West African Football Union Explained

Map:WAFU.svg
Region Served:West Africa
Language:English, French and Portuguese
Leader Title:President
Affiliations:CAF, FIFA

The West African Football Union (fr|Union des Fédérations Ouest-Africaines de Football; pt|União das Federações Oeste Africanas), officially abbreviated as WAFU-UFOA and WAFU, is a sports governing body representing the football associations in West Africa that was founded in 1975 and is a subregional body of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

It mainly organizes qualifying tournaments/championships for the CAF Women's Champions League and CAF's national team competitions except the Africa Cup of Nations, but also organizes its own competitions, like the currently-inactive WAFU Nations Cup.

Presidents

Member associations

WAFU consists of all football associations of West Africa, but got split into two zones by CAF, who cited "organisational issues facing WAFU."[3]

Mauritania is the only WAFU member to also be a member of the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA).

CountryZoneGoverning body
Zone ACape Verdean Football Federation
Gambia Football Association
Guinean Football Federation
Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau
Liberia Football Association
Malian Football Federation
Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Senegalese Football Federation
Sierra Leone Football Association
Zone BBenin Football Federation
Burkinabé Football Federation
Ghana Football Association
Ivorian Football Federation
Nigerien Football Federation
Nigeria Football Federation
Togolese Football Federation

Competitions

See also: List of association football competitions and FIFA International Match Calendar. WAFU runs main and qualifying competitions covering men, women and youth.

Current title holders

See also: FIFA International Match Calendar.

CompetitionYearChampionsRank/ScoreRunners-upNext editionDates
National teams (men)
WAFU Nations Cup20191stTBDTBD
WAFU Zone A Nations CupTBDTBD
Zone A U-20 Championship20243stTBDTBD
Zone B U-20 Championship20241st
Zone A U-17 Championship2025TBDTBD
Zone B U-17 Championship20243–1[4]
Zone A U-15 Championship20223–0[5] TBDTBD
Zone A Schools Championship2022 CS Ben Sekou Sylla1st New YundumTBDTBD
Zone B Schools Championship2022 CEG Sainte Rita1st CS Venus SaiouaTBDTBD
WAFU Zone A Beach SoccerTBDTBD
National teams (women)
Zone A Women's Cup20232ndTBDTBD
Zone B Women's Cup20191stTBDTBD
WAFU Zone A U20 Women's Cup2024TBDTBD
WAFU Zone B U20 Women's Cup20231stTBDTBD
WAFU Zone B U17 Women's Cup202412 - 26 Dec
Zone A Girls Schools Championship2022 Scan Aid1st Ecole Congresso De CassacaTBDTBD
Zone B Girls Schools Championship2022 CEG Colby1st Ecole Chanvigny BTBDTBD
Clubs (women)
CAF Women's Champions League Qualifiers (Zone A)2024 Aigles de la Médina Mogbwemo Queens2025TBD
CAF Women's Champions League Qualifiers (Zone B)2024 Ainonvi FC2025TBD

Defunct competitions

CompetitionDuration
CEDEAO Cup1977–1991
West African Club Championship1977–2011
Amílcar Cabral Cup1979–2007
West African Nations Cup1982–1987
UEMOA Tournament2007–2016
WAFU U20 Women's Cup Proposed for 2022 but never happened [6] [7] [8]

FIFA World Rankings

Men's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.[9]

WAFUZoneFIFACountryPoints+/-
1A171624.73
2B301520.27
3A381498.8 1
4B441477.9 1
5B621390.38
6B651425.64 1
6B681358.77 1
7A761324.65 1
8A971225.68
9B1051195.5
10A1131170.34 6
11B1131163.44 1
12A1261137.36 2
13B1291125.5 1
14A1301114.8 1
16A1521029.58
Last updated 4 April 2024

Top-ranked men's national football teamsImageSize = width:150 height:700PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyyPeriod = from:01/01/2009 till:24/10/2019ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2009TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy

Colors = id:NGA value:blue id:CIV value:yellow id:GHA value:magenta id:CPV value:green id:SEN value:red

PlotData = bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S

from:01/01/2009 till:01/07/2009 shift:(20,-3) text:"Nigeria" color:NGA from:01/07/2009 till:03/02/2010 shift:(20,-12) text:"Ivory Coast" color:CIV from:03/02/2010 till:14/07/2010 shift:(20,-4) text:"Nigeria" color:NGA from:14/07/2010 till:29/06/2011 shift:(20,-4) text:"Ghana" color:GHA from:29/06/2011 till:03/03/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"Ivory Coast" color:CIV from:03/03/2016 till:07/04/2016 shift:(20,-11) text:"Cape Verde" color:CPV from:07/04/2016 till:11/08/2016 shift:(20,-11) text:"Ivory Coast" color:CIV from:11/08/2016 till:15/09/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"Ghana" color:GHA from:15/09/2016 till:24/11/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"Ivory Coast" color:CIV from:24/11/2016 till: end shift:(20,-4) text:"Senegal" color:SEN

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 29 September 2008. Wafu Cup to make a comeback. BBC Sport. 2 January 2010. Amos Adamu, president of Wafu,....
  2. Web site: 11 June 2018. Nyantakyi resigns from FIFA, CAF, and WAFU positions. Graphic Online. 9 October 2022.
  3. Web site: 17 May 2011. West African Football Union (Wafu) disbanded by Caf. BBC Sport. 21 October 2012.
  4. Web site: 29 May 2024. Tapsoba double fires Burkina Faso to WAFU B U-17 AFCON qualifying title. CAFOnline.com. 30 May 2024.
  5. Web site: 21 August 2022. Senegal win WAFU A U15 boys tournament. CAFOnline.com. 21 August 2022.
  6. https://matinlibre.com/2021/10/27/coupe-ufoa-des-nations-u-20-feminine-necessite-de-vite-remettre-au-travail-ouzerou-et-ses-filles/
  7. Web site: UFOA : Un nouveau tournoi pour les sélections nationales féminines U20 – Le Kpakpato Sportif. 23 October 2021.
  8. Web site: UFOA : La 1ère édition du tournoi U20 féminin et prévue au Ghana 2022. 27 October 2021.
  9. Web site: The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men). FIFA. 30 May 2024.

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