This is my third iteration on trying to write posts on the regional association within the AFC. Having run quite a way in and realised how complex the first region’s competitions can be, I felt it deserves a single post. I also want to make sure the ASEAN region gets a post before the start of the FIFA ASEAN Cup this week. The rest can wait, as there is less to them, or at least less I know about them.

Since 2011, the Asian Football Confederation has been split into five regions. Before that, regional associations existed, but it was just 15 years ago that all of the zone was allocated to regions. The 2011 addition of a Central Asian Football Association allowed Iran to slide out of the West Asian zone, removing those tricky discussions with its Arab neighbours.

West Asian Football Federation

The WAFF was founded in 2001 and is the home for 12 national teams.

Member countries

• Bahrain
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Oman
• Palestine
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

This is not as straight forward as it looks, eight of the countries are also members of the Gulf Football Federation, (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria being the exceptions). All 12 of the countries, along with ten from Africa are members of the Union of Arab Football Associations. The Gulf sub-region and Arab super-region seem to be more important then the West region itself

The existence of these other associations, which have been organising their own competitions well before the WAFF came into being has limited the available slots for WAFF to organise its own competitions.

One of the more notable consequences of this, is that the WAFF has never managed to get a men’s club competition off the ground, while its women’s club championship completed its third cycle in August this year.

For Open Age National teams, WAFF has staged both men’s and women’s competitions nine times to date. The combination of firstly COVID, and now war means the men’s competition has not been run since 2019 while the ladies played out a tournament last year.

The Arab competitions have a much longer history than the WAFF ones. There have been about 30 Arab Club championships although there has now been a short hibernation. The last tournament finished in 2023 with Al-Nassr winning the title. The current plan is to play again in 2027 and then every odd numbered year.

The Arab Cup for men’s national teams started with three tournaments in the 1960s but then disappeared from the calendar until 1985. It ran almost regularly until 2012. FIFA then decided to revive it from 2021 and it is now to operate every 4 years. As a reminder of where the money comes from, the 2021, 2025, 2029 and 2033 editions have all be awarded to be held in Qatar. For the 2025 competition, a 23^rd country (South Sudan) was added and there was a qualifying round to reduce from 23 to 16 countries. The qualifying round was held as single games in Qatar.

The seven winners then stayed on, with the main competition starting the following week with four round robin groups of four teams, followed by quarter-finals, etc. Morocco were the eventual winners.  This competition was run and is expected to continue outside FIFA’s international windows.

A women’s competition was held in 2006 and then revived in 2021. Both past events were played in Egypt, while a 2027 edition is planned for Morocco.

And then there is the Gulf Cup. The 27^th edition of this eight-team tournament is being held in the September/October international window. This may be the first time it has been played in an official window, as the finalists need to play five games, and the short international windows we have had before this year do not allow for that.

All eight countries have hosted the tournament, but it is not a strict rotation with Yemen having only once being the host (2010). Yemen are also the only one of the eight not to have registered a title. Kuwait dominate with ten titles, Bahrain, the last to register their first win (2019) are also the current holders. UAE won their first title in 2007 which I recall as it is the only one I travelled to, (even if I only saw group games). This year’s tournament is in Saudi Arabia.

For this year, the finalists of the Gulf Cup will play five games in an international window that FIFA specifies is for four games. I can imagine that if any of these players are with major European teams, they might be pressurising the teams to not over-employ their players.  At the moment this is not an issue. There are only a few players with European clubs. I think only Ali Al Hamadi of Sheffield Wednesday, (on loan from Ipswich) is playing from an English club – and Hamadi has not been playing much anyway.

It remains to be seen if the next Gulf Cup can also be during an international window. I feel that unless Asian World Cup qualifying is slimmed down, then there is not much space for it in the calendar.

With FIFA having given their name to the cup, one also wonders if the Arab Cup could be moved into International windows. I would have thought this might mean moving the next edition from 2029 to the autumn of 2030. As it requires the finalists to play six games, it would have to use all the international dates in that period – and have its qualification matches played in advance.

I would suggest that the Arab cup could develop into a major tournament, but to do so it may have to be removed from being permanently within Qatar with some hosting duties moved elsewhere.

The WAFF’s own cup, already postponed indefinitely, could easily be lost from the calendars with no one noticing should the Arab Cup grow in stature

As for club competitions, there is no WAFF men’s championships and I doubt if there is any desire to create one. There is a Gulf Champions League, but its title is more of a misnomer than the UEFA version. Of the 12 teams, only Yemen’s Al Shaab Hadramaut is even a potential league champion. The Yemeni league having been held up by a number of factors, including the current wars in the region. For the others, it is a consolation prize for teams not in AFC Competition

There is also the Arab Champions Cup, currently played in alternate seasons with the main competition as a tournament in one country. The last was held in Saudi Arabia in July and August of 2023. It was in Saudi Arabia, with Saudi sponsorship supplying the considerable prize money, and named the King Salman Cup, (after the Saudi King). Al Nassr won the competition with two goals from Ronaldo.

Future tournaments are planned for 2027 and 2029, both in July and August. I am not certain where they are being held, but it would not surprise me if Saudi again ruled. And if the club tournaments can be held in summer, in Saudi Arabia – where does that leave the 2034 World Cup?