West Asian Football Federation
Formation15 May 2001; 21 years ago (2001-05-15)[1]
TypeSports organization
HeadquartersAmman, Jordan
Membership
12 member associations
President
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein
Websitewww.the-waff.com/eng/ (in English)

The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF; Arabic: اتحاد غرب آسيا لكرة القدم, romanized: Ittiḥād Gharb Āsiyā li-Kurat al-Qadam), founded in 2001, is an association of the football playing nations in Western Asia. Its founding members are Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. In 2009, three more associations joined the federation: Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Four other nations of Western Asia: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia joined in 2010.[2] Iran left the federation on 10 June 2014 with the creation of the Central Asian Football Federation.

They organize the West Asian Football Federation Championship. Some nations were invited to participate in the competition from outside the region. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, which are not members, were invited to participate in the first edition of the tournament in 2000. The Secretary General is the Jordanian Khalil Al Salem.

Member associations

Association Joining year
Bahrain Bahrain 2010
Iraq Iraq 2001 (Founding member)
Jordan Jordan 2001 (Founding member)
Kuwait Kuwait 2010
Lebanon Lebanon 2001 (Founding member)
Oman Oman 2010
State of Palestine Palestine 2001 (Founding member)
Qatar Qatar 2009
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 2010
Syria Syria 2001 (Founding member)
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 2009
Yemen Yemen 2009
Former member
Iran Iran 2001–2014 (Founding member)

Current title holders

See also: Portal:Current events/Sports, 2022 in association football, 2022 in sports by month, and FIFA International Match Calendar

For events postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, see Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports.
Tournament Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition[3] Dates
National teams
WAFF Championship 2019 (Final)  Bahrain 1st  Iraq 2023 (Final) 20 March – 2 April 2023
WAFF U-23 Championship 2022  Saudi Arabia 1st  Qatar TBD
U-18 Championship 2021  Iraq 2nd  Lebanon TBD
U-16 Championship 2022  Jordan 1st  Lebanon TBD
Futsal Championship 2022  Kuwait 1st  Saudi Arabia TBD
Beach Soccer Championship 2022  United Arab Emirates 1st  Oman TBD
National teams (women)
WAFF Women's Championship 2022  Jordan 5th  Lebanon TBD
U-18 Girls' Championship 2022  Lebanon 2nd  Syria 2024 TBD
U-15 Girls' Championship 2019  Lebanon 1st  Jordan 2022 TBD
U-14 Girls' Championship 2022  Jordan 1st  Lebanon TBD
Futsal Women's Championship 2022  Iraq 1st  Saudi Arabia TBD
Club teams (women)
Women's Clubs Championship 2022 Jordan Orthodox Club 1st Lebanon Safa 2023

Rankings

National football team

WAFF Men's National Football Team Ranking by FIFA
Update: 23 June 2022

Women's national football team

WAFF Women's National Football Team Ranking by FIFA
Update: 13 October 2022

National futsal team

WAFF Men's National Futsal Team Ranking by Futsal World Ranking
Update: June 2022

WAFF AFC FIFA Country Points
1 8 41  Kuwait 1073
2 10 45  Iraq 1033
3 11 46  Lebanon 1032
4 14 67  Bahrain 897
5 17 77  Saudi Arabia 855
6 20 88  Qatar 807
7 22 90  Oman 783
8 24 98  United Arab Emirates 697
9 25 102  Palestine 680
* * *  Jordan 877*
* * *  Syria 651*
* * *  Yemen 578*

Women's national futsal team

WAFF Women's National Futsal Team Ranking by The Roon Ba
Update: June 2022

AFF AFC World Country Points
1 5 25  Jordan 5264
2 11 40  Syria 5022
3 15 48  Lebanon 4913
4 16 50  Bahrain 4841
5 18 55  Iraq 4705
6 19 60  Palestine 4494
7 22 65  Saudi Arabia 4300
8 23 67  United Arab Emirates 4253
9 24 69  Kuwait 4180
10 30 76  Qatar 3621
11 31 77  Oman 3438

National beach soccer team

AFF Men's National Beach Soccer Team Ranking by BSWW
Update: December 2021

WAFF Country Points
1  United Arab Emirates 776
2  Oman 500
3  Palestine 118
4  Lebanon 100
5  Bahrain 60
6  Kuwait 49
7  Iraq 41
8  Syria 37
9  Qatar 31
10  Saudi Arabia 30

Controversy

On 29 January 2015, after the defeat of Iraq and the United Arab Emirates during the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, West Asian Football Federation members reportedly sought to remove Australia from the AFC primarily due to "Australia benefiting hugely from Asian involvement without giving much in return".[4]

References

  1. ^ "Chapter 1". Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  2. ^ "WAFF Articles and Definitions". The-waff.com. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
  3. ^ "Championships". www.the-waff.com. West Asian Football Federation (WAFF). Retrieved 4 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Angry Gulf nations leading charge to kick Australia out of Asian Football Confederation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

External links

National men's football teams of Asia (AFC)
Categories