAF kept postponing the meeting until it was too late to meet and in the end Greenland were unanimously rejected by all 41 member nations, which puzzles Rutkjaer after the federation otherwise had received positive feedback of their intentions from other nations.
"I think that CONCACAF presented Greenland in a way, so that the members had no other options than to vote 'no'", ends Rutkjaer.