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Confederation of African Football
International governing body of association football in Africa From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Confederation of African Football[a] (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was officially established on 8 February 1957 at the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan. The foundation followed a decision made at the 1954 FIFA Congress in Bern, Switzerland, where Africa was formally recognised as a football confederation.[2][3][4]
Representing the African confederation of FIFA, CAF organises runs and regulates national team and club continental competitions annually or biennially such as the Africa Cup of Nations and Women's Africa Cup of Nations, which they control the prize money and broadcast rights to. CAF will be allocated 9 spots at the FIFA World Cup starting from 2026 and could have an opportunity of 10 spots with the addition of an intercontinental play-off tournament involving 6 teams to decide the last 2 FIFA World Cup places (46+2).
The headquarters of CAF were originally located within the offices of the Sudanese Football Association in Khartoum, before being relocated to a site near Cairo, Egypt, following a fire. Youssef Mohamad served as the organisation’s first general secretary, and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem was its first president. The current president, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, was first elected unopposed on 12 March 2021 in elections held in Rabat, Morocco.[5][6]
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History
Anthem
CAF launched a competition for all African composers to create its anthem without lyrics to reflect the cultural patrimony and the music of Africa on 18 September 2007.[7]
Leadership
Members and zones
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A total of 54 member associations are part of the Confederation of African Football.[1][10]
Members
Additionally, there are territories located in Africa which are not affiliated with CAF or any other confederation to any extent.
Some African states with limited or no international recognition have official national teams, but none have been considered for CAF membership. Instead, they are affiliated with organisations such as CONIFA.
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Competitions
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CAF competitions
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National teams:
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Clubs:
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Inter Continental:
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Regional:
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International
Shortly after formation, CAF organised the Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated AFCON) in 1957 and it has since become its flagship competition. Faced with undisclosed decline in popularity of local competitions and the mass exodus of homegrown footballers to Europe, Asia and the Americas in the 1990s and early 2000s, CAF launched the African Nations Championship (alternatively, though not widely used, the Championship of African Nations (CHAN)) on 11 September 2007 and began organisation two years later, to address this issue. CAF also organises qualification tournaments/competitions for the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the FIFA U-17 World Cup for its member associations; both of which initially began on a home-and-away two-legged basis but has since 1995 been organised in appointed host countries as respectively the Under-20 and U-17 Africa Cup of Nations.
For women's football operates competitions which currently serve as qualification tournaments for the related FIFA-organised tournaments which launched at the exact same year they began formation. The flagship African women's football competition/tournament is the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, which launched in 1991 as the African Women's Championship and was known in the mass media between 2015 and 2021 as the Africa/African Women/Women's Cup of Nations, which currently qualifies 4 teams to the FIFA Women's World Cup. CAF also organises qualification matches for "promising future female footballers" at both the Under-20 and Under-17 levels, launched in 2002 and 2008 respectively, both of which crowns no champions but instead qualifies 2 teams to compete at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup respectively.
Club
For African clubs, CAF runs the CAF Men's and Women's Champions League, the CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF Super Cup and the African Schools Football Championship for both males and females. First held in 1964 as the African Cup of Champions Clubs (simply known sometimes as the African Cup) and rebranded in 1997 as the CAF Champions League, this football club competition currently features the champions of top-division leagues of CAF member associations and the runners-up teams of the league classifications of member associations the top 12 ranked national associations as documented by the CAF 5-year ranking system.
A currently-former competition, the African Cup Winners' Cup, commenced in 1975 for national cup winners of member associations and a third currently-former competition, the CAF Cup, launched in 1992 for African teams who finished below the top 2 positions of the league classifications of member associations and haven't met any criteria for qualification to any CAF competition. CAF decided to merge these two competitions together to form the current second-tier CAF Confederation Cup in 2004, and it currently incorporates the participation of national cup winners from the Cup Winners' Cup, whiles maintaining the format of the participation of teams who finished 3rd in the top-division league classifications of the 12 highest-ranked member associations as documented by the CAF 5-Year Ranking system from the CAF Cup. It is also ranked below the CAF Champions League.[12]
The winners of the CAF Champions League play the winners of the African Cup Winners' Cup until 2004 and the CAF Confederation Cup thereafter in the CAF Super Cup which was launched in 1993.
The Afro-Asian Club Championship was an annual football match jointly organised between CAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the winners of the AFC Champions League between 1987 and 1999.
The CAF Women's Champions League was announced and approved on 30 June 2020, launched on 12 September that year and began contesting the following year, i.e. 2021.[13][14] It features women's national league and cup winners nvolving the champions of CAF's sub-confederation qualification tournaments for women's club teams.
Current title holders
Competition winners
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Sponsorship
In October 2004, South African telecommunications giant, MTN, contracted a 4-year deal to sponsor CAF competitions worth US$12.5 million, which was the biggest sponsorship deal in African sporting history at that time.[15]
CAF opened new sponsorship callouts when MTN's contract expired and French telecommunications giant Orange scooped it up in July 2009, signing an 8-year comprehensive long-term undisclosed deal to sponsor CAF competitions with a value of €100 million.[16]
On 21 July 2016, French energy and petroleum giant, Total S.A., replaced Orange as the main sponsor with an 8-year sponsorship package from CAF for a value of €950 million[17] to support its competitions.[18] Total rebranded as TotalEnergies on 28 May 2021.[19]
The current main CAF sponsors are:
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FIFA World Rankings
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Overview
Historical leaders
Men
Women
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Other rankings
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CAF overall ranking of African clubs by titles
The following clubs are the top 10 clubs in CAF competitions.
Non-CAF competition
The 1982 African Super Cup is a match which took place on January 25, 1982 during the Tournament of Fraternity in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Kabyles of JS Kabylie won this trophy against the Cameroonians of Union Douala.[22]
By country
The following table lists all the countries whose clubs have won at least one CAF competition. Egyptian clubs are the most successful, with a total of 44 titles. Egyptian clubs hold a record number of wins in the African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League (19), the now-defunct African Cup Winners' Cup (8), the CAF Super Cup (12) and the now-defunct Afro-Asian Club Championship (3), followed by Tunisian clubs with 24 titles and they have the most victories in the now-defunct CAF Cup (4) and Moroccan clubs have secured also 24 titles with the most victories in the CAF Confederation Cup (7).
- Key
| CL | African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League |
| CWC | African Cup Winners' Cup |
| C | CAF Cup |
| CC | CAF Confederation Cup |
| SC | CAF Super Cup |
| AAC | Afro-Asian Club Championship |
CAF overall ranking of African clubs
Rankings are calculated by the CAF based on points gathered by African teams throughout their participation in international club tournaments organised by either CAF themselves or FIFA since the establishment of the first African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1964.[23]
Men's Futsal
Per 22 June 2023:[24]
(*)= Provisional ranking (played at least 10 matches) (**)= Inactive for more than 24 months
Women's Futsal
Beach soccer national teams
Rankings are calculated by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW). Top ten, last updated 1 October 2025 Archived 23 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine
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Major tournament records
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- Legend
- 1st – Champions
- 2nd – Runners-up
- 3rd – Third place
- 4th – Fourth place
- QF – Quarter-finals (1934–1938, 1954–1970, and 1986–present: knockout round of 8)
- R3 — Round 3 (2026–present: knockout round of 16)
- R2 — Round 2 (1974–1978: second group stage, top 8; 1982: second group stage, top 12; 1986–2022: knockout round of 16; 2026–present: knockout round of 32)
- R1 — Round 1 (1930, 1950–1970 and 1986–present: group stage; 1934–1938: knockout round of 16; 1974–1982: first group stage)
- Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
- •• – Qualified but withdrew
- • – Did not qualify
- × – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
- – Hosts
- – Not affiliated in FIFA
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.
FIFA World Cup
- Firsts
- 1934:
Egypt first African team to qualify for the World Cup - 1970:
Morocco first African team to draw a match in the World Cup - 1978:
Tunisia first African team to win a match in the World Cup - 1982:
Algeria first African team to win two matches in the World Cup - 1986: Algeria first African team to qualify for two consecutive World Cups
- 1986: Morocco first African team to reach the knockout stage (round of sixteen)
- 1990:
Cameroon first African team to reach the knockout stage (quarter-finals) - 1994 and 1998:
Nigeria first African team to top a group stage and reach the knockout stage (round of 16) in two consecutive World Cups - 2002:
Senegal first African team to reach the knockout stage (quarter-finals) on their World Cup debut - 2010:
South Africa first African team to host the World Cup - 2014: Algeria & Nigeria first African teams to reach the knockout stage (round of sixteen) simultaneously in the World Cup
- 2022: Morocco first African team to reach the knockout stage (semi-finals), taking fourth place
FIFA Women's World Cup
Teams are sorted by number of appearances.
Olympic Games
Men's tournament
Women's tournament
Africa Cup of Nations
Women's Africa Cup of Nations
FIFA U-20 World Cup
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
FIFA U-17 World Cup
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
FIFA Futsal World Cup
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Former tournaments
FIFA Confederations Cup
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CAF Best Footballers of the Century
The voting to select the best of the century refers to three categories: male player, goalkeeper and female player and is obtained from five different steps. The resulting best players and goalkeepers were honoured during the "World Football Gala 1999".[26]
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CAF Golden Jubilee Best Players poll
In 2007, CAF published the list of top 30 African players who played in the period from 1957 to 2007, as part of the celebration of the golden jubilee or 50th anniversary of the foundation of CAF, ordered according to an online poll.[27]
- 1. Roger Milla
- 2.
Mahmoud El Khatib - 3. Hossam Hassan
- 4. Samuel Eto'o
- 5.
Abedi Pele - 6.
George Weah - 7.
Didier Drogba - 8. Nwankwo Kanu
- 9. Rabah Madjer
- 10.
Kalusha Bwalya - 11. Michael Essien
- 12. Augustine Okocha
- 13. Saleh Selim
- 14. Hacène Lalmas
- 15. Benni McCarthy
- 16. El Hadji Diouf
- 17. Noureddine Naybet
- 18. Rashidi Yekini
- 19. Hany Ramzy
- 20. Hassan Shehata
- 21. Lucas Radebe
- 22. Tarak Dhiab
- 23. Mohammed Timoumi
- 24. Tony Yeboah
- 25.
Salif Keita - 26. Karim Abdul Razak
- 27. Samuel Kuffour
- 28. Lakhdar Belloumi
- 29. Rigobert Song
- 30.
Nasr Eddin "Jaksa" Abbas
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CAF resolutions
International top goalscorers
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- As of 9 December 2025
This table is for players with 30 or more goals for a CAF national team. Players in bold are still active at international level.
| Indicates the CAF top scorer. | |
| Indicates the top scorer of the respective nation. |
See also
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- African nations at the FIFA World Cup
- Football in Africa
- History of CAF
- Oceania association football club records and statistics
- International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
- Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
- Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
- Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
- Confederation of South American Football (CONMEBOL)
- Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
- List of association football competitions
- List of association football sub-confederations
- List of presidents of CAF
- List of first international of African national teams
- List of CAF club competition winners
- List of CAF club competition winning coaches
- List of African national football team managers
- Women's football in Africa
- List of top international men's football goal scorers by country
- List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
Notes
- Excluded from CAF and from the 1957 African Cup of Nations due to apartheid.
- This tournament was initially formed as a home-and-away qualification tournament for U-21 African nations in 1977. Since 1979, a proper tournament was launched as the African Youth Championship and used these branded titles until 2015: African U-21 Cup of Nations until 1989, African U-21 Championship until 2003 and African U-20 Championship until 2015. The current name was adopted in 2017.
- From 1995 to 2015, the tournament was known as the African U-17 Championship. The current name was adopted in 2017.
- Algeria gained independence in 1962, but they joined with other African nations to boycott the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Thus the 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification was their first participation.
- Angola gained independence in 1975. Thus the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification was their first participation.
- The Democratic Republic of the Congo competed as Zaire in 1974.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence in 1960, but they joined with other African nations to boycott the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Thus the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification was their first participation.
- Egypt team represented the United Arab Republic with Syria in 1960 finishing the 12th and alone in 1964 finishing the 4th.
- Costa Rica and Panama were originally due to host the 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, but the latter withdrew citing the COVID-19 pandemic and left Costa Rica as the sole hosts. FIFA postponed the 2020 edition to the following year, i.e. 2021, pending improvement in pandemic management, but cancelled it altogether on 17 November 2020 due to the escalation of the pandemic caused by the discovery of the COVID-19 Omicron variant a month earlier and automatically awarded them the 2022 edition.
- Peru was originally due to host the 2021 FIFA U-17 World Cup but FIFA cancelled it on 24 December 2020 citing the COVID-19 pandemic and its escalation of the pandemic caused by the discovery of the COVID-19 Omicron variant a month earlier as the reasons and automatically awarded them the 2023 edition. Peru later withrew as hosts on 2 May 2023 due to infrastructural defects and FIFA awarded the hosting eights to Indonesia, whom FIFA earlier stripped the hosting rights for the year's FIFA U-20 World Cup.
- India were originally due to host the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, but it was postponed to the following year, i.e. 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic by FIFA, who eventually cancelled it on 17 November 2020 and rather automatically awarded them the 2022 edition.
References
External links
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