West Asian Football Federation

West Asian Football Federation
	Logo since 2023
	Member countries
Formation	15 May 2001; 22 years ago
Type	Sports organization
Headquarters	Amman, Jordan
Membership	12 member associations
President	Prince Ali bin Al Hussein
Parent organization	AFC
Website	the-waff.com (in English)

The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) founded in 2001, is a regional sub-confederation of football, governed under the Asian Football Confederation, for nations in West Asia. The WAFF consists of 12 member associations.

History[edit]

The founding members of the West Asian Football Federation are Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. In 2009, three more associations, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, joined the federation. Four other West Asian nations, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia, joined in 2010.^[2] Iran left the federation on 10 June 2014, with the creation of the Central Asian Football Association.^[3]

Member associations[edit]

Association	Joining year	National team	Top Tiers League (Men's)
Bahrain	2010	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Bahraini Premier League
Iraq	2001 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Iraq Stars League
Jordan	2001 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Jordanian Pro League
Kuwait	2010	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Kuwait Premier League
Lebanon	2001 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Lebanese Premier League
Oman	2010	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Oman Professional League
Palestine	2001 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Palestine Premier League
Qatar	2009	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Qatar Stars League
Saudi Arabia	2010	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Saudi Pro League
Syria	2001 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Syrian Premier League
United Arab Emirates	2009	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	UAE Pro League
Yemen	2009	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Yemeni League
Former member
Iran	2001–2016 (Founding member)	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17	Persian Gulf Pro League

Competitions[edit]

Current title holders[edit]

National teams
Tournament	Year	Champions	Title	Runners-up	Next edition^[4]	Dates
WAFF Championship	2019 (Final)	Bahrain	1st	Iraq	2023 (Final)	TBD
WAFF U-23 Championship	2023	Iraq	1st	Iran	2024	18-26 March
WAFF U-18 Championship	2021	Iraq	2nd	Lebanon	2024	June 25 to July 4
WAFF U-16 Championship	2023	Yemen	2nd	Saudi Arabia	2024	August
Futsal Championship	2022	Kuwait	1st	Saudi Arabia	TBD
Beach Soccer Championship	2022	United Arab Emirates	1st	Oman	2024	September
National teams (women)
WAFF Women's Championship	2022	Jordan	5th	Lebanon	2024	18-28 February
U-18 Girls' Championship	2022	Lebanon	2nd	Syria	2024	TBD
U-17 Girls' Championship	2023	Syria	1st	Jordan	2024	December
U-14 Girls' Championship	2023	Syria	1st	Lebanon	TBD
Futsal Women's Championship	2022	Iraq	1st	Saudi Arabia	TBD
Club teams (women)
Women's Clubs Championship	2022	Safa	1st	Orthodox Club	2024	September or October

Titles by nation[edit]

After 2024 WAFF U-23 Championship.


Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Jordan (JOR)	12	12	11	35
2	Iran (IRI)	12	6	1	19
3	Iraq (IRQ)	8	3	9	20
4	Lebanon (LBN)	5	8	4	17
5	United Arab Emirates (UAE)	3	2	3	8
6	Syria (SYR)	2	6	11	19
7	Saudi Arabia (KSA)	2	5	1	8
8	Kuwait (KUW)	2	0	1	3
9	Bahrain (BHR)	1	2	8	11
10	Qatar (QAT)	1	1	2	4
11	Yemen (YEM)	1	0	1	2
12	Japan (JPN)	1	0	0	1
12	South Korea (KOR)	1	0	0	1
14	Oman (OMA)	0	2	3	5
15	Palestine (PLE)	0	1	7	8
16	Australia (AUS)	0	1	0	1
	India (IND)	0	1	0	1
	Nepal (NEP)	0	1	0	1
Totals (18 entries)		51	51	62	164

FIFA World Rankings[edit]

Men's national football team[edit]

WAFF Men's National Football Team Ranking by FIFA
Update: 23 June 2022

WAFF	AFC	FIFA	Country	Points	+/−
1	5	49	Qatar	1441.41	2
2	6	60	Saudi Arabia	1435.74	4
3	5	69	United Arab Emirates	1346.09	1
6	9	72	Iraq	1338.91	2
5	8	69	Oman	1323.03
6	12	85	Bahrain	1289.25	4
7	13	86	Jordan	1279.74	5
8	14	89	Syria	1265.03	1
9	15	94	Palestine	1233.72	6
10	18	100	Lebanon	1211.71	3
11	27	148	Kuwait	1053.41	2
12	28	153	Yemen	1023.52	2

Leading Men's team:

Women's national football team[edit]

WAFF Women's National Football Team Ranking by FIFA
Update: 24 March 2023

FIFA Women's Rankings (as of 15 March 2024)^[5]
WAFF*	FIFA	+/-	National Team	Points
1	74		Jordan	1331.17
2	86	1	Bahrain	1254.12
3	114		United Arab Emirates	1158.26
4	132	2	Lebanon	1090.59
5	136		Palestine	1080.47
6	162	2	Syria	931.42
7	172		Iraq	862.8
8	175		Saudi Arabia	848.57
*Local rankings based on FIFA ranking points

** Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked

Leading Women's team:

Men's national futsal team[edit]

WAFF Men's National Futsal Team Ranking by Futsal World Ranking
Update: June 2022

WAFF	AFC	FIFA	Country	Points
1	8	41	Kuwait	1073
2	10	45	Iraq	1033
3	11	46	Lebanon	1032
4	14	67	Bahrain	897
5	17	77	Saudi Arabia	855
6	20	88	Qatar	807
7	22	90	Oman	783
8	24	98	United Arab Emirates	697
9	25	102	Palestine	680
*	*	*	Jordan	877*
*	*	*	Syria	651*
*	*	*	Yemen	578*

Note: (*) Inactive

Women's national futsal team[edit]

WAFF Women's National Futsal Team Ranking by The Roon Ba
Update: December 2022

WAFF	AFC	World	Country	Points
1	5	26	Jordan	5280
2	11	43	Syria	5036
3	15	49	Lebanon	4913
4	16	51	Bahrain	4854
5	19	57	Iraq	4716
6	20	63	Palestine	4505
7	23	69	Saudi Arabia	4311
8	24	71	United Arab Emirates	4264
9	25	72	Kuwait	4191
10	31	80	Oman	3443
11	33	81	Qatar	3384

Note: (*) Inactive

Men's national beach soccer team[edit]

AFF Men's National Beach Soccer Team Ranking by BSWW
Update: December 2021

WAFF	Country	Points
1	United Arab Emirates	776
2	Oman	500
3	Palestine	118
4	Lebanon	100
5	Bahrain	60
6	Kuwait	49
7	Iraq	41
8	Syria	37
9	Qatar	31
10	Saudi Arabia	30

Controversy[edit]

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]

References[edit]

^ "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.
^ "Central Asians meet Sheikh Salman to create CAFA". aff.org.af. 17 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
^ "Championships". www.the-waff.com. West Asian Football Federation (WAFF). Retrieved 4 July 2022.
^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
^ "Angry Gulf nations leading charge to kick Australia out of Asian Football Confederation". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

External links[edit]

Official website (in English)
Official website (in Arabic)

[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] "Central Asians meet Sheikh Salman to create CAFA". aff.org.af. 17 May 2014. Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.

[4] "Championships". www.the-waff.com. West Asian Football Federation (WAFF). Retrieved 4 July 2022.

[FIFA_Women's_World_Rankings-5] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.

[6] "Angry Gulf nations leading charge to kick Australia out of Asian Football Confederation". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 January 2015. 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