West Asian Football Federation

West Asian Football Federation

WAFF logo
WAFF members
Formation	15 May 2001 [1]
Type	Sports organization
Headquarters	Amman, Jordan
Membership	12 member associations
President	Prince Ali bin Al Hussein
Website	http://www.the-waff.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 Fadi Zureiqat.

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 Federation.^[3]

International competitions participation

FIFA World Cup participation

Team	1930	1934	1938	1950	1954	1958	1962	1966	1970	1974	1978	1982	1986	1990	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2018	Total	inclusive WC Qual.
Saudi Arabia											•	•	•	•	R16	GS	GS	GS	•	•		4	9
UAE													•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	8
Iraq										•		•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•		1	9
Kuwait										•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1	10
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0		7	36

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

FIFA Confederations Cup participation

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

AFC Asian Cup participation

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

Legend

1st – Champion 2nd – Runner-up 3rd – Third place 4th – Fourth place QF – Quarterfinals GS – Group Stage

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

Summer Olympics participation

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	Total
Iraq	•	QF	GS	GS	•	•	•	4th	•	•	GS	5
Kuwait	•	QF	•	•	GS	•	GS	•	•	•	•	3
Qatar	•	•	GS	•	QF	•	•	•	•	•	•	2
Saudi Arabia	•	•	GS	•	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	2
United Arab Emirates	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	1
Syria	•	GS	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	1
Total	0	3	3	1	2	1	1	1	0	1	1	13

Competitions

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

Competition	Holders	Most recent event
Men's Football Championship	Qatar	2014
U-23 Men's Football Championship	Iran	2015
U-16 Men's Football Championship	Iraq	2015
Women's Football Championship	Jordan	2014
Men's Futsal Championship	Iran	2012
Women's Futsal Championship	Iran	2012

Rankings

Men's national teams Rankings are calculated by FIFA.[4] WAFF FIFA Country Points +/− 1 65  Saudi Arabia 540 2 74  United Arab Emirates 484 3 78  Jordan 438 4 79  Qatar 425 5 99  Iraq 354 6 104  Syria 341 7 106  Oman 340 8 114  Palestine 326 9 128  Bahrain 289 10 144  Kuwait 223 11 149  Lebanon 208 12 162  Yemen 160 Last updated 14 July 2016

Leading Men's team:

Women's national teams Rankings are calculated by FIFA.[5] WAFF FIFA Country Points +/− 1 58  Jordan 1404 2 70  Bahrain 1340 3 94  Palestine 1189 4 117  Lebanon 944 5 122  Syria 927 6 125  Iraq 882 7 131  United Arab Emirates 1665 8 131  Qatar 1046 9 131  Kuwait 796 Last updated December 10, 2012

Presidents

President	Years
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein	2001 -

Vice-Presidents

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

General Secretary

President	Years
Fadi Zureikat	2001 -

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".^[6]

See also

• Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
• Central Asian Football Federation (CAFF)
• East Asian Football Federation (EAFF)
• ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)
• South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)

References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20111004221456/http://www.the-waff.com/assets/attach/53_400.doc. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "WAFF Articles and Definitions". The-waff.com. Retrieved 2016-02-26.
3. "'Central Zone' gets thumbs up from Tajikistan". The AFC. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
4. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 4 February 2016.
5. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-08-11.
6. "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