The Sint Maarten national football team is the football team of Sint Maarten, the Dutch half of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, and is controlled by the Sint Maarten Soccer Association. Sint Maarten is not a member of FIFA, and therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. However, the association applied for FIFA membership in 2016 but was rejected. In April 2022, the Sint Maarten Soccer Association appealed to the CAS against FIFA’s ruling. In 2002, the Sint Maarten Soccer Association was given associate membership in CONCACAF and became full members at the XXVIII Ordinary Congress in April 2013 after becoming an independent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands after the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved in 2010. They are also members of the Caribbean Football Union and first took part in the Caribbean Cup in its inaugural edition in 1989. History From 1992 to 2016, the team had played approximately only 25 official matches. Between 2000 and 2016, only one match had been played, an unofficial 2–2 draw at home to Sint Eustatius on 20 August 2004. In 2012, SMSA President Owen Nickie stated that the national team's inactivity was due to a lack of needed improvements on their home stadium. He indicated that not having enough players to choose from had also prevented the team from competing in the past but that they had more than enough players at that time. At that time, the association discussed hosting the Leeward Islands Tournament and participating in 2012 Caribbean Cup qualification as two of its objectives for the year. Nickie described not entering a team in the Caribbean Cup in the past as "unfortunate". In August 2014, Sint Maarten was set to co-host the Leeward Islands Tournament which had been dormant at that time for over ten years. However, the tournament was postponed after Sint Maarten withdrew as host because of difficulties with the newly installed lights at the Raoul Illidge Sports Complex and Anguilla, the other host, withdrew for unspecified reasons. One report also indicated that the hosts withdrew because of an "inability to facilitate teams." In May 2015, a match was organized by the SMSA as a showcase for selecting a national team player pool. It was open to all players with a Dutch passport. Although Sint Maarten's senior team was dormant, a youth selection participated in the inaugural CONCACAF Under-15 Championship in August 2013 and