Confederation of African Football


The Confederation of African Football or CAF is the administrative and controlling body for African association football.
CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those competitions.
CAF is the biggest of the six continental confederations of FIFA. Since the expansion of the number of teams at the World Cup finals to 32 in 1998, CAF has been allocated five places, though this was expanded to six for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, to include the hosts.
CAF was established on 8 February 1957 at the Grand Hotel in Khartoum, Sudan, by Egyptian, Ethiopian, South African and Sudanese FAs, following former discussions between the Egyptian, Somali, South African and Sudanese FAs earlier on 7 June 1956 at the Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. Its first headquarters was situated in Khartoum for some months until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization moved near Cairo, Egypt. Youssef Mohamad was the first general secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem the president. Since 2002, the administrative center has been located in 6th of October City, Cairo, Egypt. CAF currently has 56 member associations: 54 are full members, while Zanzibar and Réunion are associate members.
The current CAF President is Ahmad Ahmad from Madagascar, who was elected on 16 March 2017. The 1st Vice-President is Amaju Melvin Pinnick from Nigeria, the 2nd Vice-President is called Constant Omari Selemani from RD Congo and the 3rd Vice-President is Fouzi Lekjaa from Morocco. Current CAF General Secretary is Moroccan Hajji Mouad since 11 April 2019.

History

CAF's anthem

On 18 September 2007 the CAF launched a competition for all African composers to create its Anthem. The CAF anthem is a musical composition, without lyrics, which and reflect the cultural patrimony and African music. The duration of the anthem is 74 seconds. The chosen anthem was first published to the site on 16 January 2008. The usage of the anthem and its composer are still unknown.

Current leaders

NamePosition
Ahmad AhmadPresident
Constant OmariVice President
Fouzi LekjaaVice President
Mouad HajjiGeneral Secretary
Abdul BahActing General Secretary
Essameldin AghaActing General Secretary
Mohamed El ShereiTreasurer
Junior BinyamMedia and Communication Manager
Tarek El DeebIT Director

Source:

CAF members and zones

Members

;African regional federations
;Other federation
  1. – Excluded from CAF and from 1st African Cup of Nations in 1957 due to Apartheid
  2. – Member of UNAF from 2005 to 2009 and from 2011 – Withdrew from UNAF on 19 November 2009 but return on 2011
  3. – Associate members, not part of FIFA. Zanzibar held full membership for four months in 2017, when its status was changed after CAF admitted its membership was an error.

    Regional zones

CAF National League

CAF Zone 1 – North Zone

CAF Zone 2 – Zone West A

CAF Zone 3 – Zone West B

CAF Zone 4 – Central Zone

CAF Zone 5 – Central-East Zone

CAF Zone 6 – Southern Zone

Competitions

CAF competitions

National teams:
Clubs:
;Defunct
Inter Continental:
;Defunct
Regional:
The main competition for men's national teams Africa Cup of Nations, started in 1957. In 2009, the CAF started organising another competition for men's national teams, the African Nations Championship composed exclusively of national players playing in the national championship. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-20 and Under-17 levels. For women's national teams, CAF operates the Africa Women Cup of Nations for senior national sides and the African U-20 Women's World Cup qualification at under-20 level, since 2008 there is an African U-17 Cup of Nations for Women for under-17 sides.

Club

CAF also runs the two main club competitions in Africa: the CAF Champions League was first held in 1964, and was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs until 1997; and the CAF Confederation Cup, for national cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by CAF in 2004 as a successor to the African Cup Winners' Cup. A third competition, the CAF Cup, started in 1992 and was absorbed into the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004.
The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup, came into being in 1992.
The Afro-Asian Club Championship was jointly organised with AFC between the winners of the CAF Champions League and the winners of the AFC Champions League.
The last Afro-Asian Club Championship took place in 1998.

Current title holders

Competition Winners

Sponsors

In October 2004, MTN has contracted a four-year deal to sponsor African football's major competitions. This agreement, which worthed US$12.5 million, was the biggest sponsorship deal in African sporting history at that time.
In July 2009, Orange has signed an eight-year deal to sponsor African football's major competitions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but CAF previous year put a value of €100 million for a comprehensive and long-term package of its competitions when it opened tenders for a new sponsor. The deal included the African Nations Cup, the CAF Champions League, the CAF Confederation Cup, the CAF Super Cup, the African Nations Championship and the African Youth Championship.
In July 2016, Total replaced Orange as the main sponsor and has secured an eight-year sponsorship package from the Confederation of African Football for a value of €950 million to support ETof its principal competitions, including the CAF Champions League, renamed Total CAF Champions League.
The CAF current main sponsors are:

Top ranked men's national teams by FIFA


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  1. Just short of the date the next version of the FIFA World Ranking will be released
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  1. Colors for teams
Colors =
id:Algeria value:rgb
id:Cameroon value:rgb
id:CapeVerde value:rgb
id:Egypt value:rgb
id:IvoryCoast value:rgb
id:Ghana value:rgb
id:Morocco value:rgb
id:Nigeria value:rgb
id:Senegal value:rgb
id:SouthAfrica value:rgb
id:Tunisia value:rgb
id:Zambia value:rgb
  1. A line at the right side of the graph
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from:08/08/1993 till:end atpos:65 color:black width:0.5
  1. Setup text and color to use in the labeled bars
Define $labelAlgeria = text:"Algeria" color:Algeria
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Define $labelEgypt = text:"Egypt" color:Egypt
Define $labelIvoryCoast = text:"Ivory Coast" color:IvoryCoast
Define $labelGhana = text:"Ghana" color:Ghana
Define $labelMorocco = text:"Morocco" color:Morocco
Define $labelNigeria = text:"Nigeria" color:Nigeria
Define $labelSenegal = text:"Senegal" color:Senegal
Define $labelSouthAfrica = text:"South Africa" color:SouthAfrica
Define $labelTunisia = text:"Tunisia" color:Tunisia
Define $labelZambia = text:"Zambia" color:Zambia
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from:08/08/1993 till:25/07/1995 shift: $labelNigeria
from:25/07/1995 till:22/08/1995 shift: $labelTunisia
from:22/08/1995 till:19/09/1995 shift: $labelEgypt
from:19/09/1995 till:17/10/1995 shift: $labelNigeria
from:17/10/1995 till:21/11/1995 shift: $labelEgypt
from:21/11/1995 till:19/12/1995 shift: $labelTunisia
from:19/12/1995 till:24/01/1996 shift: $labelIvoryCoast
from:24/01/1996 till:21/02/1996 shift: $labelGhana
from:21/02/1996 till:22/05/1996 shift: $labelZambia
from:24/04/1996 till:22/05/1996 shift: color:Ghana width:11 text:"Ghana / Zambia"
from:22/05/1996 till:18/12/1996 shift: $labelZambia
from:18/12/1996 till:27/02/1997 shift: $labelSouthAfrica
from:27/02/1997 till:14/05/1997 shift: $labelZambia
from:14/05/1997 till:16/02/2000 shift: $labelMorocco
from:16/02/2000 till:18/07/2001 shift: $labelSouthAfrica
from:18/07/2001 till:13/02/2002 shift: $labelTunisia
from:13/02/2002 till:06/10/2004 shift: $labelCameroon
from:06/10/2004 till:15/06/2005 shift: $labelNigeria
from:15/06/2005 till:20/07/2005 shift: $labelCameroon
from:20/07/2005 till:12/09/2005 shift: $labelEgypt
from:12/09/2005 till:21/11/2005 shift: $labelCameroon
from:17/10/2005 till:21/11/2005 shift: color:Nigeria width:11 text:"Cameroon / Nigeria"
from:21/11/2005 till:15/02/2006 shift: $labelCameroon
from:15/02/2006 till:14/02/2007 shift: $labelNigeria
from:14/02/2007 till:19/09/2007 shift: $labelCameroon
from:19/09/2007 till:13/02/2008 shift: $labelNigeria
from:13/02/2008 till:04/06/2008 shift: $labelGhana
from:04/06/2008 till:01/07/2009 shift: $labelCameroon
from:01/07/2009 till:16/10/2009 shift: $labelIvoryCoast
from:16/10/2009 till:03/02/2010 shift: $labelCameroon
from:03/02/2010 till:02/02/2011 shift: $labelEgypt
from:02/02/2011 till:29/06/2011 shift: $labelGhana
from:29/06/2011 till:05/06/2014 shift: $labelIvoryCoast
from:05/06/2014 till:05/11/2015 shift: $labelAlgeria
from:05/11/2015 till:03/03/2016 shift: $labelIvoryCoast
from:03/03/2016 till:07/04/2016 shift: $labelCapeVerde
from:07/04/2016 till:15/09/2016 shift: $labelAlgeria
from:15/09/2016 till:24/11/2016 shift: $labelIvoryCoast
from:24/11/2016 till:09/02/2017 shift: $labelSenegal
from:09/02/2017 till:16/10/2017 shift: $labelEgypt
from:16/10/2017 till:23/11/2017 shift: $labelTunisia
from:23/11/2017 till:18/01/2018 shift: $labelSenegal
from:18/01/2018 till:20/09/2018 shift: $labelTunisia
from:16/08/2018 till:20/09/2018 shift: color:Senegal width:11 text:"Senegal / Tunisia"
from:20/09/2018 till:29/11/2018 shift: $labelTunisia
from:29/11/2018 till:end shift: $labelSenegal

This graph shows the time periods each national football team has been at the highest ranked CAF member on the FIFA World Rankings.

Top ranked women's national teams by FIFA


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id:NGA value:green
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from:01/01/2003 till:27/09/2019 shift: text:"Nigeria" color:NGA

Men's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.
CAFFIFACountryPoint+/−Region
1201546West African Football Union|
2291495Union of North African Football Federations|
3351481 −1West African Football Union|
4381469Union of North African Football Federations|
5421457 −3Union of North African Football Federations|
6491433Union of North African Football Federations|
7511426 −1West African Football Union|
8521409Central African Football Federations' Union|
9541399 +1Central African Football Federations' Union|
10561392West African Football Union|
11591386 −2West African Football Union|
12601378 +1West African Football Union|
13721337 −1Counsel of Southern African Football Association|
14771319 +1West African Football Union|
15781317 −4West African Football Union|
16791311 +1CECAFA|
17811299COSAFA|
18821293 +1West African Football Union|
19871285 +1UNIFFAC|
20921265 −2UNIFFAC|
21951249COSAFA|
221031211 −1UNAF|
231051205West African Football Union|
231051205COSAFA|
251071198West African Football Union|
261081195 −1CECAFA|
271121186 −1UNIFFAC|
281171167West African Football Union|
281171167COSAFA|
301191163 +1Council of Southern Africa Football Associations|
311201161 +1COSAFA|
321231155West African Football Union|
331241140COSAFA|
331241140West African Football Union|
351281111CECAFA|
361291106 +1CECAFA|
371331084 +2CECAFA|
381351083 −1UNIFFAC|
391381076 −1COSAFA|
401421067 +5COSAFA|
411431063 +1CECAFA|
421461057 +2COSAFA|
431471055 +3COSAFA|
441511049CECAFA|
451521047West African Football Union|
46162997 +11CECAFA|
47166990West African Football Union|
48173970 −12COSAFA|
49176955 +1UNIFFAC|
50180934 +10UNIFFAC|
51185916 +1CECAFA|
52198879 +1CECAFA|
53200868 −2COSAFA|
54206856 +1CECAFA|

Women's national teams

Rankings are calculated by FIFA.
CAFFIFACountryPoint+/−
1361643 2
2411552 5
3491486
4531452 2
5691363
6711356 1
7801288 5
8831280 4
9861271 2
10881232
111021192
121051178 5
131161128
141181122 1
151191119 3
161241070
171251062 3
18135978 2
19138966 10
20141921 3
21143899 3
22146881 1
23148868 4
24149850 3
25150823 5
26151804 3
27152796 1
28158693 3
29**1313 7
30**1256 7
31*1183 7
32*1134 7
33**1132 7
34**1077 7
35**1060 7
36*1056 7
37*962 7
38**927 7
39*891 7
40**877 7
41*837 7
42*761 7
43**519 7
44*358 7

CAF overall ranking of African clubs titles

The following clubs are the top 10 clubs in CAF competitions.
PosClubTitlesTrophies won
1 Al Ahly SC208 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 CAF Confederation Cup, 4 African Cup Winners' Cup, 6 CAF Super Cup, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship
2 Zamalek SC135 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 CAF Confederation Cup, 1 African Cup Winners' Cup, 4 CAF Super Cup, 2 Afro-Asian Club Championship
3 TP Mazembe115 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 2 CAF Confederation Cup, 1 African Cup Winners' Cup, 3 CAF Super Cup
4 Étoile du Sahel91 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 2 African Cup Winners' Cup, 2 CAF Confederation Cup, 2 CAF Cup, 2 CAF Super Cup
5 Espérance Sportive de Tunis84 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 African Cup Winners' Cup, 1 CAF Cup, 1 CAF Super Cup, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship
6 Raja Casablanca83 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 CAF Confederation Cup, 1 CAF Cup, 2 CAF Super Cup, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship
7 JS Kabylie62 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 African Cup Winners' Cup, 3 CAF Cup
8 Wydad Casablanca52 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 CAF Cup Winners' Cup, 1 CAF Super Cup, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship
9 ES Sétif42 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 CAF Super Cup, 1 Afro-Asian Club Championship
9 Canon Yaoundé43 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 1 African Cup Winners' Cup
9 Enyimba F.C.42 African Cup of Champions Clubs/CAF Champions League, 2 CAF Super Cup
9 CS Sfaxien43 CAF Confederation Cup, 1 CAF Cup

Update as of 21 February 2015 in chronological order.

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 organized by either the FIFA, Harrison Campbell, or the CAF since the establishment of the first African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1964.
RankClubPoints
1 Al Ahly SC90
2 Étoile du Sahel60
3 Espérance Tunis59
4 Zamalek56
5 TP Mazembe49
6 Vita Club44
7 ASEC Mimosas43
8 JS Kabylie39
9 Canon Yaoundé36
10 Hearts of Oak31

RankClubPoints
1 Al-Ahly40
2 El-Zamalek37
3 Raja Casablanca35
4 Asante Kotoko34
4 Canon Yaoundé34
6 Espérance Tunis27
6 ASEC Mimosas27
8 Hearts of Oak26
9 Africa Sports25
10 JS Kabylie20

RankclubPoints
1 Asante Kotoko149,00
2 Al Ahly SC131,50
3 Zamalek126,75
4 Canon Yaoundé125,50
5 ASEC Mimosas111,50
6 Hearts of Oak104,00
7 Espérance Tunis98,00
8 Hafia FC96,00
9 Africa Sports88,25
10 TP Mazembe77,50

Men's Futsal

Women's Futsal

Beach soccer national teams

Rankings are calculated by Beach Soccer Worldwide. Top ten,
CAFBSWWCountryPoints
1121084
217782
320720
424609
534339
641330
757177
866125
968117
1069115

Major tournament records

;Legend
For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown.

FIFA World Cup

;Firsts
Teams are sorted by number of appearances.

Olympic Games For Men

Olympic Games For Women

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Women Cup of Nations

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

FIFA U-17 World Cup

FIFA Futsal World Cup

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup

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 honored during the "World Football Gala 1999".

CAF Best Player of the Century

CAF Best Goalkeeper of the Century

CAF Best Women's Footballer of the Century

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 CAF's 50th anniversary, ordered according to an online poll.

CAF resolutions

Awards:
Qualifications:
This table is for players with more than 30 goals. Players in bold are still active at international level
RankPlayerNationGoalsMatchesRatiosSpan
1Godfrey Chitalu791110.711968–1980
2Kinnah Phiri711150.621973–1981
3Hossam Hassan701690.411985–2006
4Didier Drogba651050.622002–2014
5Samuel Eto'o561180.471997–2014
6Asamoah Gyan511090.472003–present
7Abdoulaye Traore49880.571984–1996
8Roger Milla43770.561973–1994
9Alex Chola431020.421975–1985
10Hassan El-Shazly42620.681961–1975
11Mohamed Salah41670.612011–present
12Fawzi Al-Issawi40900.441977–1985
13Akwa39780.51995–2006
14Kalusha Bwalya39870.451983–2006
15Peter Ndlovu38740.511991–2007
16Mohamed Aboutrika381000.382001–2013
17Rashidi Yekini37580.641984–1998
18Abdelhafid Tasfaout36790.461990–2002
19Issam Jemâa36840.432005–2014
20Moumouni Dagano34830.411998–2014
21Dennis Oliech34720.472002–2016
22Patrick M'Boma33550.61995–2004
23Abedi Pele33670.491982–98
24Ahmed Hassan331840.181995–2004
25Benni McCarthy32800.41997–2011
26Emmanuel Adebayor32870.372000–present
27Amr Zaki30630.482004–2013