The Greenland Cup (Danish: Grønlands Cup, Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat Imertarfik) was an association football friendly round-robin tournament controlled by the Football Association of Greenland.^[1] The Greenland National Football Team competed as a regular in its short-lived running. Despite being the representing country, Greenland never won the Greenland Cup. It ran from 1980 to 1984, with 3 tournaments overall.^[2]

It was contested by the Greenland, Faroe Islands and Iceland senior male national teams who, at the time, were not affiliated with FIFA. The Faroe Islands and Iceland were the only teams to win the tournament. Both countries have since gone on to become UEFA and FIFA members.^[3][4]

Overview

The Greenland Cup tournament was created in 1980. The tournament used knock-out rules or a round robin system. The tournament matches did not have extra time, nor did they go to a penalty shootout. Matches were replayed if drawn, as in the 1983 final.

The first tournament was held in Sauðárkrókur, Akureyri and Húsavík, Iceland. The hosts beat the Faroe Islands 2–1 in the first match, on 30 June 1980. Greenland lost their first game 6–0 to the Faroes,^[5] and, in the last match, Iceland's national team beat Greenland 4-1 – Iceland's Marteinn Geirsson, Páll Ólafsson, Lárus Guðmundsson, and Guðmundur Steinsson scored a goal each, however, Greenland forward Kristofer Ludvigsen scored the last goal.^[6]

Two years after the first edition, 1983 saw the second Greenland Cup. The match for the cup between Greenland and the Faroe Islands ended in a 0–0 draw. The match was then replayed several days later.^[vague] The rematch saw the Faroe Islands beating Greenland in a close 3–2 victory in the Greenland capital city of Nuuk.^[7]

The third and last Greenland Cup tournament was in 1984, when Iceland made a comeback to the tournament. Greenland lost to both the Faroe Islands and Iceland in 1-0 results, putting Greenland in third place.^[8] The Faroe Islands and Iceland met in the final, sharing the cup after the match came to a draw. After this tournament, the Greenland Cup was abolished due to a lack of quality from Greenland's national team.^{[citation needed]} The Football Association of Greenland's president, Lars Lundblad, mentioned the interest in reviving the Greenland Cup after the improvement of Greenland's team and would be possible if Greenland joins FIFA.^{[9][10][11][This quote needs a citation][need quotation to verify]}

Winners

Year	Host		Winner	Runner-up	Third place
1980[12] Details	Iceland		Iceland	Faroe Islands	Greenland
1983 Details	Greenland		Faroe Islands	Greenland	—
1984 Details	Faroe Islands		Iceland and  Faroe Islands		Greenland

1. The first 1983 Greenland Cup final ended in a 0–0 result between Faroe Islands and Greenland, so the match was replayed.

1980

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iceland (H)	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	4
Faroe Islands	2	1	0	1	7	2	+5	2
Greenland	2	0	0	2	1	10	−9	0

30 June 1980

Iceland	2–1	Faroe Islands
	[13]

Sauðárkrókur

2 July 1980

Faroe Islands	6–0	Greenland
Asmund Nolsøe 33', 79', 82', 88' Kristian Petersen 71' Samuel Vagalid 78'	[13]

Sauðárkrókur

3 July 1980

Iceland	4–1	Greenland
Larus Godmundsson 23' Paul Olfsson 32' Martinus Gerisson 34' Godmund Steirsson 36'	[13]	Kristoffer Ludvigsen 49'

Sauðárkrókur

1983

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Faroe Islands	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	3
Greenland (H)	2	0	1	1	2	3	–1	1

29 June 1983

Greenland	0–0	Faroe Islands
	[13]

Nuuk

3 July 1983

Greenland	2–3	Faroe Islands
Kresten Kreutzmann 5' Lars Sandgreen	[13]	Niels Davidson 25' Eydun Dahl Christiansen 30' Aksel Højgaard 45'

Nuuk

1984

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iceland	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	3
Faroe Islands (H)	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	3
Greenland	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	0

1 August 1984

Faroe Islands	0–0	Iceland
	[13]

Klaksvík

3 August 1984

Greenland	0–1	Iceland
	[13]

Klaksvík

5 August 1984

Faroe Islands	1–0	Greenland
	[13]

Klaksvík

Post-tournament friendly

7 August 1984

Faroe Islands	4–2	Greenland
	[13]

Tórshavn

Goalscorers

4 goals

• Asmund Nolsøe

1 goal