THE Kernow Football Alliance have discovered their three opponents for the group stage of the 2020 CONIFA World Football Cup.

Kernow have been drawn into Group C alongside South American side Mapuche, African team Matabeleland and the Australian First Nations team from Oceania.

The tournament, which will take place between May 30 and June 7 in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia, is the flagship competition for CONIFA, which is the football governing body for non-FIFA affiliated nations.

The Kernow FA became one of CONIFA's 59 member nations in November 2018, and played their first-ever match in February of last year, a 3-2 win against a Foxhole Stars XI.

The World Football Cup sees 16 non-FIFA affiliated nations battle to be crowned the CONIFA world champions.

The 16 teams have been drawn into four groups of four teams, with all teams from within a group playing each other in a round-robin format.

The top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stages, while the bottom two teams from each group advance to the placement rounds, ensuring all 16 teams play six matches.

The only confirmed venue for the tournament is the 36,460 capacity Toše Proeski National Arena in Skopje, which hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Who are Kernow's World Cup opponents?

Kernow, who are managed by Darren Gilbert and Phil Lafferty, will face South American side Mapuche, African team Matabeleland and the Australian First Nations team from Oceania in the group stage.

While Mapuche and Australian First Nations are also making their debuts in this year's event, the Zimbabwean region of Matabeleland are making their second appearance after featuring the 2018 edition in London.

The team, who boasted former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar as goalkeeping coach, beat Tuvalu and lost to Padania and Szekely Land to exit at the group stage, before losing to African side Kabylia on penalties in the first placement round.

They went on to win their final two placement games against Chagos Islands and Tamil Eelam to finish 13th of 16 teams.

Kernow will also face fellow debutants Mapuche, which represents the namesake indigenous inhabitants of parts of Chile, Argentina and Patagonia in South America.

The team, who won the Chilean National Football Championship of Originating Peoples in 2015, announced its affiliation to CONIFA in May 2019, becoming the first South American team to be part of the organization.

The Australian First Nations are also making their debut after joining CONIFA in November 2018. Australian First Nations Mariya, the FA’s full name, represents the indigenous peoples of Australia.

They made their international debut in 2019 in the ‘Clash of Culture’ series, when the Mariya men and women’s sides took on the Aotearoa Football side, representing New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people. The men’s side lost 3-2, while the women lost 5-0.

2020 CONIFA World Football Cup draw in full:

Group A

Parishes of Jersey

Panjab

Kurdistan

Chagos Islands

Group B

Karpatalya

Western Armenia

Tamil Eelam

Kabylia

Group C

Mapuche

Matabeleland

Kernow

Australian First Nations

Group D

South Ossetia

Cascadia

United Koreans in Japan

Darfur