Kirav national soccer team
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| Nickname(s) | Lumpers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Pan-Kiravian Soccer Promotion Association | ||
| Confederation | LFA (Levantia) | ||
| Head coach | Dieudonné Labbé  | ||
| Captain | Ronaldo Macdonaldo | ||
| Top scorer | Ninus Forterior | ||
| Home stadium | Atrassic Airways Arena, Pontevedra (2024-) Pitchblende Park, Bérasar (to 2023) | ||
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The Kiravian National Soccer Team (Coscivian: Kiravix Térnafosuv Sókkersk) represents the Kiravian Federacy (except for the Sydona Islands) at the international level of association football. Affectionately nicknamed "the Lumpers" for their historically disappointing performances, the Kiravian national team was usually a non-factor in international tournaments despite representing one of Ixnay's wealthiest and most populous nations until a dramatic organisational turnaround and near-total reconstruction between 2023-2024 brought Kirav up to par.
Due to the limited popularity of soccer in Kiravia - where it is overshadowed by Kiravian gridiron football (fieldball), Gaelic football, hockey, sampakuv, and hurling - and a consequently shallow bench of native Kiravian footballers capable of competing at the international level, naturalised international players comprised a majority of the team's players in its early years, and foreigners still make up most of its coaching staff. Naturalised players most often originate from Paulastra, the Cape, Tierrador, Cartadania, and Burgundie; native-born Kiravian players of non-Coscivian ethnic backgrounds, including Levantine-Kiravians, Thračicians, and Sintalians, are vastly overrepresented in proportion to their population.
History
The team was first organised by the Pan-Kiravian Soccer Promotion Association (PKSPA) in 1917 in order to play exhibition matches and arouse popular interest in the sport to lay the foundation for a domestic professional league. It was unsuccessful in this goal, as watching their team routinely get shafted on the pitch by foreign squads did little to stoke the enthusiasm of Kiravian fans. The team's organisational fortunes improved under Kirosocialism, when it was integrated into the Unified National Sporting System under the Department of Sport, and made the apex of a government-run league system that stretched all the way down to the local amateur and youth soccer leagues. The team's performance improved under Kirsok, as the government invested somewhat heavily in promoting soccer as the primary youth sport and as an educational tool. More children playing soccer in school and in state-run youth leagues resulted in a stronger bench of players for the national team. The team also became homogeneously Kiravian during this period, as the government ended the practice of recruiting and naturalising foreign players, which it denounced as "bourgeois cosmopolitanism". After Kirosocialism, the Department of Sport and Unified National Sporting System were abolished, and a reconstituted PKSPA resumed control of the team as a private organisation in 1995.
2023 Bérasar Harbour Tragedy
On [October 14 2023], an explosion destroyed the KiliGas liquefied natural gas depot in Bérasar Harbour, less than a kilometer from Pitchblende Field. The blast tore through Pitchblende during a workout, killing the most of the national team and its coaching staff, including head coach Yves LeBœuf, along with eight other team employees and twelve facilities workers.
On [January 9, 2024], the PKPSA announced that it would attempt to field a reconstructed national team for upcoming international matches. Players would be recruited from the semi-pro Great Kirav Soccer League and top prospects from Kiravian university teams. Dieudonné Labbé was transferred from his position as head coach of the national women's team, in a move that was criticised by the newspaper Ğábravik on gender-equalitarian grounds for cannibalising an intact (albeit underperforming) women's team in order to field a hastily-organised men's team with little hope of success.
2024 Albalitor
Following the Bérasar Harbour Tragedy, the hastily-reconstructed team under Dieudonné Labbé went straight to work at its new practice facility in the Pontevedra suburbs. Surviving veteran players such as Téodar Konsakháken dedicated the coming year's matches to their fallen colleagues and were reported to be synergising extremely well with the new players brought up from collegiate and semi-pro clubs. Nonetheless, the team's future prospects were written off by the Kiravian sporting press.
The Kirav national team shocked all with a previously unthinkable showing at the 2024 Albalitor. [Insert actual results here].
Although live domestic viewership of the Albalitor had been about as low as usual, the story of the disaster-stricken team pulling off such a performance spread like wildfire through the Kiravian press after the fact, resulting in a sudden surge of enthusiasm for soccer among the Kiravian public and dramatically improved financial backing for the national team, with major corporations like Alquifer Incorporated signing on as sponsors.
2026 World Cup
Round 1: 1-0 win against Zaclaria
Round 2: 2-2 draw with UAE