Confederation of Independent Football Associations

Confederation of Independent Football Associations
Formation15 August 2013 (15 August 2013)
TypeSports governing body
HeadquartersLuleå, Norrbotten, Sweden
Membership42 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

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

Competitions

Further information: List of association football competitions
Map of CONIFA tournaments

Men's World Football Cup
Women's World Football Cup
Asian Football Cup
European Football Cup

Men's competitions

National league sanctioned by CONIFA

Women's competitions

Futsal competition

Former competition

  • Givova Trophy

Current title holders

See also: Portal:Current events/Sports, 2025 in association football, and 2025 in sports
For events postponed or cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, see Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports.
Competition Year Champions Title Runners-up Next edition[3]
World Championships
CONIFA Men's World Football Cup 2018  Kárpátalja
1st
  Northern Cyprus TBD
CONIFA Women's World Football Cup 2024  Sápmi
2nd
  Tamil Eelam TBD
Men's Continental Championships
CONIFA African Football Cup 2022  Biafra
1st
  Matabeleland TBD
CONIFA Asian Football Cup 2025  Tamil Eelam
2nd
  East Turkestan TBD
CONIFA European Football Cup 2019  South Ossetia
1st
  Western Armenia Summer 2026
CONIFA South American Football Cup 2022 Maule Sur
1st
 Mapuche TBD
Women's Continental Championships
No Limits Championships
CONIFA No Limits European Championship 2019  Monaco
1st
  Padania TBD
CONIFA No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup 2021  County of Nice
1st
  Sardinia TBD

Women's football

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.[4] 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.[5]

Futsal Tournament

The first futsal Tournament was the 2021 CONIFA No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup which was held in Italy and consisted of disabled futsal teams near the Mediterranean Sea.[6]

Members

Types of members

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 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

Current members

As of August 2025:[7]

Former members

Leadership

President

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

Vice-Presidents

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

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 England 30 April 2020 2 August 2021
3 Piotr Podlewski Poland Poland 2 August 2021 7 August 2022
4 Jeroen Zandberg Netherlands Netherlands 7 August 2022 Incumbent

African Presidents

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

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

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

Latin American Presidents

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

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 2024
4 Shaun Harris United States 2024 2025
5 Jaclyn Guenette Canada 2025 Incumbent

Oceanian Presidents

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

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 2022
3 Alary Dalton United States 2022 2024
4 Norma Alvares Aguilera Mexico 2024 Incumbent

See also

References

  1. ^ "CONIFA Constitution" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Suspension of Kurdistan FA". CONIFA. 2024-09-09. Retrieved 2025-04-08.
  3. ^ "Calendar". www.conifa.org. Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA). Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Sápmi Take Historic Win in First Women's Match". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 2018-11-18. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  5. ^ "CONIFA Announces First-Ever Women's World Football Cup". CONIFA. Archived from the original on 2021-01-31. Retrieved 2021-02-04.
  6. ^ "CONIFA makes history with No Limits Mediterranean Futsal Cup". CONIFA. 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
  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. ^ "Girl Power FA (Afghanistan)". CONIFA.org. Retrieved 2025-05-30.
  10. ^ "Pakistan Football Association joins CONIFA". 30 June 2023. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  11. ^ "Kuskatan joins CONIFA, reminds us of Latin American potential". kickingtheglobe.substack.com. 10 August 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-12-23. Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  12. ^ "Profile". Archived from the original on 2022-12-24. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
  13. ^ "CONIFA – The Guerrilla Alternative". hamptonthink.org. 29 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2023-06-30. Retrieved 2022-12-24.
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