West Asian Football Federation

West Asian Football Federation
	File:West Asian Football Federation.PNG WAFF logo
	WAFF members
Formation	15 May 2001
Type	Sports organization
Headquarters	Amman, Jordan
Membership	12 member associations
President	Prince Ali bin Al Hussein
Website	The-WAFFF.com

The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF), 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 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.

History

Presidents

Prince Ali has in fact founded the WAFF.^[3]

President	Years
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein	2001 – present

Vice-Presidents

Vice-President	Years
Hassan Ghaffari	2001 – 2011
Ali Kafashian	2011 – 2014
Jibril Al Rajoub	2014 – present

General Secretary

President	Years
Khalil Al Salem	2017 – present

Member associations

WAFF has 12 member associations. All of them are members of the Asian Football Confederation.

Association	Joining year	Men's team	Women's team
Bahrain	2010	Bahrain	Bahrain
Iraq	2001 (Founding Member)	Iraq	Iraq
Jordan	2001 (Founding Member)	Jordan	Jordan
Kuwait	2010	Kuwait	Kuwait
Lebanon	2001 (Founding Member)	Lebanon	Lebanon
Oman	2010	Oman	–
Palestine	2001 (Founding Member)	Palestine	Palestine
Qatar	2009	Qatar	Qatar
Saudi Arabia	2010	Saudi Arabia	–
Syria	2001 (Founding Member)	Syria	Syria
United Arab Emirates	2009	United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates
Yemen	2009	Yemen	–

Former members

Iran (Founding Member) 2001–2014; created the Central Asian Football Association.^[4]

Competitions

WAFF competitions

WAFF runs several competitions which cover men's, women's, youth and futsal.

Current title holders

Competition	Year	Champions	Title	Runners-up	Next edition
National teams (Men's)
WAFF Championship	2019	Bahrain	1st	Iraq	2021
U-23 Championship	2015	Iran	1st	Syria
U-18 Championship	2019	Iraq	1st	United Arab Emirates	2020
U-15 Championship	2019	Saudi Arabia	1st	Jordan
Futsal Championship	2012	Iran	2nd	Jordan
Beach Soccer Championship	2013	Iran	1st	Oman
National teams (Women's)
WAFF Women's Championship	2019	Jordan	4th	Bahrain
U-18 Girls' Championship	2019	Lebanon	1st	Bahrain
U-15 Girls' Championship	2019	Lebanon
Futsal Women's Championship	2012	Iran	2nd	Jordan
Club teams (Women's)
Women's Clubs Championship	2019	Shabab Al-Ordon	1st	SAS

Major tournaments

FIFA World Cup

Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	1		8	37
Team	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2018	2022	2026	Total	inclusive WC Qual.
Saudi Arabia											•	•	•	•	R16	GS	GS	GS	•	•	GS			5	10
UAE													•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•			1	8
Iraq										•		•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•			1	9
Kuwait										•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•				1	10
Qatar											•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	q		1	10

Legend

1st – Champion
2nd – Runner-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
QF – Quarterfinals
R16 – Round of 16 (since 1986)
GS – Group Stage (1930 and since 1950)
1R – First Round (1934 and 1938)

q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
• — Did not qualify
— Did not enter
— Withdrew
— Banned
— Hosts

AFC Asian Cup

Total	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	5	6	3	5	5	8	6	8	9	11		63
Team	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2007	2011	2015	2019	2023	Total appearances
Kuwait					GS	2nd	1st	3rd	GS		4th	QF	GS		GS	GS			10
Saudi Arabia								1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	2nd	GS	GS	R16		10
UAE							GS	GS	GS	4th	2nd		GS	GS	GS	3rd	SF		10
Qatar							GS	GS	GS	GS		QF	GS	GS	QF	GS	1st		10
Iraq					GS	4th					QF	QF	QF	1st	QF	4th	R16		9
Syria							GS	GS	GS		GS				GS		GS		6
Bahrain									GS				4th	GS	GS	GS	R16		6
Oman													GS	GS		GS	R16		4
Jordan													QF		QF	GS	R16		4
Palestine																GS	GS		2
Lebanon												GS					GS		2
Yemen																	GS		1

Legend

1st – Champion
2nd – Runner-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
SF – Semifinals
QF – Quarterfinals
R16 – Round of 16
GS – Group Stage

F — Ongoing tournament (Finalist)
— Did not enter/qualify
— Withdrew
— Banned
— Hosts

FIFA Confederations Cup

Team	1992	1995	1997	1999	2001	2003	2005	2009	2013	2017	Years
Saudi Arabia	2nd	GS	GS	4th	•	•	•	•	•	•	4
Iraq	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	1
United Arab Emirates	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Total	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	6

Summer Olympics

Legend

1st – Champions
2nd – Runners-up
3rd – Third place
4th – Fourth place
QF – Quarter-finals
GS – Group stage
Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
•• — Qualified but withdrew
• — Did not qualify / enter
— Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team	1900 to 1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020	Total
Iraq	•	QF	GS	GS	•	•	•	4th	•	•	GS	•	5
Saudi Arabia	•	•	GS	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	q	3
Kuwait	•	QF	•	•	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	3
Qatar	•	•	GS	•	QF	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
United Arab Emirates	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	1
Syria	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Total	0	3	3	1	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	14

Rankings

Men's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.^[5]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points	+/−
5	55	Qatar	1398	2
6	67	Saudi Arabia	1351	2
7	70	Iraq	1340	4
8	71	United Arab Emirates	1338	4
10	79	Syria	1314	4
11	81	Oman	1304	3
13	89	Lebanon	1269	2
16	97	Jordan	1238	1
17	100	Bahrain	1219	1
18	106	Palestine	1199	6
28	144	Yemen	1072	3
29	147	Kuwait	1059	9

Last updated 5 December 2019.

Leading Men's team:

Women's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.^[6]

AFC	FIFA	Country	Points	+/−
12	59	Jordan	1419	1
17	83	Bahrain	1274	1
20	96	United Arab Emirates	1201	3
22	114	Palestine	1131	2
26	-^[7]	Syria	921	-7
28	-^[7]	Iraq	873	-8
36	—^[7]	Lebanon	949	-7
38	—^[7]	Kuwait	870	-7
39	—^[7]	Qatar	864	-7

Last updated December 13, 2018

Leading Women's team:

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".^[8]

References

^ "Chapter 1". Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
^ "WAFF Articles and Definitions". The-waff.com. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
^ "FIFA elections: Factbox for presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein |". dna. 21 February 2016.
^ "'Central Zone' gets thumbs up from Tajikistan". The AFC. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 25 July 2019.
^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked
^ "Angry Gulf nations leading charge to kick Australia out of Asian Football Confederation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

External links

Official website

[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] "FIFA elections: Factbox for presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein |". dna. 21 February 2016.

[4] "'Central Zone' gets thumbs up from Tajikistan". The AFC. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.

[5] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 25 July 2019.

[6] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-08-11.

[inactive-7] Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked

[8] "Angry Gulf nations leading charge to kick Australia out of Asian Football Confederation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

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v t e National men's football teams of Asia (AFC)
AFC Asian Cup
West Asia (WAFF)	Bahrain Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates Yemen
Central Asia (CAFA)	Afghanistan Iran Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan
South Asia (SAFF)	Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka
East Asia (EAFF)	China Chinese Taipei¹ Guam Hong Kong Japan Macau Mongolia North Korea Northern Mariana Islands² South Korea
Southeast Asia (AFF)	Australia Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam
Defunct	Malaya Manchukuo North Vietnam South Vietnam South Yemen
Former	Israel (moved to UEFA in 1994) Kazakhstan (moved to UEFA in 2002) New Zealand (formed the OFC in 1966)
¹ Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, competes as "Chinese Taipei" ² Not a member of FIFA