The Football Federation of Abkhazia regulates football in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

. They are a member of

CONIFA The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) is the international governing body for association football teams that are non-FIFA international football, not affiliated with FIFA. Competitions Men's competitions * CONIFA Wo ...

but not of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

due to their political status.

History

On 25 February 2004, it was announced that

Nart The Nart sagas (; ; ) are a series of tales originating from the North Caucasus. They form much of the basic mythology of the ethnic groups in the area, including Abazin, Abkhaz, Circassian, Ossetian, Karachay- Balkar, and to some extent C ...

Vice President Gennadi Tsvinaria had won the election to succeed

Vice President of Abkhazia The vice president of the Abkhaz Republic, a partially recognized state, internationally regarded as a part of Georgia (country), Georgia, is the first in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new president of Abkhazia upon the death, ...

Valeri Arshba as Chairman of the Football Federation. Sukhumi City Assembly Chairman Roman Gvinjia was elected Vice Chairman. In 2007, First Deputy Minister for Taxes and Fees (and later Interior Minister)

Leonid Dzapshba Leonid Yurivich Dzapshba (; born January 1, 1961) is a two-time Minister for Internal Affairs of Abkhazia, a former Presidential candidate and the former head of the Football Federation of Abkhazia. Early life Dzapshba was born on 1 January 1961 ...

became President of the Federation. During his tenure, he accepted funding from Russia in order to open thirteen new football training centres in Abkhazia due to there having been no funding for football prior due to the

Russo-Georgian War The August 2008 Russo-Georgian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Georgia,Occasionally, the war is also referred to by other names, such as the Five-Day War and August War. was a war waged against Georgia by the Russian Federation and the ...

. In March 2012, former Dynamo Sukhum top player Jemal Gubaz was elected to succeed Dzapshba. On 8 September 2015, the FFA announced that the upcoming leadership election had been moved forward to October from the Spring of 2016, so as to leave more time for the preparation of the

2016 ConIFA World Football Cup The 2016 ConIFA World Football Cup was the second edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup, an international association football, football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions Non-FIFA football, unaffiliated with FIFA ...

, hosted by Abkhazia. Initially, there were two candidates, incumbent Chairman Gubaz and Ruslan Ajinjal, who had announced his retirement from professional football on 7 June. However, on 21 September, Gubaz announced his immediate resignation. On 25 September FFA Council decided to hold the election on 15 October, with Ajinjal as the only candidate. Ajinjal was elected unanimously. On 24 January 2017, Ajinjal resigned as Chairman, and on 25 February, the coach of Abkhazia's national football team Juma Kvaratskhelia was unanimously elected as his successor.

References

{{Reflist Football in Abkhazia CONIFA member associations