While the United Nations (UN) recognises 193 sovereign states, FIFA recognises 211. By recognising territories that fall outside the UN's definition of statehood, FIFA establishes its own framework for territorial legitimacy. Football is more than a globally beloved sport; it operates as an alternative geopolitical regime. In this way, football challenges hegemonic understandings of borders and nationhood, transforming football into a site where geopolitical claims are asserted and contested.

Through a forensic and cartographic approach, FC TECTONICS examines football fields from a satellite perspective, revealing how they carve out spaces within landscapes defined by the UN. These fields become diplomatic representative of FIFA's geopolitical framework, functioning as sites where international recognition, local territorial claims, and competing understandings of sovereignty intersect.

LA