Confederation of Independent Football Associations

The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are not affiliated with FIFA.

Confederation of Independent Football Associations
Formation15 August 2013; 11 years ago (15 August 2013)
TypeSports governing body
HeadquartersLuleå, Norrbotten, Sweden
Membership
41 member associations
Official languages
English is the official language for minutes, correspondence, and announcements. French, German, Italian, and Spanish are additional languages[1]
President
Sweden Per-Anders Blind
WebsiteCONIFA.org

Competitions

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Men's competitions

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National league sanctioned by CONIFA

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Women's competition

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Futsal competition

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Current title holders

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Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition[3]
World Championships
CONIFA Men's World Football Cup 2018 (final)   Kárpátalja
1st
  Northern Cyprus June 2025
CONIFA Women's World Football Cup 2024 (final)   Sápmi
2nd
  Tamil Eelam TBD
Continental Championships
CONIFA African Football Cup 2022   Biafra
1st
  Matabeleland TBD
CONIFA Asian Football Cup 2023 [4]   Tamil Eelam
1st
  Hmong FF TBD
CONIFA European Football Cup 2019 (final)   South Ossetia
1st
  Western Armenia TBD
CONIFA North American Football Cup
TBD
CONIFA Oceanian Football Cup
TBD
CONIFA South American Football Cup 2022   Maule Sur
1st
  Mapuche TBD
Futsal Championship
CONIFA No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup 2021 (final)   County of Nice
Unknown
  Sardinia TBD

Women's football

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All members of CONIFA are encouraged to invest in women's football in their communities, and to create female national selections to play and compete against other CONIFA members.

CONIFA's first ever official women's football match took place on 10 November 2018 in Northern Cyprus, with Sápmi ladies beating their Northern Cyprus hosts 4–0 in the Women's Friendship Cup.[5] CONIFA announced their first Women's World Football Cup on 31 January 2021, to be hosted by Székely Land between 23 and 30 June 2021 and involve 6 teams.[6]

Members

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Types of members

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CONIFA expressly uses the term "members" rather than "countries" or "states". A football association may be eligible to apply for membership of CONIFA if it, or the entity (ethnic and/or linguistic minority, indigenous group, cultural organization, territory) it represents, is not a member of FIFA and satisfies one or more of the following criteria:

List of members

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Current members

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As of December 2024:[7]

Former members

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Leadership

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President

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President of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Per-Anders Blind   Sweden 7 June 2013 Incumbent

Vice-Presidents

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Vice-Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Malcolm Blackburn   Isle of Man 2014 2016
2 Kristof Wenczel   Hungary 2015 Incumbent
3 Dimitri Pagave   Abkhazia 2016 Incumbent

General Secretaries

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General Secretaries of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Sascha Düerkop   Germany 7 June 2013 30 April 2020
2 Jason Heaton   England 30 April 2020 2 August 2021
3 Piotr Podlewski   Poland 2 August 2021 7 August 2022
4 Jeroen Zandberg   Netherlands 7 August 2022 Incumbent

African Presidents

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African Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Masoud Attai   Zanzibar 7 June 2013 2017
2 Justin Walley   England 2017 2020
3 Christian Lubasi Luzongo Kalalaluka   Zambia 2020 2022
4 Ngala Maimo Wajiri   Cameroon 2022 Incumbent

Asian Presidents

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Asian Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Tariq Abdulrahman   Iraq 7 June 2013 2017
2 Jens Jockel   Germany 2017 2020
3 Motoko Jitsukawa   Japan 2020 2022
4 Ruby-Ann Kagaoan   Philippines 2022 Incumbent

European President

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European President of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Alberto Rischio   Italy 7 June 2013 Incumbent

Latin American Presidents

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Latin American Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Jens Jockel   Germany 2013 2017
2 Zam Gutierrez   Mexico 2017 2019
3 Diego Bartolotta   Mexico 2019 Incumbent

Northern America and the Caribbean Presidents

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Northern America and the Caribbean Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Mark Dieler   Germany 2013 2017
2 Noah Wheelock   Canada 2017 2020
3 Aaron Johnsen   United States 2020 Incumbent

Oceanian Presidents

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Oceanian Presidents of CONIFA
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
1 Charles Reklai Mitchell   Palau 2014 2017
2 Ben Schultz   Australia 2017 Incumbent

Directors of Women’s Football

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Directors of Women's Football
No. Name Country of origin Took office Left office
Cassie Childers   United States 6 September 2017 2019
1 Kelly Lindsey   United States February 2019 28 February 2020
2 Håkan Kuorak   Sweden 28 February 2020 ???
3 Norma Aguilera   Mexico ??? Incumbent

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "CONIFA Constitution" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  2. ^ "CONIFA Sanctions Liga de Balompié Mexicano, its First-Ever Professional League". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 9 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Calendar". www.conifa.org. Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA). Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  4. ^ https://www.conifa.org/en/event/conifa-asia-cup-2023/
  5. ^ "Sápmi Take Historic Win in First Women's Match". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  6. ^ "CONIFA Announces First-Ever Women's World Football Cup". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 2021-01-31. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  7. ^ "Members". www.conifa.org. Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA). Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Biafra De Facto Customary Government to participate in maiden CONIFA African Tournament". standardobservers.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-24. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  9. ^ "Pakistan Football Association joins CONIFA". Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  10. ^ "Kuskatan joins CONIFA, reminds us of Latin American potential". kickingtheglobe.substack.com. Archived from the original on 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  11. ^ "Profile". Archived from the original on 2022-12-24. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  12. ^ "CONIFA – The Guerrilla Alternative". hamptonthink.org. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
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