Martinique national football team Martinique national football team The Martinique national football team () represents the French overseas department and region of Martinique in international football. The team is controlled by the Ligue de Football de la Martinique (), a local branch of French Football Federation (). On 7 August 2010, the national team adopted the nickname "Les Matinino", which pays tribute to the history of the island. As an overseas department of the French Republic, Martinique is not a member of FIFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup or any competition organised first-hand by the organisation. Martiniquais, being
Martinique Spain had little interest in the territory. On 15 September 1635, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc, French governor of the island of St. Kitts, landed in the harbor of St. Pierre with 150 French settlers after being driven off St. Kitts by the English. D'Esnambuc claimed Martinique for the French King Louis XIII and the French "Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique" (Company of the American Islands), and established the first European settlement at Fort Saint-Pierre (now St. Pierre). D'Esnambuc died in 1636, leaving the company and Martinique in the hands of his nephew, Jacques Dyel du Parquet, who in 1637, became governor