It is a constitutional monarchy, with a prince as head of state, its own anthem, shield and a currency called the dollar, linked to the US currency. It issues stamps and sells noble titles (becoming a duke or duchess costs 550 euros, but to be a lord or lady, only 35). He has submitted a song to the Eurovision Song Contest, but it was not admitted. If Bhutan charges tourists a fee of 250 euros a day, this micronation, or whatever you want to call it, goes even further and is completely closed to tourism. He has rejected a coup attempt and has offered himself as a refuge to Julian Assange (founder of Wikileaks), Ah! And it has its own selection.
This is Sealand, a naval bunker six nautical miles off the English coast of Suffolk, in the North Sea, the size of half a football field, built in 1942 by the British government to protect the Thames estuary with its anti-aircraft batteries. from Luftwaffe attacks. After being abandoned in the 1950s, a pirate radio operator named Paddy Roy Bates built a home in its reinforced concrete towers and settled with his wife, Joan, and their two children, much like Robinson Crusoe, but in a much less sweet than an island in the South Pacific, without palm trees, or parrots, or piña coladas. Just the hurricane winds and the waves of the Atlantic.
Thousands of people officially have Sealand citizenship, for which all you have to do is fill out an online form, pay a fee and give a valid reason for wanting it, such as saying “I love the country” or “I feel identified with their values” (whatever they may be). And to be part of its soccer team – not recognized by FIFA – you don't even have to be a native or reside in the principality (which is complicated because it only has two inhabitants, Prince Michael and his son Liam, who spend almost all the time time in England).
Gathering fourteen or fifteen players is not, however, a serious problem for the national coach Ed Stubbs, who draws mainly from English, Scottish and Welsh amateurs from the lower categories, and some celebrities from the world of sports, music and entertainment. who are not bad at kicking the ball at all and want to show off being international. Sealand, yes, does not compete with Germany, France or Italy, but its potential rivals are Alderney, the Vatican, Sardinia, Tibet, Occitania, Cornwall, Elba, the Isle of Man or the Sri Lankan Tamil community in exile . It disputes the home games in Godalming (Surrey county). Facing Monaco would be a dream. San Marino, not dreaming of it.
In 1978, Prince Michael personally repelled, with a helicopter and in true James Bond style, a coup attempt perpetrated by the Foreign Minister, a German businessman and associate of his. It is the key episode in the history of the principality, its particular Vietnam, its Waterloo, its Pearl Harbor, its Hiroshima.
If the UK calls the Falklands Falklands, Sealand is referred to as Roughs Tower, the name of the naval platform it established eighty years ago. It can be bought for 750 million euros, and no one recognizes it as a nation. But at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, its flag appeared on the list of those that FIFA banned from stadiums, along with the Catalan flag, the Somaliland flag and terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda and Al Shabab. It has internet, telephone, electricity and its own soccer team. Also American football, the Seahawks, like the ones in Seattle!
