Abbreviation CAFA Headquarters Tashkent, Uzbekistan President Mirabror Usmanov | Type Sports organization Membership 6 member associations | |
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Formation 9 January 2015; 2 years ago (2015-01-09) | ||
The Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) is an association of the football playing nations in Central Asia.
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In June 2014, the association was in principle approved by the Asian Football Confederation and approved at the Extraordinary Congress in January 2015 during the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. As a result, CAFA will in the future be able to have member(s) on the AFC executive committee.
The formation of CAFA was spearheaded by the Iranian Football Federation following disputes with West Asian Football Federation members. It was reported that AFC President Salman Bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa gained politically from the creation of the new zone.
History
Members of the six nations met with AFC president Sheikh Salman on 10 May 2014 to talk about the possibility of creating a new Asian football zone. The delegations were invited by the AFC president following an initiative by Iran and Afghanistan. At the extraordinary AFC congress on 9 June 2014 in São Paulo, the plan of the new zone was ratified by the congress.
Member associations
CAFA will consist of six member associations. All of them are members of the Asian Football Confederation.
Under-19 Men's
The first edition of this tournament concluded on 10 August 2016. Uzbekistan won the final 1–0 over Kyrgyzstan.
Under-19 Women's
The CAFA U-19 Women's Cup was played in October 2016 in Tashkent involving four teams: Uzbekistan, Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Final standings:
- Uzbekistan
- Iran
- Kyrgyzstan
- Tajikistan
Under-15 Men's
An under-15 tournament for all CAFA members plus four Japanese sides was held in March 2015 in Tokyo. Under the motto "SPORT FOR TOMORROW", teams played in groups of five. The final was won by Iran over Tajikistan in a penalty shootout.