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Confederation of Independent Football Associations

International body for association football teams not affiliated with FIFA

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.

01Competitions

Men's competitions

Women's competition

Futsal competition

Former (or one-off) competitions

Current title holders

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. 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.

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.

02Members

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 April 2026:

Former members

^^ The Girl Power Organisation and the Pakistan Football Association are breakaway football associations in Afghanistan and Pakistan respectively. Both of those countries also have state-backed football associations, the Afghanistan Football Federation and the Pakistan Football Federation, which are members of FIFA.

^^ The Federação Alternativa de Desporto de Estado de São Paulo (or São Paulo F.A.D.) is an independent regional football association dedicated to celebrating the culture and the people of the state of São Paulo. The state also has an official football association, the Federação Paulista de Futebol, which is affiliated with the Brazilian Football Confederation, which in turn is a member of FIFA.

03Leadership

President

President of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Per-Anders Blind Sweden7 June 2013Incumbent

Vice-Presidents

Vice-Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Malcolm Blackburn Isle of Man20142016
2Kristof Wenczel Hungary2015Incumbent
3Dimitri Pagave Abkhazia2016Incumbent

General Secretaries

General Secretaries of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Sascha Düerkop Germany7 June 201330 April 2020
2Jason Heaton England30 April 20202 August 2021
3Piotr Podlewski Poland2 August 20217 August 2022
4Jeroen Zandberg Netherlands7 August 2022Incumbent

African Presidents

African Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Masoud Attai Zanzibar7 June 20132017
2Justin Walley England20172020
3Christian Lubasi Luzongo Kalalaluka Zambia20202022
4Ngala Maimo Wajiri Cameroon2022Incumbent

Asian Presidents

Asian Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Tariq Abdulrahman Iraq7 June 20132017
2Jens Jockel Germany20172020
3Motoko Jitsukawa Japan20202022
4Ruby-Ann Kagaoan Philippines2022Incumbent

European President

European President of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Alberto Rischio Italy7 June 2013Incumbent

Latin American Presidents

Latin American Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Jens Jockel Germany20132017
2Zam Gutierrez Mexico20172019
3Diego Bartolotta Mexico2019Incumbent

Northern America and the Caribbean Presidents

Northern America and the Caribbean Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Mark Dieler Germany20132017
2Noah Wheelock Canada20172020
3Aaron Johnsen United States20202024
4Shaun Harris United States20242025
5Jaclyn Guenette Canada2025Incumbent

Oceanian Presidents

Oceanian Presidents of CONIFA
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
1Charles Reklai Mitchell Palau20142017
2Ben Schultz Australia2017Incumbent

Directors of Women’s Football

Directors of Women's Football
No.NameCountry of originTook officeLeft office
, Cassie Childers United States6 September 20172019
1Kelly Lindsey United StatesFebruary 201928 February 2020
2Håkan Kuorak Sweden28 February 20202022
3Alary Dalton United States20222024
4Norma Alvares Aguilera Mexico2024Incumbent
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Confederation of Independent Football Associations, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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