Football

HISTORY OF MEN’S FOOTBALL IN CISM

Football, along with track and field and swimming, were the first sports in which a championship was officially organised under the responsibility of CISM.

The first championship took place in Prague in 1946 under the responsibility of the Armed Forces Sports Council, which in 1948 became CISM. Great Britain won the first title and Czechoslovakia was the runner-up.

The championships continued on an annual basis until 1969. Regional and continental winners were invited to play in a final tournament for which the host country automatically qualified. Until 1967 the tournament usually involved 4 teams except for 1953 (6) and 1962 (2) in Korea. In 1968 and 1969 the tournament was composed of 6 teams but the matches were filled with many incidents that were detrimental to the image of CISM. For this reason the 24th General Assembly of Rome decided to cancel the 1970 tournament and to reconsider the future of the competition.

In 1972 the tournament restarted on an annual basis. In November 1973, at the suggestion of General Knulst (Netherlands), president of PTC for football, the 28th General Assembly of Ambroise (France) approved the biennial format.

Since 1975 (Baghdad), the tournament has been organised every odd-numbered year. It comprised 8 teams in 1975 and 1977 and 6 in 1979 and 1981.

In 1982 and 1983, many organisational problems disturbed the running of the tournament with frequent un-sportsmanlike conduct and gestures. In April 1983, the 38th General Assembly of Zurich decided to terminate the ongoing competition and selected Kuwait and Belgium to play the final. It decided to cancel the tournament indefinitely and dissolved the PTC.

In 1985, many delegations requested the reversal of the decision to cancel the competitions and, during the 40th General Assembly of Seoul, Mr. Mollet, the Permanent Secretary General, proposed the resumption of the tournament under a set of regulations close to the ones presently in use today.

Except for 1987 when it included 6 teams, the tournament was normally comprised of 9 teams with two per continent plus the organising nation.

Starting in 1995, the tournament was played with 12 teams with automatic berths going to the organizing nation and the defending champion.

Regarding an initiative of the former President Colonel Kalkaba CISM started in 2013 with the 1st CISM World Football Trophy (since 2017 named Cup). Azerbaijan hosted the first edition of the Cup with 16 participating nations in the capital Baku. 2017 Oman hosted the 2nd edition of the Football Cup. Egypt will host the 3rd edition of the Cup 2021 in Cairo.

Since 2013 the championships are divided in 2 different competitions. Firstly, the CISM World Football Cup in a four years cycle, secondly as well all four years at the Military World Summer Games an Military World Championship in Football.

HISTORY OF WOMEN'S FOOTBALL IN CISM

In the 1990's several countries started to develop female football teams.

The first countries having a female football team were The Netherlands and Great Britain. Here is a parallel to the beginning of football in CISM. Great Britain, no longer a member of CISM, was in 1946 the first titleholder in men's football.

For several years only these two countries had bilateral exchanges between their female teams.

In 2000 The Netherlands military football team travelled to the Royal Military College in Kingston/Ontario, Canada to compete in a series of competitions with the Canadian military football team women and several local civilian female teams. The Netherlands won this series.

In 2001, The Netherlands hosted the women's military teams of Canada and Germany along with the United Kingdom, as a non-CISM nation. Germany won this competition defeating The Netherlands in the final.
In 2002 Canada hosted the 1st Military World Championship Football Women.

Participating nations were Canada, The Netherlands, the United States of America and Germany. The first winner was the team of United States of America.

At all the women’s program in CISM Football increased very well. In 2018 USA hosted the 11th edition of the MWC with the highest number of participating nations so far. Ten female teams participated in this champhionship.

All continents now have women's football teams in CISM and take part in world championships. The 13th Military World Championship Football Women will take part in June 2022 in Colorado Springs/USA. Possibly with more than 10 participating nations from four continents.