West Asian Football Federation

The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF; Arabic: اتحاد غرب آسيا لكرة القدم) is a regional sub-confederation of association football, governed under the Asian Football Confederation. Founded in 2001, it governs football, futsal and beach football for nations in West Asia. The WAFF consists of 12 member associations.

West Asian Football Federation

Logo since 2023
Member countries
Formation	15 May 2001; 23 years ago (2001-05-15)[1]
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)

History

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]

Members

Code	Association	National teams	Founded	FIFA affiliation	UEFA affiliation	IOC member
BHR	Bahrain	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1957	1968	2010	Yes
IRQ	Iraq	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1948	1950	2001	Yes
JOR	Jordan	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1949	1956	2001	Yes
KUW	Kuwait	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1952	1964	2010	Yes
LBN	Lebanon	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1933	1936	2001	Yes
OMA	Oman	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1978	1978	2010	Yes
PLE	Palestine	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1998	1998	2001	Yes
QAT	Qatar	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1960	1963	2009	Yes
KSA	Saudi Arabia	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1956	1956	2010	Yes
SYR	Syria	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1936	1937	2001	Yes
UAE	United Arab Emirates	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1971	1974	2009	Yes
YEM	Yemen	Men's U23 U20 U17 U15 F BS Women's W U23 W U20 W U17 F	1962	1980	2009	Yes

Former members

Association	Year	Note
Iran	2001–2014	[a]

Competitions

Current title holders

See also: Portal:Current events/Sports, 2025 in association football, 2025 in sports, and FIFA International Match Calendar

For events postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, see Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports.

Tournament		Year	Champions	Title	Runners-up		Next edition[4]
Men's national teams
WAFF Championship		2019 (Final)	Bahrain	1st	Iraq		2025
WAFF U-23 Championship		2025	Oman	1st	Jordan		TBD
WAFF U-19 Championship		2024	Saudi Arabia	1st	United Arab Emirates		2025
WAFF U-16 Championship		2024	Syria	2nd	Saudi Arabia		TBD
WAFF Futsal Championship		2022	Kuwait	1st	Saudi Arabia		TBD
WAFF Beach Soccer Championship		2022	United Arab Emirates	1st	Oman		TBD
Women's national teams
WAFF Women's Championship		2024	Jordan	6th	Nepal		2026
WAFF U-20 Girls Championship		2025	Palestine	1st	Jordan		TBD
WAFF U-17 Girls Championship		2025	Lebanon	3rd	Syria		TBD
WAFF U-14 Girls Championship		2023	Syria	1st	Lebanon		TBD
WAFF Futsal Women's Championship		2022	Iraq	1st	Saudi Arabia		TBD
Men's club teams
—
Women's club teams
WAFF Women's Clubs Championship		2022	Safa	1st	Orthodox Club		2024

Titles by nation

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
	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

As of 2024 WAFF U-23 Championship

FIFA World Rankings

Men's national football team

See also: FIFA Men's World Ranking

As of 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

See also: FIFA Women's World Ranking

As of 24 March 2023

FIFA Women's Rankings (as of 6 March 2025)[5] WAFF* FIFA +/- National Team Points 1 74  Jordan 1319.13 2 92 1  Bahrain 1216.48 3 112 4  United Arab Emirates 1164 4 131 3  Lebanon 1095.77 5 136 1  Palestine 1090.51 6 161  Syria 931.42 7 166  Saudi Arabia 890.49 8 173  Iraq 862.8 *Local rankings based on FIFA ranking points

Leading Women's team:

Men's national futsal team

Futsal Rankings (as of 6 May 2024)^[6]

WAFF	FIFA	+/−	National Team	Points
1	35		Kuwait	1115.99
2	42		Iraq	1091.27
3	48		Saudi Arabia	1049.97
4	53		Lebanon	1032.42
5	73		Bahrain	978.69
6	81		Jordan	968.31
7	93		Qatar	945.32
8	96		Oman	940.88
9	102		United Arab Emirates	925.95
10	122		Palestine	863.57

• Note: (*) Inactive

Women's national futsal team

Futsal Women's Rankings (as of 6 May 2024)^[7]

WAFF	FIFA	+/−	National Team	Points
1	29		Lebanon	981.18
2	34		Palestine	974.58
3	37		Bahrain	962.22
4	51		Saudi Arabia	899.62
5	53		Iraq	887.88
6	55		United Arab Emirates	885.35
7	62		Kuwait	863.43
8	67		Oman	848.46

• Note: (*) Inactive

Men's national beach soccer team

AFF Men's National Beach Soccer Team Ranking by BSWW
Update: 8 April 2024

WAFF	World	Country	Points
1	7	United Arab Emirates	1955.75
2	17	Oman	1172.75
3	24	Saudi Arabia	696
4	44	Bahrain	298.5
5	55	Kuwait	222
6	57	Palestine	199
7	63	Lebanon	132.75

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]

See also

• FIFA
  • Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
    • ASEAN Football Federation (AFF)
    • Central Asian Football Association (CAFA)
    • East Asian Football Federation (EAFF)
    • South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)

Notes

1. Formed the Central Asian Football Association