West African Football Union

West African Football Union
	Zone A Zone B
Formation	1975
Type	Sports organization
Region served	West Africa
Membership	Zone A – 9 members Cape Verde ; Gambia ; Guinea ; Guinea-Bissau ; Liberia ; Mali ; Mauritania ; Senegal ; Sierra Leone ; Zone B – 7 members Benin ; Burkina Faso ; Ghana ; Ivory Coast ; Niger ; Nigeria ; Togo ;
Official language	English, French and Portuguese
President	Kwesi Nyantakyi
Affiliations	CAF, FIFA
Website	https://wafucup.com

The West African Football Union (French: Union des Fédérations Ouest-Africaines de Football; Portuguese: União das Federações Oeste Africanas), officially abbreviated as WAFU-UFOA and WAFU, is an association of the football playing nations in West Africa. It was the brainchild of the Senegal Football Federation who requested that the nations belonging to CAF's Zone A and B meet and hold a regular competitive tournament. The union organises several competitions including the WAFU Nations Cup and in 2008 they organised an under-20 championship.

Current members

The union was founded in 1975 with all the current members, but in 2011 the Confederation of African Football decided to split it into two zones, citing "the organisational issues that face WAFU."^[1]^[2]

Zone A (Niger)
Zone B (Volta Niger)

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

List

Country	Zone	Governing body
Cape Verde	Zone A	Cape Verdean Football Federation
Gambia		Gambia Football Association
Guinea		Guinean Football Federation
Guinea-Bissau		Football Federation of Guinea-Bissau
Liberia		Liberia Football Association
Mali		Malian Football Federation
Mauritania		Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Senegal		Senegalese Football Federation
Sierra Leone		Sierra Leone Football Association
Benin	Zone B	Benin Football Federation
Burkina Faso		Burkinabé Football Federation
Ghana		Ghana Football Association
Ivory Coast		Ivorian Football Federation
Niger		Nigerien Football Federation
Nigeria		Nigeria Football Federation
Togo		Togolese Football Federation

Competitions

WAFU runs several competitions which cover men's, women's, youth.

Competition	Holders	Next event
WAFU Nations Cup	Senegal (2019)	2021
WAFU Zone B Women's Cup	Nigeria (2019)	2021
WAFU Zone A Women's Cup	Senegal (2019)
WAFU Zone A U-20 Championship	Senegal (2019)	2020
WAFU Zone B U-20 Tournament	Senegal (2018)	2020
Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification Africa U-17 Cup of Nations qualification	Nigeria 2018 Senegal 2018	2020 2020
UEMOA Tournament	Togo (2016)

Defunct Competitions

Competition	Years
Amílcar Cabral Cup	1979–2007
CEDEAO Cup	1977–1981
West African Nations Cup	1982–1987
West African Club Championship	1977–2011

Presidents

The union's current president is actually Amos Adamu, but he was banned for three years from football activity by FIFA over vote-buying claims for the bids of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. Kwesi Nyantakyi was appointed interim president in Adamu's absence. Adamu has since appealed the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.^[2]

K. Tandoh (1975–1977)
Seyi Memene (1977–1984)
Abdoulaye Fofana (1984–1988)
Jonathan Boytie Ogufere (1988–1994)
Dieng Ousseynou (1994–1999)
Abdulmumini Aminu (1999–2002)
El Hadji Malick Sy (2002–2004)
Jacques Anouma (2004–2008)^[3]
Amos Adamu (2008–2010)
Kwesi Nyantakyi (2011–present)

FIFA Ranking

Men's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.^[4]

WAFU	FIFA	Country	Points	+/−
1	20	Senegal	1546
2	35	Nigeria	1481	1
3	51	Ghana	1426
4	56	Ivory Coast	1392
5	59	Mali	1386	2
6	60	Burkina Faso	1378	1
7	77	Cape Verde	1319	1
8	78	Guinea	1317	4
9	82	Benin	1293	1
10	117	Sierra Leone	1167
11	123	Guinea-Bissau	1155
12	124	Togo	1140
13	152	Liberia	1047
14	166	Gambia	990