Central Asian Football Association

Central Asian Football Association
Abbreviation CAFA
Formation 9 January 2015
Type Sports organization
Headquarters Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Membership
 6 member associations
President
 Uzbekistan Mirabror Usmanov

The Central Asian Football Association (CAFA)[1] is an association of the football playing nations in Central Asia.

In June 2014, the association was in principle approved by the Asian Football Confederation and approved at the Extraordinary Congress in January 2015 during the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.[2][3] As a result, CAFA will in the future be able to have member(s) on the AFC executive committee.

The formation of CAFA was spearheaded by the Iranian Football Federation following disputes with West Asian Football Federation members. It was reported that AFC President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa gained politically from the creation of the new zone.[4]

History

Members of the six nations met with AFC president Sheihk Salam on 10 May 2014 to talk about the possibility to creating a new Asian football zone. The delegations were invited by the AFC president following an initiative by Iran and Afghanistan.[5] At the extraordinary AFC congress on 9 June 2014 in Sao Paulo, the plan of the new zone was ratified by the congress.[6][7]

Member associations

CAFA will consist of six member associations. All of them are members of the Asian Football Confederation.

Association Former federation Men's team Women's team
Afghanistan Afghanistan SAFF, 2005–2014 Afghanistan Afghanistan
Iran Iran WAFF, 2001–2014 Iran Iran
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan None Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan Tajikistan None Tajikistan Tajikistan
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan None Turkmenistan Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan None Uzbekistan Uzbekistan

Ranking

Men's National Teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.

AFC FIFA Country Points +/−
1 40  Iran 689 Increase2
6 73  Uzbekistan 476 Decrease1
17 135  Afghanistan 203 Increase2
22 143  Tajikistan 175 Decrease2
26 153  Kyrgyzstan 146 Decrease3
29 159  Turkmenistan 131 Decrease15

Last updated 16 April 2015.[8]

Women's National Teams

AFC FIFA Country Points +/−
9 43  Uzbekistan 1548 Increase1
13 54  Iran 1412 Increase1
22 99  Kyrgyzstan 1136 Decrease1
34 125  Afghanistan 899 Decrease11

Last updated 20 June 2014.[9]

Leading men's team:

Iran national football team

Executive committee

Position Name Years active
President Uzbekistan Mirabror Usmanov 2015 - 2019
Vice-president Tajikistan Rustam Emomali 2015 -
General Secretary Uzbekistan Sardor Rakhmatullaev 2015 -
Vice-General Secretary Afghanistan Seyed Reza Aghazadeh 2015 -
AFC Vice-president Iran Ali Kafashian[10] 2015 -
Female General Secretary Afghanistan Zohra Mehri[11] 2015 -

CAFA Championship

Afghanistan secretary general, Seyed Reza Aghazadeh, announced in February 2015 the possible start of a CAFA Championship, starting in 2016.[12][13] The first CAFA Under-15 Championship began on 23 March 2015 in Tokyo.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "اتحادیه فوتبال آسیای مرکزی ایجاد شد". BBC. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "'Central Zone' gets thumbs up from Tajikistan". The AFC. 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "AFC adds a fifth zone as Extraordinary Congress approves amendments to AFC Statutes". The AFC. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Warshaw, Andrew (10 June 2014). "Shaikh Salman flexes his political muscle to brush aside Prince Ali". InsideWorldFootball.com. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  5. ↑ "Central Asians meet Sheikh Salman to create CAFA". aff.org.af. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Sheikh Salman Wins Bitter Battle to End Prince Ali's FIFA Vice-Presidency" (10 JUNE 2014). worldfootballinsider.com. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  7. ↑ "AFC president to resume FIFA Vice Presidency". goal.com. 11 June 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  8. ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Men)". FIFA. 16 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking (Women)". FIFA. 16 April 2015.
  10. ↑ http://www.persianfootball.com/news/2015/04/30/kafashian-elected-as-one-of-five-afc-vice-presidents/
  11. ↑ http://www.the-afc.com/afc-congress-2015/shaikh-salman-re-elected-afc-president-by-acclamation
  12. ↑ "Last Afghanistan championship". Goal Nepal. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  13. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/2696/indian-national-team/2015/02/26/9256272/afghanistan-to-play-saff-championship-for-the-last-time-in
  14. ↑ http://afghanistantimes.af/cafa-championship-afghan-u-15-football-squad-off-to-japan/