The seemingly inevitable has occurred, with several more teams confirmed as pulling out of the 2011 International Cup. Every 3 years the list of hopefuls shrinks as the event draws near, and we watch on hoping that the final number is at least higher than the previous tournaments. That still looks reasonably safe at this stage, especially as Timor-Leste are apparently back in contention, a surprise given their position in February.
WFN spoke to AFL Multicultural and International Coordinator Peter Romaniw and he confirmed that Croatia have pulled out due to the large financial challenge. Also missing from the last list we saw are Iceland, Finland and Indonesia. As a very young footy nation and a developing country the absence of Indonesia is no surprise.
The current list now stands at 21, including an Australian-based multicultural team. 2008 saw 16 nations in the main draw. Question marks remain over some candidates, such as the Swiss still needing some funding proposals to succeed.
The men's nominations (previous attendance in brackets) that we believe are still in the running are:
| | Nation | Previous ICs attended |
| 1. |
PNG |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 2. |
New Zealand |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 3. |
South Africa |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 4. |
Ireland |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 5. |
Nauru |
2002, 08 |
| 6. |
Canada |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 7. |
USA |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 8. |
Japan |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 9. |
Great Britain |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 10. |
Samoa |
2002, 05, 08 |
| 11. |
Denmark |
2002, 08 |
| 12. |
Tonga |
2008 (not in main draw) |
| 13. |
Sweden |
2008 |
| 14. |
China |
2008 |
| 15. |
India |
2008 |
| 16. |
Peace Team |
2008 |
| 17. |
Switzerland |
(New) |
| 18. |
Fiji |
(New) |
| 19. |
France |
(New) |
| 20. |
East Timor |
(New) |
| 21. |
Multicultural |
2008 (not in main draw) |
Courtesy of World Footy News
Last Modified on 05/05/2011 07:55
