Top football sides could miss 2025 Island Games

Isle of Wight knocked hosts Guernsey out of the Island Games last summer

Some of the biggest football teams that compete at the Island Games could miss out on playing at Orkney 2025.

Organisers have cut the number of teams from 16 to 12 in both the men's and women's events due to a lack of accommodation.

With up to five teams eligible for automatic entry it means there could be just seven other spaces available for the men's tournament, which was over-subscribed as a 16-team event in Guernsey last year.

"It's always been our aspiration to have 16 and 16," Beccy May, vice-chair of Orkney 2025, told the BBC.

"It may be that we have significant progress in terms of our accommodation and accommodation providers on the island and we might be able to elevate the number of teams participating in football to more than 12 and 12.

"But I think we need to make a firm decision at this point, before the year-to-go event, so that our member islands understand what we're aiming for now. That doesn't necessarily mean that won't change in the future.

"We just need to have certainty. We would hate to find ourselves in a position where we were making promises to have 16 and 16 and we wouldn't be able to accommodate those teams because of the issues we've got around accommodation."

Champions Jersey are guaranteed a place at Orkney 2025

While last year's women's tournament only had 10 sides compete, there were 19 men's teams who had hoped to take part in Guernsey 2023.

It led to a draw for the 16-team tournament with Alderney, Hitra and Western Isles all missing out.

Western Isles eventually took part after a place opened up for them, but Alderney and Hitra's omission last year means they are guaranteed a place next summer.

Orkney, as hosts, and Jersey, as reigning champions, will also be assured of spots, as will Faroe Islands, as the hosts in 2029 - although they have not sent a team since 1993 after joining Uefa and Fifa.

But it means there could be as few as seven places available for other islands and a real chance that island footballing powerhouses like Guernsey, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and Ynys Mon could miss out.

Also unsure of a place are Orkney's neighbours and fierce rivals Shetland.

"We were really anxious and nervous about getting into the last games when it was [a] 16-team [tournament] and there were almost as many entries as there were places," said George Smith, the president of the Shetland Football Association.

"This could be even more disappointment, particularly when the games are going to be held in a neighbouring island.

"It's going to be an anxious wait," he added to the BBC.

"What I think needs to happen, if they've got more teams entering than what there are places, is they need to let the islands know as early as possible if they have a place or not.

"You cannot let folk spend the best part of a year preparing for something that they're not going to take part in."

May says concerns over a dilution of quality at Orkney 2025's football tournament need to be tempered by the mission of the Island Games, which is to bring people together in the name of sport.

"The Island Games has never been just about the best people being able to participate," she said.

"It's about island members being able to participate, and that's a really important part of the whole ethos of the Island Games."