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 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).

Quick Facts Formation, Type ...
  • West African Football Union
  • Union des Fédérations Ouest-Africaines de Football
  • União das Federações Oeste Africanas
Formation1975; 49 years ago (1975)
Type
Region served
West Africa
Membership
Official language
English, French and Portuguese
AffiliationsCAF, FIFA
Website
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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

  • Ghana K. Tandoh (1975–1977)
  • Togo Seyi Memene (1977–1984)
  • Senegal Abdoulaye Fofana (1984–1988)
  • Nigeria Jonathan Boytie Ogufere (1988–1994)
  • Ivory Coast Dieng Ousseynou (1994–1999)
  • Nigeria Abdulmumini Aminu (1999–2002)
  • Senegal El Hadji Malick Sy (2002–2004)
  • Ivory Coast Jacques Anouma (2004–2008)[1]
  • Nigeria Amos Adamu (2008–2010)
  • Ghana Kwesi Nyantakyi (2011–2018)[2]
  • Ghana Kurt Okraku (2019–present)

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]

  • 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 (UAFA).

Competitions

WAFU runs main and qualifying competitions covering men, women and youth.

Current title holders

More information Competition, Year ...
Competition Year Champions Rank/Score Runners-up Next edition Dates
National teams (men)
WAFU Nations Cup 2019  Senegal 1st  Ghana TBA
WAFU Zone A Nations Cup 2024 5–17 July
Zone A U-20 Championship 2023  Senegal 2st  Gambia 2024 15–30 September
Zone B U-20 Championship 2023  Ivory Coast 1st  Burkina Faso 2024 17–31 October
Zone A U-17 Championship 2023  Mali  Senegal 2024 WAFU Zone A U-17 Championship 20 Oct – 3 Nov
Zone B U-17 Championship 2024  Burkina Faso 3–1[4]  Ivory Coast
Zone A U-15 Championship 2022  Senegal 3–0[5]  Liberia TBD
Zone A Schools Championship 2022 Guinea CS Ben Sekou Sylla 1st The Gambia New Yundum TBD
Zone B Schools Championship 2022 Benin CEG Sainte Rita 1st Ivory Coast CS Venus Saioua TBD
WAFU Zone A Beach Soccer 2024 3–7 July
National teams (women)
Zone A Women's Cup 2023  Senegal 2nd  Cape Verde TBD TBD
Zone B Women's Cup 2019  Nigeria 1st  Ivory Coast TBD TBD
WAFU Zone A U20 Women's Cup 2024  Senegal  Guinea-Bissau
WAFU Zone B U20 Women's Cup 2023  Ghana 1st  Nigeria TBD TBD
Zone A Girls Schools Championship 2022 The Gambia Scan Aid 1st Guinea-Bissau Ecole Congresso De Cassaca TBD
Zone B Girls Schools Championship 2022 Benin CEG Colby 1st Burkina Faso Ecole Chanvigny B TBD
Clubs (women)
CAF Women's Champions League Qualifiers (Zone A) 2023 Mali AS Mandé 1st Senegal AS Dakar 2024 TBD
CAF Women's Champions League Qualifiers (Zone B) 2023 Ghana Ampem Darkoa Ladies 1st Nigeria Delta Queens 2024 TBD
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Defunct competitions

More information Competition, Duration ...
Competition Duration
CEDEAO Cup1977–1991
West African Club Championship1977–2011
Amílcar Cabral Cup1979–2007
West African Nations Cup1982–1987
UEMOA Tournament2007–2016
WAFU U20 Women's CupProposed for 2022 but never happened [6][7][8]
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FIFA World Rankings

Men's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.[9]

More information WAFU, Zone ...
WAFU Zone FIFA Country Points +/
1 A 17  Senegal 1624.73 Steady
2 B 30  Nigeria 1520.27 Steady
3 A 38  Ivory Coast 1498.8 Increase 1
4 B 44  Mali 1477.9 Decrease 1
5 B 62  Burkina Faso 1390.38 Steady
6 B 65  Cape Verde 1425.64 Increase 1
6 B 68  Ghana 1358.77 Decrease 1
7 A 76  Guinea 1324.65 Decrease 1
8 A 97  Benin 1225.68 Steady
9 B 105  Mauritania 1195.5 Steady
10 A 113  Togo 1170.34 Increase 6
11 B 113  Guinea-Bissau 1163.44 Increase 1
12 A 126  Sierra Leone 1137.36 Decrease 2
13 B 129  Niger 1125.5 Decrease 1
14 A 130  Gambia 1114.8 Decrease 1
16 A 152  Liberia 1029.58 Steady
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Last updated 4 April 2024

Top-ranked men's national football teams

Senegal national football teamIvory coast national football teamGhana national football teamIvory coast national football teamCape verde national football teamIvory coast national football teamGhana national football teamNigeria national football teamIvory coast national football teamNigeria national football team

See also

References

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