The WAFU Nations Cup (also known as the WAFU Cup of Nations or simply the WAFU Cup) is an association football competition that is contested by representative teams of the

West African Football Union The West African Football Union (; ), officially abbreviated as WAFU-UFOA and WAFU, is a sports governing body representing the football associations in West Africa that was founded in 1975 and is a subregional body of the Confederation of Afr ...

History

A trophy was commissioned by President

Gnassingbé Eyadéma Gnassingbé Eyadéma (; born Étienne Eyadéma Gnassingbé, 26 December 1935 – 5 February 2005) was a Togolese military officer and politician who served as the third president of Togo from 1967 until his death in 2005, after which he was immed ...

of Togo in 1974 with a view to establishing a regional competition similar to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament. The maiden event was hosted in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

and the hosts Ivory Coast won the tournament. The

West African Nations Cup The West African Nations Cup, also known as CSSA Nations Cup or "Zone 3" Championship, was a football championship held from 1982 to 1987 (not in 1985), but discontinued. Ghana won all editions, and indeed never lost a single match among the 25 th ...

(Zone 3) commenced in 1982 on an annual basis (not in 1985), and was played until 1987. Meanwhile, in 1983

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as CEDEAO in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of twelve countries of West Africa. Collectively, the present and former members comprise an area ...

(French:) create another tournament, the

CEDEAO Cup The CEDEAO Cup was an international men's football tournament for nations in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; ''Communauté Economique Des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest'', CEDEAO). The tournament was held biannually between 198 ...

(Zone 3) and it was played on a bi-annual basis until 1991. Zone 2 also had their own tournament created, the

Amílcar Cabral Cup The Amílcar Cabral Cup was an international association football tournament for Western African nations. The competition originally was played on an annual basis until 1989, since then it was played on a biennial basis. The tournament is named ...

, named after the liberator of Guinea-Bissau,

Amílcar Cabral Amílcar Lopes Cabral (; – ) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist ...

. The West African Nations Cup returned in 2002 as the WAFU Nations Cup, however, officially it was not considered simply as a continuation of the old tournament, and therefore it is a new tournament. The 2002 edition was short-lived after violence broke out in Ivory Coast. Two games of the tournament had been played when it was cancelled. Finally, after an eight-year wait, the tournament returned in April 2010 which Nigeria's Ogun State hosted and the host nation won. The 2019 edition was held in Senegal, and the 2021 tournament was supposed to be hosted by Nigeria but the tournament didn't come to fruition.

Tournament history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wafu Nations Cup West African Football Union competitions

History

Tournament history

See also

References