Karpatalya claimed their maiden CONIFA World Football Cup title after defeating Northern Cyprus 3-2 on penalties in the final at Enfield Town’s Queen Elizabeth II Stadium.

The Hungarians, heralding from Carpathian Ruthenia in south-western Ukraine, held their nerve in front of a record crowd of 2,500 in the tournament for states, minorities, regions and stateless peoples not affiliated to FIFA.

That came after a goalless and rather uninspiring final, despite the boisterousness of those in attendance with flare-wielding Karpatalya supporters at one end of the ground creating quite the spectacle.

Both sides would have been familiar with one another having met in the group stages of the competition where they played out a 1-1 draw.

Indeed, Karpatalya’s journey to the final consisted of disposing of Abkhazia and thrashing Tibet 5-1 in the group stages, before seeing off Cascadia in the quarter-final and fellow Hungarians Szekely Land 4-2 in the semis.

But the first half of the final was firmly one where both defences reigned supreme, with precious few chances created for either side. Only Alex Svedjuk’s speculative long-range effort threatened to test either goalkeeper.

After the break, Svedjuk continued to look Karpatalya’s biggest threat alongside one of the players of the tournament, Gyorgyi Toma, forcing Northern Cyprus goalkeeper Hasan Piro into action early in the second period.

The best opportunity for Northern Cyprus was of a gilt-edged variety, arriving with less than 10 minutes of regulation to play. Arif Uysal ought to have hit the target only to head his effort wide from inside the box – a miss his side would live to regret.

Neither side could force a winner in the little time that remained, with the last blast of the whistle from former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg taking the game straight to penalties.

Former St Mirren striker Billy Mehmet was one of two Northern Cyprus players to miss from 12 yards to hand Karpatalya the early initiative.

The Hungarians would then strike the woodwork from the spot, sending the destiny of the final back into the balance.

However, Dmitrii Maskaev subsequently kept his cool, where Halil Turnan did not, to hand Karpatalya a 3-2 victory and send their travelling contingent into raptures.

Meanwhile, in the third-fourth place play-off, neither Padania nor Szekely Land could avoid the dreaded penalty shoot-out after they too battled out a goalless 0-0 draw.

Riccardio Ravasi went closest for Italian team Padania in regulation time before two misses from the spot from Szekely Land handed Marco Garavelli the chance to secure victory, and the bronze finish, and he duly obliged to secure a 5-4 win.