Territories On the International Stage

We're in the midst of the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which are taking place in Glasgow.  One of the unique things about the Commonwealth Games is how it's the only multi-sport competition where the four nations that make up Great Britain compete separately.  England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own national teams in several sports (soccer and rugby being the most prominent), but always combine as Team GB for the Olympics.  It isn't just the four Home Nations, either.  All of the British territories field separate teams at the Commonwealth Games.

For many of these athletes, the Commonwealth Games are their only opportunity to represent their native territory instead of Great Britain as a whole.  Not all of them, though.  The British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda all have their own Olympic committees and field their own Olympic team, as does the Cook Islands, which is an associated state of New Zealand.  Whether the others want to represent Great Britain or not, they don't have a choice.  Because the IOC no longer recognizes Olympic committees that aren't from independent states.

The IOC made that rule change in 1996, with territories that already competed separately grandfathered in.  That's why Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands continue to have their own Olympic teams, as do the aforementioned British territories, as well as Aruba and Hong Kong (a former British territory).  There are actually 13 more IOC members than UN members, including Palestine, Kosovo and Taiwan (aka Chinese Taipei), internationally recognized countries that aren't UN members for mainly political reasons.

FIFA actually has more recognized members than the IOC does, but IOC membership has become very restrictive because of its sovereignty requirement.  The most recent new nations to join the Olympic family (not counting the Refugee Olympic Team or the various names for Russia at recent Games) were Kosovo and South Sudan in 2016.  As it stands, they'll be the last for a while.  But should they be?  Or should the IOC go back to the old rule and set a pathway for more territories with their own Olympic committees to compete separately?

This became a topic of discussion at IOC headquarters fairly recently.  The Faroe Islands (which has a UEFA-recognized soccer team) and Greenland are both semi-autonomous territories of Denmark.  It was actually the Danish Parliament that submitted the request to the IOC for those two to be given Olympic recognition.  The request was denied, however, since neither the Faroe Islands or Greenland qualifies as a "country" under the 1996 definition.  Their athletes are still free to participate in the LA Games, but they'd have to represent Denmark.

One of the reasons the discussion came about is because the men's handball team from the Faroe Islands will make its debut at the 2027 World Championships.  That tournament serves as an Olympic qualifier.  The Faroese women made their World Championships debut in 2025, and qualifying for 2027 is still ongoing.  So, there's a chance they could be in both World Championships next year.  However, they won't be taking part in either 2028 Olympic tournament no matter what.

There's also a question about Olympic participation for the Haudenosaunee lacrosse team.  The Haudenosaunee represents the Iroquois Confederacy in international lacrosse and is actually ranked third in the world on the men's side.  However, the Iroquois Confederacy, like all other Native American groups, lacks its own NOC.  With lacrosse back in the Olympics at the LA Games, though, there's obvious interest in seeing the Haudenosaunee there.  They have the support of both the U.S. and Canada, but, as of now, no word from the IOC.  A decision needs to come soon, though, since qualifying starts soon.

Based on the IOC's ruling regarding the Faroe Islands and Greenland, the chances of the Haudenosaunee playing in the 2028 Olympic lacrosse tournaments don't seem very good.  Although, there's also a precedent for making an exception allowing them to play.  Lacrosse was first played at the World Games in 2022, and the Haudenosaunee qualified based on their bronze-medal finish at the 2018 World Championships.  However, they were later ruled ineligible because the Iroquois don't have a National Olympic Committee.  That disqualification was eventually overturned and they took part in both the men's and women's events.

That case is specific to lacrosse, which is what makes it a little more complicated.  The Haudenosaunee really has no other reason to form an NOC, and lacrosse isn't even guaranteed to stay on the Olympic program beyond LA (although, Australia has a strong national team, so there's a chance we'll see it again in 2032).  So, I can see where the IOC wouldn't make the exception and allow the Haudenosaunee to participate in the lacrosse tournaments.  Especially since it would be sending a mixed message to all of those territories that do have their own NOCs and are desperate for IOC recognition of their own.

Should the IOC soften its stance on territories competing in the Olympics on their own, they wouldn't need to go crazy.  Some of these territories may not even necessarily want to or have the capacity to field their own separate Olympic team.  And they absolutely need to have their own NOC first.  That should be the first requirement.  But some of these places do already have that.  So, why not give them the opportunity to represent their territory at the Olympics?

One territory I'm thinking of specifically is Curacao.  Curacao, of course, is having quite a year with the soccer team playing in the World Cup for the first time and Andruw Jones being inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Curacao was once a part of the Netherlands Antilles, which had its own Olympic team until its dissolution in 2010.  Since then, athletes from Curacao have only had the option of representing the Netherlands.  (The Dutch team at the World Baseball Classic was made up mainly of players from Curacao.)

Then there's Macau, which, like Hong Kong, is a special administrative region of China.  Macau is unique in that its athletes compete under their own flag at the Paralympics, but not the Olympics.  Macau has had its own Olympic Committee since 1987, and China supports Macau having its own team, just as Hong Kong does.  However, since Macau isn't an independent state, their case is complicated.  It becomes even more complicated by the fact that Macau law prevents their athletes from competing for China.  So, they have no chance at all of going to the Olympics right now!

While I doubt it would ever happen, the idea of a separate Scottish Olympic team has been tossed about in the past.  And the topic has again been broached with them currently hosting the Commonwealth Games.  Since the British Olympic Association represents all four of the Home Nations and the country is recognized as "Great Britain," Scotland would need to separate itself for that process to even begin.  And you can bet there would be plenty of resistance from England and Wales about that.  So, that one seems unlikely (even though the Great Britain curling team is exclusively represented by Scottish players).

It's understandable that the IOC grandfathered in those territories that were already competing separately at the Olympics when they created the "sovereign nation" requirement in 1996.  And, even though it sounds like it, I'm not advocating they remove that requirement.  All I'm suggesting is that they make it a little more flexible.  Especially in situations like the Faroe Islands, which already has its own Olympic Committee and had the support of Denmark.  In cases like that (or Macau's), I'd like to see some room for an exception to be made.