The West Asian Football Federation (WAFF; ) 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.
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. Iran left the federation on 10 June 2014, with the creation of the Central Asian Football Association.
Members
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Code!! Association !! class="unsortable"|National teams !! Founded !! FIFA<br />affiliation !! WAFF<br />affiliation !! IOC<br />member
|-
| BHR ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1957 || 1968 || 2010 ||
|-
| IRQ ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1948 || 1950 || 2001 ||
|-
| JOR ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1949 || 1956 || 2001 ||
|-
| KUW ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1952 || 1964 || 2010 ||
|-
| LBN ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1933 || 1936 || 2001 ||
|-
| OMA ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1978 || 1978 || 2010 ||
|-
| PLE ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1998 || 1998 || 2001 ||
|-
| QAT ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1960 || 1963 || 2009 ||
|-
| KSA ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1956 || 1956 || 2010 ||
|-
| SYR ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1936 || 1937 || 2001 ||
|-
| UAE ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1971 || 1974 || 2009 ||
|-
| YEM ||style="text-align:left"| ||
| 1962 || 1980 || 2009 ||
|}
Former members
{|class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
! Association
! Year
! Note
|-
| align="left"| Iran
| 2001–2014
|
|}
Competitions
Current title holders
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Tournament
| width="1%" rowspan=1 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
! Year
! Champions
! Title
! Runners-up
| width="1%" rowspan=1 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
! Next edition
|-
! colspan="8" |Men's national teams
|-
| WAFF Championship
| rowspan="6" width="1%" style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| 2019 <small>(Final)</small>
|
| 1st
|
| rowspan="6" width="1%" style="background-color:#ffffff;" |
| 2026
|-
| WAFF U-23 Championship
| 2025
|
| 1st
|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF U-19 Championship
| 2024
|
| 1st
|
| 2026
|-
| WAFF U-17 Championship
| 2025
|
| 2nd
|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF Futsal Championship
| 2022
|
| 1st
|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF Beach Soccer Championship
| 2022
|
| 1st
|
| TBD
|-
! colspan="8" |Women's national teams
|-
| WAFF Women's Championship
| width="1%" rowspan=5 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
| 2025
|
| 7th
|
| width="1%" rowspan=5 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF U-20 Girls Championship
| 2025
|
| 1st
|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF U-17 Girls Championship
| 2025
|
| 3rd
|
| TBD
|-
| WAFF U-14 Girls Championship
| 2025
|
|
|
|TBD
|-
| WAFF Futsal Women's Championship
| 2022
|
| 1st
|
| TBD
|-
! colspan="8" |Women's club teams
|-
| WAFF Women's Clubs Championship
| width="1%" rowspan=1 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
| 2022
| Safa
| 1st
| Orthodox Club
| width="1%" rowspan=1 style="background-color:#ffffff;"|
| TBD
|}
Titles by nation
FIFA World Rankings
Men's national football team
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!WAFF
!AFC
!FIFA
!Country
!Points
!+/−
|-
|1
|6
|55
|align=left|
|1454.96
| 1
|-
|2
|7
|57
|align=left|
|1447.14
| 1
|-
|3
|8
|61
|align=left|
|1421.43
|
|-
|4
|9
|63
|align=left|
|1391.45
| 1
|-
|5
|10
|68
|align=left|
|1370.47
|
|-
|6
|11
|79
|align=left|
|1313.46
| 1
|-
|7
|12
|84
|align=left|
|1288.56
|
|-
|8
|13
|91
|align=left|
|1258.53
| 1
|-
|9
|16
|95
|align=left|
|1244.73
|
|-
|10
|20
|108
|align=left|
|1187.96
| 1
|-
|11
|23
|134
|align=left|
|1105.10
| 1
|-
|12
|29
|149
|align=left|
|1049.49
|
|}
Leading Men's team:
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:150 height:500
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:15/05/2001 till:01/04/2026
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2002
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
Colors =
id:UAE value:white
id:IRN value:red
id:JOR value:black
id:KSA value:green
id:QAT value:yellow
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S
from:15/05/2001 till:05/06/2014 shift:(20,-3) text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:05/06/2014 till:23/10/2014 shift:(20,-3) text:"Jordan" color:JOR
from:23/10/2014 till:04/02/2016 shift:(20,-4) text:"UAE" color:UAE
from:04/02/2016 till:07/02/2019 shift:(20,-4) text:"Saudi Arabia" color:KSA
from:07/02/2019 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"Qatar" color:QAT
</timeline>
Women's national football team
<br>
Leading Women's team:
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:150 height:300
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:5 top:10
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/2010 till:21/04/2026
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2010
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
Colors =
id:IRN value:red
id:JOR value:black
id:BAH value:white
PlotData=
bar:Leaders width:25 mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S
from:01/01/2010 till:12/03/2010 shift:(20,-3) text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:12/03/2010 till:18/03/2011 shift:(20,-3) text:"Jordan" color:JOR
from:18/03/2011 till:21/06/2013 shift:(20,-4) text:"Iran" color:IRN
from:21/06/2013 till:24/03/2017 shift:(20,-4) text:"Jordan" color:JOR
from:24/03/2017 till:23/06/2017 shift:(20,-4) text:"Bahrain" color:BAH
from:23/06/2017 till:end shift:(20,-4) text:"Jordan" color:JOR
</timeline>
Men's national futsal team
Women's national futsal team
Men's national beach soccer team
AFF Men's National Beach Soccer Team Ranking by BSWW<br>Update: 19 January 2026
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!WAFF
!World
!Country
!Points
|-
!1
!9
|align=left|
| 1371.75
|-
!2
!11
|align=left|
| 1308.5
|-
!3
!21
|align=left|
| 689.25
|-
!4
!43
|align=left|
| 254.25
|-
!5
!45
|align=left|
| 247.25
|-
!6
!48
|align=left|
| 216.25
|-
!7
!71
|align=left|
| 89.75
|-
!8
!74
|align=left|
| 87
|}
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".
Logo
<gallery>
West Asian Football Federation logo (before 2023).svg|Logo of WAFF (before 2023)
West Asian Football Federation logo 2023.svg|Logo of WAFF (since 2023)
</gallery>
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)