Poafmersia national football team

The Poafmersia national football team, nicknamed the The Red Panjias, is a football team that represents Poafmersia in international football team competitions. It is managed by the Poafmersia Football Association (PFFA), who is in charge of all the administrative paperwork that the football team requires. The team actively represents Poafmersia in the World Cup and the Independent Associations Championship.

History
For a very long while, Poafmersia, back then known by its original name, PotatoFarmers, had a policy of isolationism, therefore limiting its interactions with the multiverse. However, in 2094 (Poafmersian time), there was a change following President Pikashru Nisharian's policy of "open border", which included the nation's official name change to make it look "less primitive". Adnan Suliaha, together with a group of football legends in Poafmersia, made a proposal to the government to set up the national team, and to start the plan of "sports diplomacy". Football then begun Poafmersia's first exposure to multiverse sports.

2095: First World Cup qualification campaign
Originally, the PFFA had planned for Poafmersia to begin their international career in the 8th Independents Associations Cup. However, owing to paperwork issues, they eventually shelved the idea, instead starting the first campaign in end-2094, where the kickstarted a campaign with in the Baptism of Fire 71, a campaign for national teams making their debut or return from long hiatus. During the group stage, they opened their campaign with a 8-2 defeat of Barsland, and eventually shocked the domestic football community as they reached overall 3rd place following a 3-2 win over Pauh Janggi in extra time in the 3rd/4th placing playoffs. This paved the way for the formation of the Poafmersia football league, as the community became more convinced that this was the correct way forward. Having been drawn into Group 5 of the qualification campaign for World Cup 84, they exceeded expectations to storm to 3rd place finish, losing only to top seeds Nephara and Siovanija and Teusland.

2096: Cup of Harmony and IAC
Following their previous year's relative success, they went into Cup of Harmony 76 with relatively high expectations. However, they failed to make it past the group stage, which was a huge disappointment for fans and the football community alike. After the heroics of the World Cup, they went on to participate in Independent Associations Championship 9 (IAC 9). The competition proved to be former vice-captain and veteran goalkeeper Jabik Henderson's swansong, and the team performed very strongly. Despite meeting strong opposition such as Zwangzug and Abanhfleft along the way, they achieved overall 4th place, losing to eventual champion New Lusitania in the semi-finals.

2097/98: 2nd attempt at qualification and IAC champions
Poafmersia was drawn into Group 15 in the World Cup 85 qualification, a group consisting of top seeds Brenecia, rising stars Reçuçen, and returnees Quebec. In that group, the national team only managed to attain a miserable 5th place even though their win record improved from the previous campaign. In 2098, Poafmersia was once again invited to Cup of Harmony 77, and for the team, it was a trip back memory lane as they returned to Zwangzug, the place where they first gotten their bronze medals back during the Baptism of Fire. This time, they outperformed their performance at the last Cup of Harmony, progressing to the Round of 16 where they were eliminated by eventual bronze medallists Mercedini. Having obtained 4th position in their debut appearance in the IAC, they entered the 10th IAC. For the first time in the history of the IAC, a team's historical performance was taken into account during the seeding, and Poafmersia was seeded into Pot 1. However, they had to face quite a number of strong sides in their group, including Squidroidia, Abanhfleft, and Sajnur. They advanced as group runners-up, and went on all the way to the finals to defeat 3-time finalists HUElavia 3-2 after extra time.

2099: Misery of 3rd qualification campaign
The heroics of the past 2 season has gotten Poafmersia into the top 60 based on the world rankings, and hopes were high for Poafmersia to break their original target of reaching the World Cup in 10 years. Poafmersia was drawn into Group 6, alongside long-time World Cup participants Audioslavia and The Holyy Empire, as well as other strong sides such as Delaclava and Juvencus. For the first half of the campaign, the team did really well, losing only to The Holy Empire and Juvencus, and even defeating Audioslavia at home. However, towards the end, a series of poor results against lower-ranked teams meant that Poafmersia will suffer the heartbreak of failing to qualify for the World Cup on their 3rd attempt. Although the World Cup 86 qualification campaign saw many newer sides like Trolleborg qualify, Poafmers often viewed the campaign as a poor campaign especially with the dismal run of results towards the end. The campaign also saw long-time centerback partnership Pasits Rikachz and Danzik Hoboson declare that this would be their last World Cup qualification campaign together, with current captain Danzik Hoboson declaring ahead of the Red Panjias' final home match against Juvencus that that match would be the last time he will lead the national team out of the tunnel at the Libira National Stadium.

2100: Cup of Harmony 78 and 2nd IAC title
In late 2099, head coach Adnan Suliaha announced that the PFFA has received an offer from hosts Ethane and Sylestone to participate in Cup of Harmony 78, and the national team will be making an appearance at the competition. The team was drawn into Group G, widely considered to be a group of death that included Vdara, Saltstead, Tioguldós, Reina, Maccian, and qualification group mates Southwest Eastnorth. Progressing in 4th place from their group, they were handed a tricky matchup against Sargossa in the Round of 32, where they were eliminated on penalties. The new century begun as a success as the team clinched their 2nd title. Led by outgoing captain Danzik Hoboson, the team travelled to Havynwilde for the 11th Independent Associations Championship, where they defeated HUElavia in a repeat of the previous final to become the first team to successfully defend an IAC title. This would be the last time the main backline of Danzik Hoboson, Pasits Rikachz, Alex Pickford and Denise Pickford will feature together in a major competition, as all 4 players promptly announced their retirement from international football shortly after the finals.

2101: World Cup 87 Qualifiers
Poafmersia begun their fourth attempt at qualification for the World Cup with a bang, starting with a 5-1 home rout of Bongo Johnson. This was the first qualifiers Poafmersia begun their campaign at home. Poafmersia followed with a 4-2 away victory at Southwest Eastnorth, and continued with 6 consecutive victories, including a win against 3rd seeds Squornshelan Remnant States, up until their 2-5 trashing at second seeds Krytenia. The loss against Krytenia would be joint-largest loss in a WCC-sanctioned match, and the record would later be broken with a 5-0 trashing at the hands of top seeds and world number 3 side Farfadillis. Despite these results, Poafmersia would later recover in the second half, and secured the group runners-up position on Matchday 17 following their 3-0 away rout of Caryton, as closest rivals Krytenia suffered to a home draw against West Zirconia.

World Cup/Cup of Harmony
To date, the Poafmersian national team has participated in 4 World Cup qualification campaigns. The team qualified for the main tournament proper in World Cup 87, following a playoff win against Omerica. On occasions where the team failed to qualify following the performance of the team at the qualification campaign, the Poafmersian national football team has been invited to play in the respective cycles' Cup of Harmony.

Independent Associations Championship
To date, Poafmersia has made 3 appearances at this regional competition, and had produced really stunning results thus far. In their debut appearance, they defeated lots of tournament favourites on their way to achieving 4th, losing only to eventual champions New Lusitania in the semifinals before failing to defeat Port Ember in the Bronze Medal Match. They then went on to clinch the title next season, defeating tournament favourites HUElavia, condemning them to their third consecutive defeat in the finals. Poafmersia also went on to become the first team to successfully defend their title, defeating HUElavia once again in a rematch of the last finals.