Confederation of Independent Football Associations explained

Confederation of Independent Football Associations
Type:	Federation of associations
Membership:	41 Members
Languages:	English is the official language for minutes, correspondence and announcements. French, German,Spanish and Italian are additional languages^[1]
Leader Title:	President
Leader Name:	Per-Anders Blind

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are not affiliated with FIFA.

Competitions

See also: List of association football competitions.

Women's football

All members of CONIFA are encouraged to invest in women's football in their communities, and to create female national selections to play and compete against other CONIFA members.

CONIFA's first ever official women's football match took place on 10 November 2018 in Northern Cyprus, with Sápmi ladies beating their Northern Cyprus hosts 4–0 in the Women's Friendship Cup.^[2] CONIFA announced their first Women's World Football Cup on 31 January 2021, to be hosted by Székely Land between 23 and 30 June 2021 and involve 6 teams.^[3]

Men's

• CONIFA World Football Cup
• CONIFA European Football Cup
• CONIFA Africa Football Cup
• CONIFA South America Football Cup
• CONIFA No Limits European Championship
• CONIFA Asian Football Cup

Women's

• CONIFA Women's World Football Cup

Futsal

• CONIFA No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup

National leagues sanctioned by CONIFA

• Liga de Balompié Mexicano^[4]

Current title holders

Competition		Year	Champions	Title	Runners-up		Next edition^[5]
World Championship
World Football Cup							June
Women's World Football Cup		2024 (final)					TBD
Continental Championship
European Football Cup		2019 (final)					TBD
Africa Football Cup		2022					TBD
South America Football Cup		2022	Maule Sur		Mapuche		TBD
North America Football Cup							TBD
Asia Football Cup		2023			Hmong FF		TBD
Futsal Championship
CONIFA No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup		2021 (final)					TBD

Members

Types of members

CONIFA expressly uses the term "members" rather than "countries" or "states". A football association may be eligible to apply for membership of CONIFA if it, or the entity (ethnic and/or linguistic minority, indigenous group, cultural organization, territory) it represents, is not a member of FIFA and satisfies one or more of the following criteria:

• The football association is a member of one of the six continental confederations of FIFA, which are: AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC, UEFA.
• The entity represented by the football association is a member of the International Olympic Committee.
• The entity represented by the football association is a member of one of the member federations of Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF).
• The entity represented by the football association is in possession of an ISO 3166-1 country code.
• The entity represented by the football association is a de facto independent territory. A territory is considered de facto independent if it meets all of the following criteria: (a) a well-defined territory; (b) a permanent population; (c) an autonomous government, and (d) diplomatic recognition by at least one of the member states of the United Nations.
• The entity represented by the football association is included on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories.
• The entity represented by the football association is included in the directory of countries and territories of the Travelers' Century Club.
• The entity represented by the football association is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and/or the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN).
• The entity represented by the football association is a minority included in the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, maintained and published by Minority Rights Group International.
• The entity represented by the football association is a linguistic minority, the language of which is included on the List of ISO 639-2 codes.

List of members

Current

As of ^[6]

Team

Hmong FF
Kashmir
Pakistan All-Stars^[7]

Team

^[8]
Katanga
Yoruba

Team

ANBM
Cascadia
Kiskeya
Kuskatan^[9]

Team

Armenian Argentine Community^[10]
Aymara^[11]
Guna People
Mapuche
Maule Sur
São Paulo FAD

Former

Team

Karen
Lezghian
Ryūkyū

Team

Rapa Nui

Leadership

Vice-Presidents of ConIFA

Vice-Presidents of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Malcolm Blackburn		2014	2016
2	Kristof Wenczel		2015	Incumbent
3	Dimitri Pagave		2016	Incumbent

General Secretaries

General Secretaries of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Sascha Düerkop		7 June 2013	30 April 2020
2	Jason Heaton		30 April 2020	2 August 2021
3	Piotr Podlewski		2 August 2021	7 August 2022
4	Jeroen Zandberg		7 August 2022	Incumbent

Africa President

Africa President of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Masoud Attai		7 June 2013	2017
2	Justin Walley		2017	2020
3	Christian Lubasi Luzongo Kalalaluka		2020	2022
4	Ngala Maimo Wajiri		2022	Incumbent

Asian President

Asian President of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Tariq Abdulrahman		7 June 2013	2017
2	Jens Jockel		2017	2020
3	Motoko Jitsukawa		2020	2022
4	Ruby-Ann Kagaoan		2022	Incumbent

Latin America President

Latin America President of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Jens Jockel		2013	2017
2	Zam Gutierrez		2017	2019
3	Diego Bartolotta		2019	Incumbent

North American and Caribbean President

North American and Caribbean President of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Mark Dieler		2013	2017
2	Noah Wheelock		2017	2020
3	Aaron Johnsen		2020	Incumbent

Oceanian President

Oceanian President of ConIFA! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

1	Charles Reklai Mitchell		2014	2017
2	Ben Schultz		2017	Incumbent

Directors of Women’s Football

Directors of Women's Football! No. !! Name !! Country of origin !! Took office !! Left office

–	Cassie Childers		6 September 2017	2019
1	Kelly Lindsey		February 2019	28 February 2020
2	Håkan Kuorak		28 February 2020	???
3	Norma Aguilera		???	Incumbent

See also

• Non-FIFA international football
  • New Football Federations-Board World Unity Football Alliance – Several CONIFA members also hold membership of the WUFA.
• CONIFA World Football Cup
• CONIFA European Football Cup

Notes and References

1. Web site: CONIFA Constitution. 1 November 2019. 19 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190819034652/http://www.conifa.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CONIFA-Constitution-ver-201711.pdf. live.
2. Web site: Sapmi Take Historic Win in First Women's Match. CONIFA. 2018-11-25. 2018-11-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20181118164719/http://www.conifa.org/en/2018/11/17/sapmi-take-historic-win-in-first-womens-match/. dead.
3. Web site: CONIFA Announces First-Ever Women’s World Football Cup. CONIFA. 2021-02-04. 2021-01-31. https://web.archive.org/web/20210131085257/http://www.conifa.org/en/2021/01/31/conifa-announce-first-ever-womens-world-football-cup/. dead.
4. Web site: CONIFA Sanctions Liga de Balompié Mexicano, its First-Ever Professional League. CONIFA. 7 July 2020. 9 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200709140346/http://www.conifa.org/en/2020/07/09/conifa-sanctions-liga-de-balompie-mexicano-its-first-ever-professional-league/. live.
5. Web site: Calendar . www.conifa.org . Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) . 18 June 2022 . 10 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220610213926/http://www.conifa.org/en/calendar/ . live .
6. Web site: Members . www.conifa.org . Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) . 8 March 2023 . 17 December 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211217041901/https://www.conifa.org/en/members/ . live .
7. Web site: Pakistan Football Association joins CONIFA. 2023-07-01.
8. Web site: Biafra De Facto Customary Government to participate in maiden CONIFA African Tournament. standardobservers.com. 2022-12-24. 2022-12-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20221224082117/https://standardobservers.com/biafra-de-facto-customary-government-to-participate-in-maiden-conifa-african-tournament/. live.
9. Web site: Kuskatan joins CONIFA, reminds us of Latin American potential. kickingtheglobe.substack.com. 2022-12-23. 2022-12-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20221223095704/https://kickingtheglobe.substack.com/p/kuskatan-joins-conifa-reminds-us. live.
10. Web site: Profile. 2022-12-24. 2022-12-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20221224201145/https://www.conifa.org/en/members/sfaa/. live.
11. Web site: CONIFA – The Guerrilla Alternative. hamptonthink.org. 2022-12-24. 2023-06-30. https://web.archive.org/web/20230630113330/https://www.conifa.org/en/pakistan-football-association-joins-conifa/. live.