If you didn’t know that Greenland plays international football, now you do.
It’s that huge swathe of land sandwiched between North America and Europe, lying mostly inside the Arctic Circle. It’s unmissable on a map, but few know much more about Greenland than its name.
This is a wholly unique place. It is classified as the world’s largest island and yet is also the most sparsely populated of any country on earth. Around 80% of the land is covered by an ice cap and the rest experiences persistent snow for up to eight months of the year.
The 56,000 or so people who live in the harsh environment have fostered strong feelings of community and a clear sense of identity. Even with the challenges brought by the tough climate, football is at the heart of it, serving to connect people. More than one in ten play regularly.
Greenland is on the periphery of international football. The national federation, Kalaallit Arsaattartut Kattuffiat (KAK), is not a member of FIFA, but an application to join CONCACAF alongside the likes of the United States, Mexico and Canada was submitted in May and is pending.
Greenland would be able to play in officially recognised international fixtures and compete in World Cup qualifying. But it means more than just that. “Young people can look at us and see it is possible to be a football player at a high level in Greenland. It’s a big dream for me to give that to them,” head coach Morten Rutkjaer told BBC Sport when the CONCACAF application went in.
In September, the national team entered into a four-year partnership with hummel, who have now created a stunning new home kit directly inspired by Greenlandic culture.
“In Greenland, football is more than just a game – it is a community,” Morten Lund, marketing director at hummel, explained.
“It bridges genders, generations, and professions, reminding us that despite vast geographical distances, we are stronger together. That’s why the new national team jersey also stands as a symbol of the pride, strength, and community spirit that encapsulate the spirit of the Greenlandic people.”
Greenland’s heritage and culture is woven directly into the fabric of the shirt.
It is, in itself, a celebration of Greenland, with the pattern featuring tupilaks and tuukkaq’er symbols, rooted in local mythology, representing strength and spiritual guidance, and courage respectively.
There is a tribute to arts and crafts, with avittat patterns also featured – they are commonly found on national costume and kamiks, a type of footwear typically worn by indigenous Arctic peoples.
The red body and white side panels, meanwhile, represent the colours of the national flag: red and white horizontal halves with inverted red and white semi-circles. The classic hummel bumblebee and unmistakable double chevron complete the overall look.
“It tells the story of who we are as a people and what we stand for. It symbolises our culture, our history, and the strong community created by football,” Kenneth Kleist, KAK chairman, said.
Greenland, so relatively unknown – just 130,000 visitors per year – largely due to a prior lack of widespread accessibility, wants to share itself and its culture with the wider world.
In the capital of Nuuk, a rebuilt airport with the new capability of handling international flights opened at the end of November, linking the city directly to Copenhagen. Further routes to New York and Iceland will soon follow. Previously, travel to Nuuk, a picturesque setting with colourful wooden cottages overlooking the sea, required transferring some 200 miles north at a remote former US military base. Another remote former base in the far south did a similar job.
“We have been shut from the whole world, and now we’re going to open to the world,” was how one resident summarised the situation to the BBC recently.
There have already been estimates that each flight in could add $200,000 (£157,000) to the Greenland economy, while travel within a country with just 56 miles of paved roads will open up much further through two more international airports, one in the north and one in the south, in 2026.
Football, a truly global language, is Greenland’s other vehicle to share itself with the world.
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