Sport in Greenland

Sports traditions in Greenland

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. Please consider converting them to full citations to ensure the article remains verifiable and maintains a consistent citation style. Several templates and tools are available to assist in formatting, such as reFill (documentation) and Citation bot (documentation). (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Sport is an important part of Greenlandic culture, as the population is generally quite active.[1] The main traditional sport in Greenland is Arctic sports.[2]

Popular sports include association football, track and field, badminton, handball, golf, and skiing. Handball is often referred to as the national sport,[3] and Greenland's men's national team was ranked among the top 20 in the world in 2001.[4]

Greenland has excellent conditions for skiing, cross country skiing, kayaking, fishing, snowboarding, ice climbing, ice skating, and rock climbing, although mountain climbing, mountain biking, and hiking are preferred by the general public. Although the country's environment is generally ill-suited for golf, there are nevertheless golf courses on the island. Greenland hosts a biennial international the world's largest multisport and cultural event for young people of the Arctic for the second time in 2016.[5]

## Football

[edit]

The Football Association of Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaanni Arsaattartut Kattuffia), has a national football team but is not yet a member of FIFA because of ongoing disagreements with FIFA leadership and an inability to grow grass for regulation grass pitches. As a constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Danish men's and women's teams represent Greenland as well (although not the Faroe Islands).[6] However, it is the 17th member of the N.F.-Board. DBU president Jesper Møller visited Greenland in 2015 and the Danish and Greenlandic associations signed a cooperation agreement which aims to encourage the game at grass roots level and build four to six artificial pitches. The FIFA Goal programme sponsored the Qaqortoq Stadium in Qaqortoq, which has an artificial grass pitch. Greenland holds the Greenlandic Football Championship annually. They previously held the event known as the Greenland Cup. They also are a member of CONIFA and compete in the Island games Football, finishing as runners-up to Bermuda in 2013.[6]

## Skiing

[edit]

The oldest sport association in Greenland is the Greenland Ski Federation (GIF), founded in 1969. This happened when the then-President of the GIF Daniel Switching took the initiative to found federations and institute reforms. Greenland Ski Federation is further divided into Alpine and cross-country selection committees. The federation is not a member of the International Ski Federation (FIS), but Greenland skiers participated in the Olympics and World Championships under the Danish flag at the 1968, 1994, 1998 and 2014 games.[7]

## Arctic sports

[edit]

Greenland competes in the biennial Arctic Winter Games (AWG).[2] In 2002, Nuuk hosted the AWG in conjunction with Iqaluit, Nunavut.[8] In 1994 and again in 2002, they won the Hodgson Trophy for fair play.

## Other sports

[edit]

Greenland takes part in the biennial Island Games, organized by the International Island Games Association.[9]

Greenland took part in the 2007 World Men's Handball Championship in Germany, finishing 22nd in a field of 24 national teams.[10]

Greenland took part in badminton in the European Men's & Women's Team Championships in 2018 and won the first match ever in international badminton team championships against Hungary.[11][12]

Greenland took part in the table tennis event at the multi-sport 2022 European Championships in Munich, Germany.[13]

## Membership of international sports federations

[edit]

Greenland has gained membership of, or is in the process of applying to join, the following federations:

Entity | Notes | Status

|
|

Arctic Winter Games International Committee | Greenland participates in the Arctic Winter Games. | Member
Badminton World Federation (BWF) | The Greenland Badminton Federation is a full member of BWF and Badminton Europe. | Member
International Biathlon Union (IBU) | The Greenland Biathlon Federation is a full member of IBU.[14] | Member
Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) | The Greenland Football Association applied to join CONCACAF, a continental body of FIFA, in June 2022.[15][16] | Applicant
International Handball Federation (IHF) | The Greenland Handball Federation is a member of IHF and the North America and the Caribbean Handball Confederation.[17] | Member
International Island Games Association (IIGA) | Greenland is a member of the IIGA and participates in the Island Games.[18] | Member
International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) | The Greenland Table Tennis Federation is a full member of ITTF[19] and the European Table Tennis Union.[20] | Member

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Wilcox, Jonathan; Latif, Zawiah Abdul (2007). Cultures of the World: Iceland. Marshall Cavendish. p. 109\. ISBN 978-0-7614-2074-3.
2. ^ a b Williams, Ollie. "Sports you'll never see at the Olympics". CNN. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
3. ^ Wilcox, Jonathan; Latif, Zawiah Abdul (2007). Cultures of the World: Iceland. Marshall Cavendish. p. 110\. ISBN 978-0-7614-2074-3.
4. ^ "The unlikely success story of football on the massive island of Greenland". the Guardian. 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
5. ^ Wilcox, Jonathan; Latif, Zawiah Abdul (2007). Cultures of the World: Iceland. Marshall Cavendish. p. 111\. ISBN 978-0-7614-2074-3.
6. ^ a b Homewood, Brian. "Danish FA supports Greenland's bid to join UEFA, FIFA". U.K. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
7. ^ "Ski forbundet". gif.gl. Archived from the original on 2015-02-11.
8. ^ "Arctic Winter Games". Gif.gl. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
9. ^ IIGA. "Greenland". www.iiga.org. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
10. ^ "Hodgson Trophy Winners". Arcticwintergames.org. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
11. ^ "2018 European Men's & Women's Team Championships: Teams". www.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
12. ^ "2018 European Men's & Women's Team Championships: Matches". www.tournamentsoftware.com. Retrieved 2018-02-22.
13. ^ "Nations Entries - Team Greenland | European Championships".
14. ^ "Member Federations".
15. ^ "Concacaf Gets Crazy, May Add Greenland as Its Newest Member".
16. ^ "Greenlandic football to go international".
17. ^ "IHF | Member Federation".
18. ^ https://www.iiga.org/member_profile_12356.html>
19. ^ "International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) - Directory".
20. ^ https://www.ettu.org/en/about-ettu/member-associations/

## External links

[edit]

* v
* t
* e

National sports teams of Greenland

* Arctic Winter Games
* European Championships
* Island Games

* Badminton
* Football
* Futsal
* M
* W
* Handball
* M
* W
* Volleyball

* v
* t
* e

Sports governing bodies in Greenland (GRL)

Summer Olympic Sports|

* Aquatics
* Diving
* Swimming
* Synchronized Swimming
* Water Polo
* Archery
* Athletics
* Badminton
* Basketball
* Boxing
* Canoeing
* Cycling
* Equestrian
* Fencing
* Field Hockey
* Football
* Golf
* Gymnastics
* Handball
* Judo
* Modern Pentathlon
* Rugby 7's
* Rowing
* Sailing
* Shooting
* Table Tennis
* Taekwondo
* Tennis
* Triathlon
* Volleyball
* inc. Beach Volleyball
* Weightlifting
* Wrestling

Winter Olympic Sports|

* Biathlon
* Bobsleigh
* Curling
* Skating (Figure, Speed & Short Track)
* Ice Hockey
* Luge
* Skeleton
* Skiing (Alpine, Cross Country, Nordic Combined, Freestyle & Jumping)
* Snowboarding

Other IOC Recognised Sports|

* Air sports
* Auto racing
* Bandy
* Baseball
* Billiard Sports
* Boules
* Bowling
* Bridge
* Chess
* Cricket
* Dance sport
* Floorball
* Karate
* Korfball
* Lifesaving
* Motorcycle racing
* Mountaineering and Climbing
* Netball
* Orienteering
* Pelota Vasca
* Polo
* Powerboating
* Racquetball
* Roller sports
* Rugby
* Softball
* Sport climbing
* Squash
* Sumo
* Surfing
* Tug of war
* Underwater sports
* Water Ski
* Wushu

Paralympics and Disabled Sports|

Others Sports|

* Rugby League
* Rugby Union

Sports Confederation of Greenland

* v
* t
* e

Sport in the Americas

Sovereign
states|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Argentina
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Chile
* Colombia
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* Ecuador
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* Suriname
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

Dependencies
and territories|

* Anguilla
* Aruba
* Bermuda
* Bonaire
* British Virgin Islands
* Cayman Islands
* Curaçao
* Falkland Islands
* French Guiana
* Greenland
* Guadeloupe
* Martinique
* Montserrat
* Puerto Rico
* Saba
* Saint Barthélemy
* Saint Martin
* Saint Pierre and Miquelon
* Sint Eustatius
* Sint Maarten
* South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
* Turks and Caicos Islands
* U.S. Virgin Islands

* North America
* Central America
* Caribbean
*   *   *   * South America

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template