World Unity Football Alliance

Last updated

World Unity Football Alliance
Formation7 July 2020;4 years ago (2020-07-07)
TypeFederation of associations
Membership
19 Members
Official languages
English, Spanish
Website worldunityfootballalliance.org

The World Unity Football Alliance (WUFA) is an international governing body for association football teams that are not affiliated with FIFA, similar to but smaller than the older Confederation of Independent Football Associations. WUFA was founded in 2020 to oversee international competition among the non-FIFA affiliated associations in the world, the alliance of football associations does not have a centralised management structure. [1] [2]

Contents

History

WUFA initially announced 9 founding members, and were joined by the Yorkshire International Football Association on 8 July. [3] Of the 18 members of WUFA, 11 are also members of CONIFA, Darfur left CONIFA prior to establishing WUFA, and Surrey were not a member of any federation prior to joining WUFA. [4] [5] On 13 July 2020, WUFA announced a partnership with COSANFF – Consejo Sudamericano de Nuevas Federaciones de Fútbol, establishing an alliance. [6] 3 members, the Armenian Argentine Community, Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and Mapuche Nation later joined as members of the World Unity Football Alliance as well as the COSANFF.

On 12 September 2020, WUFA announced their first tournament, the World Series, scheduled for 2021. [7] On 6 April 2021, International Surrey Football announced it would host the first stage of the WUFA World Series, all 4 games were played behind closed doors due in part to local COVID restrictions imposed in the United Kingdom at the time. [8] On 7 July 2021, WUFA announced the Kashmir Football Association as its newest member. Kashmir was not previously a member of any non-FIFA organisation prior to joining WUFA. [9] [10] On 29 June 2021, WUFA announced plans to organise the WUFA Women's World Unity Cup, its first major international tournament. [11] On 15 March 2022, the World Unity Football Alliance announced the election of its first General Secretary, President and founder of members International Surrey Football. [12]

Members

Europe (3)
TeamMW
Flag of Jersey.svg Parishes of Jersey Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of Surrey.svg Surrey [13] Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Yorkshire Flag.png  Yorkshire Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Asia (5)
TeamMW
Flag of Hong Kong.svg All Black FC Hong Kong Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of the Karen National Union.svg Karen [14] Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Flag of Azad Kashmir.svg Kashmir Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Bicolor flag of Tamil Eelam.svg  Tamil Eelam Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Morning Star flag.svg West Papua Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Africa (5)
TeamMW
Flag of Ogaden National Liberation Front(2).svg  Barawa Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of CSSC.svg  Chagos Islands Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of Darfur.svg  Darfur Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Matabeleland football flag.svg  Matabeleland Yes check.svgYes check.svg
Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg  Western Sahara Yes check.svgYes check.svg
North America (2)
TeamMW
Flag of California.svg California [15] Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
El escudo del Senorio de Kuscatan con simbolo de altepetl.png Kuskatan Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
South America (4)
TeamMW
Flag of Armenia and Argentina.svg Armenian Argentine Community Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of the Mapuches (1992).svg Mapuches Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Flag of Rapa Nui, Chile.svg  Rapa Nui Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg
Bandeira do estado de Sao Paulo.svg São Paulo Yes check.svgDark Red x.svg

Member Federation

Tournaments

Men's World Unity Cup

Women's World Unity Cup

World Series

Organisation

General Secretary

General Secretary of WUFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Danny ClarkeFlag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom 18 February 202230 June 2023

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Spanish Football Federation</span> Governing body of association football in Spain

The Royal Spanish Football Federation is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahrawi Football Federation</span>

The Sahrawi Football Federation (FSF) is the governing body of association football in Western Sahara, a territory that is disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. It was formed in 1989 and it is based in the Sahrawi refugee camp of Bojador. The board runs the Sahrawi national football team. The Sahrawi Football Federation hosts the Sahrawi Republic Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Sahara national football team</span> National association football team

The Western Sahara national football team represents Western Sahara (SADR), a disputed territory, in association football. Controlled by the Sahrawi Football Federation, they are members of World Unity Football Alliance for non-FIFA-affiliated nations.

The Tamil Eelam National Football Team a representative football team for Tamil Eelam. The team, which consists of professional and semi-professional drawn from the Eelam Tamil diaspora community in Canada and Europe, was established in 2012 by the Tamileelam Football Association (TEFA). TEFA is affiliated to the Confederation of Independent Football Associations, an umbrella association for entities unaffiliated with FIFA therefore cannot compete for the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup since they are not affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). As of March 2020, the team was ranked 16th in the CONIFA World ranking.

The Chagos Islands national football team is a football team representing the territory of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. However, this area, which falls under the administration of the British Indian Ocean Territory, is uninhabited save for the presence of a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia, after the United Kingdom evicted the local population between 1967 and 1973. As a consequence, the team in fact represents the Chagossian diaspora around the world.

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References

  1. "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE". World Unity Cup 2016. 8 July 2020.
  2. Price, Steve. "Soccer Or Activism? Darfur United And Teams Outside FIFA Form World Unity Football Alliance". Forbes.
  3. "Breaking news for the Yorkshire team! – YIFA for YORKSHIRE". Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  4. @DarfurUnited (15 June 2020). "To better serve its mission and values, Darfur United has decided to part ways with CONIFA effective immediately" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  5. "Surrey joins World Unity Football Alliance – International Surrey Football".
  6. "The South American Council of New Federations joins WUFA". World Unity Football Alliance. 13 July 2020.
  7. "2021 WUFA World Series". World Unity Football Alliance. 12 September 2020.
  8. "WUFA World Series Coming to Surrey – International Surrey Football".
  9. "Kashmir Football Association Joins WUFA". World Unity Football Alliance. 7 July 2021.
  10. "World stage for Kashmir as Bradford to host international teams". The Telegraph and Angus. 22 July 2021.
  11. "WUFA Announces First Major Tournament: WUFA Women's World Unity Cup". World Unity Football Alliance. 29 June 2021.
  12. "World Unity Football Alliance Vote for Interim General Secretary". World Unity Football Alliance. 15 March 2022.
  13. "About us". International Surrey Football.
  14. "Organisation". Karen Football Association.
  15. "About". California Football Federation.