Faramount National Football Team
| Nickname(s) | The Greens (Limonaian: I Verdi) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Faramount Football Federation | ||
| Confederation | SATAMFC | ||
| Head coach | Marco De Paoli | ||
| Captain | Giovanni Berta | ||
| Most caps | Bernardo Figliola | ||
| Top scorer | Evidio Maselli | ||
| Home stadium | Terrome Stadium, New Limone | ||
| |||
The Faramontese National Football Team (Limonaian: Nazionale di calcio della Faramonte) is the association football team that represents Faramount in international tournaments. The team is commonly known as the Greens (Limonaian: I Verdi) due to the green color of its kit. The Faramount Football Federation controls the team, and governs all association football in Faramount. The Faramontese National Football Team is a member of the Southern Alharu, Thalassa, Aurelia & Marenesia Football Confederation (SATAMFC) and the Union of National Associations of Football (UENA). The Greens have consistently ranked amongst the worst teams in the world, having last qualified for the UENA Cup in 1962, and having survived the SATAMFC group stage on only six occasions since that year. The team has improved in recent years, however, due to a major reorganization that included the end of effective discrimination against Faramontese minorities.
History
Faramount has a long football tradition, dating back to when Limonaian settlers formed a local association in New Limone in the late nineteenth century. A number of associations formed in the early twentieth century, and cooperatively formed the Faramount Football Federation in 1911 to regulate the support. The FFF organized a national team in 1937 at the request of the government to play an exhibition match against the Limonaian National Football Team in order to promote closer relations between the countries. The Fara ethnic group dominated the Faramontese society in this period, and effectively allowed only ethnic Farans, Limonaians, and other foreigners to join the team. The Oranges, as the squad was then known due to the predominantly orange color of their uniforms, performed poorly as a result. Nonetheless, there was substantial public interest in the match, and the FFF put together a national team in every subsequent year. The FFF joined SATAMFC and the UENA in 1941.
The socialist government that won power in Faramount in the 1953 elections enacted a major football reform package in 1955, continuing its effort to end ethnic discrimination in Faramontese society. The Football Act of 1955 brought the FFF under government control, making its board government-appointed. The Faramontese Parliament dismissed the entire existing board, replacing it with a new board that immediately ended discrimination in team selection, redesigned the squad kit to be green instead of orange (the color of land instead of the color of the historic Fara Kingdom), and replaced the entire coaching staff. Faramount replaced 21 of its 23 players in 1956, prompting much outcry amongst the Farans and Limonaians. But the new team performed remarkably better, and over the next eight years, won a number of honors including a UENA World Cup. The Greens performed particularly well from 1961-1964, during which time the squad maintained nearly the same roster for three years straight.
The Greens' success came to a sudden in 1964, a year after the Faramontese military seized power in a coup d'état. The military junta running the country blatantly favored the Fara ethnic group, and its repressive and discriminatory activities prompted increasing outrange amongst the diverse Green players. In June 1954, the regime sought to enact strict censorship of the press, prompting the nation's newspaper of record, the Independent, to run an expose of government corruption and oppression. The following day, the Greens during an exhibition match with Limonaia took to the field during half time to call for new elections, and for the repeal of the censorship law. The leader of the junta's secret police, Mateo Terrone, responded with the brutality for which he would ultimately become known. He ordered the arrest and summary execution of the entire team including its coaches, as well as the entire staff of the Independent, making exception only for members of Limonaian heritage, who were instead exiled to Limonaia. The Parliament subsequently replaced the entire board of the FFF.
The military-controlled Faramount Football Federation reimplemented ethnic discrimination, creating a team almost exclusively comprised of ethnic Farans. Most of the more competent Farans refused to join, however, in solidarity with the Greens that had been massacred the prior year. As a result of the discrimination and boycott, the new squad performed incredibly badly in 1965, losing every match it played. The Greens continued this poor performance over the next five decades, failing to qualify for the World Cup even once, and making it past the SATAMFC group stage on only six occasions. Circumstances only worsened after Terrone seized power in 1984, as he cut subsidies for a team that he viewed as a national embarrassment. Faramount stopped hosting SATAMFC games in 2007 after a series of embarassing incidents at its dilapidated stadium, which was located in the midst of a dangerous ghetto.
Economy Minister Gastrone Terrone took an interest in the national team following the 2007 end of domestic hosting, investing substantial political and financial capital in seeking to revive the athletic successes of the 1960s. Terrone saw to the construction of a new stadium for the new, a substantial increase in team and coach salaries, and an end in discrimination against ethnic minorities. Faramount hosted its first SATAMFC home game in a decade in 2018. Since 2013, the team has improved dramatically, though it is still generally considered in the midrange.
Kit and colors
The squad originally wore an orange kit, as its overwhelmingly ethnically Fara members desired to wear the color historically associated with the Fara Kingdom. In 1955, the new board of the Faramount Football Federation changed the team color to green, though it kept the orange socks to please fans. Since that time, green has been the traditional color of the team's uniforms, and the team has even assumed the informal name of the Greens. The kit is manufactured domestically.
Staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Marco De Paoli |
| Assistant coach | Adeodato Di Mare |
| Fitness coach | Pietro Germani |
| Goalkeeping coach | Macario Casciani |
| Team doctor | Ausilio Pezzino |
| Business manager | Ubertino Laurino |
| Sporting director | Davino Morella |
Players
Current Squad
| Number | Name | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semiramide Lena | GK |
| 20 | Girardo Camerota | GK |
| 11 | Liberio Amatucci | GK |
| 4 | Alano Renno | DF |
| 2 | Rutilo D'Alesio | DF |
| 7 | Ezechiele La Paglia | DF |
| 16 | Canziano Caponi | DF |
| 6 | Romano Mondelli | DF |
| 13 | Genesio Pantano | DF |
| 3 | Graziano Zangari | DF |
| 8 | Amone Ciarrocchi | MF |
| 21 | Tazio Puro | MF |
| 15 | Salvatore Nigro | MF |
| 19 | Oderico Tomeo | MF |
| 9 | Barbarigo Frigo | MF |
| 5 | Mirco Marinello | MF |
| 12 | Marino Scibetta | FW |
| 18 | Giovanni Berta | FW |
| 10 | Ausilio Striano | FW |
| 14 | Alfredo Montuori | FW |
| 17 | Fabrizio Bonanno | FW |
Famous past players
The most famous football players in Faramontese history were the members of the series of national teams raised between 1956 and 1964. During this heyday of Faramontese football, the team continually scored victories and won honors, including a World Cup success. Both the player with the most caps in the history of the team, Bernardo Figliola, and the top scorer in Faramontese history, Evidio Maselli, played during this period. In fact, Figliola was one of the victims of the 1964 Massacre of the Greens; Maselli, who was of Limonaian ancestry, was exiled to Limonaia.