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• Giovanni Trapattoni once coached Vatican City’s national team
• The women’s national team launched last year with Pope Francis’s blessing
• The Clericus Cup is a mini World Cup for clergymen around Vatican City

Covering an area of less than half a square kilometre, and with a population of barely 900, Vatican City, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, is the world’s smallest sovereign state. It is hard to find anywhere else in the world with a greater concentration of artistic masterpieces per square metre.

There is more to Vatican City, however, than religion and art. Its sovereign is the football-loving Pope Francis and, though one of the few sovereign states in the world that is not a FIFA member, it boasts a thriving football scene. It might surprise you to learn that it is home to no fewer than eight amateur clubs, and men’s and women’s national teams, while also running three annual club competitions as well as a the Clericus Cup, its own mini World Cup, that takes place every year.

World Cup for priests and seminarians. Founded in 2007, the Clericus Cup is contested by 16 teams from Rome’s seminaries and ecclesiastical colleges, formed by players from all over the world. More than 70 nations were due to be represented by 330 seminarians at the 14th Clericus Cup, which should have started on 8 March. However, like most other sporting competitions around the world, it was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains to be seen if the tournament will be played later this year. The 2019 winners were the African seminarians of the Collegio Urbano, the fourth time the so-called ‘Lions of Africa’ have won the competition. World Cup for priests and seminarians. Founded in 2007.

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World Cup for priests and seminarians. Founded in 2007, the Clericus Cup is contested by 16 teams from Rome’s seminaries and ecclesiastical colleges, formed by players from all over the world. More than 70 nations were due to be represented by 330 seminarians at the 14th Clericus Cup, which should have started on 8 March. However, like most other sporting competitions around the world, it was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains to be seen if the tournament will be played later this year. The 2019 winners were the African seminarians of the Collegio Urbano, the fourth time the so-called ‘Lions of Africa’ have won the competition. World Cup for priests and seminarians. Founded in 2007.

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