The Isle of Man national men’s and women’s football teams could potentially miss out on a spot at next year’s Island Games in Orkney. 

Organisers of the 2025 edition have been forced to cut the number of both men’s and women’s teams from 16 to 12 as a result of a lack of accommodation in the Scottish archipelago. 

Hosts Orkney and reigning champions Jersey will be guaranteed a spot next year, as will Alderney and Hitra after they missed out on the 2023 Games in Guernsey in similar circumstances. 

Faroe Islands, who will host the 2027 Games, can also claim one of the guaranteed spots for next year, although it is unclear whether they will do so as the Danish territory have not sent a team since 1993 after joining UEFA and FIFA. 

All this means that there could only be a few places remaining for the rest of the nations that compete in the Games, one of them being the Isle of Man. 

Also potentially missing out are the likes of Guernsey, Ynys Mon (Anglesey) and the Isle of Wight.  

Beccy May, vice-chair of the Orkney 2025 organising committee, hasn’t ruled out the possibility of increasing the number of teams nearer the time, saying: ‘It's always been our aspiration to have 16 and 16. 

‘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.’