The Sahrawi Football Federation (FSF) (, ) is the governing body of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

Western Sahara Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...

, a territory that is disputed between

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and the

Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), also known as the Sahrawi Republic and Western Sahara, is a partially recognized state in the western Maghreb, which claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara, but controls only ...

. It was formed in 1989 and it is based in the Sahrawi refugee camp of Bojador. The board runs the Sahrawi national football team. The Sahrawi Football Federation hosts the

Sahrawi Republic Cup Sahrawi Republic Cup () is the top knockout tournament of the Sahrawi Football Federation. It is organised by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. The tournament was established in 2016 and is held annually in the Algerian city Tindouf, where th ...

International affiliation

The Sahrawi Football Federation is not affiliated to the

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(CAF) nor to

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 ...

. In December 2003 the Sahrawi Football Federation became provisionally affiliated to the

N.F.-Board The N.F.-Board (NFB) is a federation for association football, football associations established on 12 December 2003. The NFB is made up of teams that represent nations, Dependent territory, dependencies, unrecognized states, Minority group, min ...

. The N.F.-Board (officially known as the New Football Federations-Board) was formed in December 2003 and acted as a federation of association football national federations, who were not recognised by FIFA. The board also organised the Viva World Cup, a competition Western Sahara entered once. On 25 March 2012, the then

Minister for Youth and Sports, Mohamed Moulud Mohamed Fade, announced the creation of the Sahrawi national football team, by decision of the own team players, stating that, "The reason behind its absence of the African football competitions is due to its non-membership in the Confederation of African Football." The national team participated in the 2012 Viva World Cup. Due to pressure from

, the hosts of the tournament,

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

didn't display the Sahrawi flag for the competition. The N.F. Board disbanded In January 2013 and it was replaced by the

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

(ConIFA). Western Sahara joined ConIFA, but the national team hasn't participated in any of the ConIFA World Football Cups organised by the organisation. In July 2020, Western Sahara were founding members of the

World Unity Football Alliance The World Unity Football Alliance (WUFA) was an international governing body for association football teams that are not affiliated with FIFA, similar to but smaller than the older Confederation of Independent Football Associations. WUFA was fo ...

. Sahrawi Football Federation membership was rejected by CAF in 2023.

References

{{International football National football team Sports organizations established in 1989 1989 establishments in Western Sahara