Union of Arab Football Associations celebrates the 50th anniversary of Foundation, Prepares to launch the 2024 season competitions

During the current year 2024, the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA), will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its founding in 1974, when it was headed by Libyan Abdul Latif Booker, may God have mercy on him, during the period from 1974 to 1976, and then headed by His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, may God have mercy on him ( 1976 – 1999), followed by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz during the period from 1999 to 2011, then His Royal Highness Prince Nawaf bin Faisal bin Fahd assumed the presidency of the Union of Arab Football Associations from 2011 to 2014, followed by His Highness Prince Turki bin Khalid bin Faisal for the period from 2014 to 2017, and then His Excellency Counselor Turki bin Abdul Mohsen Al Al Sheikh assumed his presidency until 2019, then His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal was elected President of the Federation.

The Union of Arab Football Associations is one of the oldest football federations in the continents of Africa and Asia, as it includes 22 national federations. It periodically holds several competitions for the Arab national teams, juniors and youth, in addition to club competitions of various names and others for futsal, beach soccer and women, in addition to establishing various training programs and activities aimed at the growth and prosperity of Arab football.

The General Secretariat of the Union of Arab Football Associations is preparing to hold a ceremony on the occasion of the golden jubilee of the founding of the Union during the current year, in conjunction with one of its major tournaments, where the 2024 season competitions will be named during the coming period.

It is noteworthy that the 2023 season of the Union of Arab Football Associations competitions began with the Arab Beach Soccer Cup, whose competitions were held in Jeddah Governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the period from May 11 to 20, with the participation of teams from Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, the United of Arab Emirates, Libya, and Kuwait, Comoros, where the Egyptian team won the title after defeating Oman (4-2) in the final match.

This was followed, from June 6 to 16, by the holding of the Arab Futsal Cup in Jeddah Governorate, in which the teams of Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Algeria, Palestine, Mauritania, Comoros and Tajikistan participated, and the Moroccan team was crowned champion after defeating the Kuwaiti team 7-1.

The Arab under-17 teams participated in the football competition at the Arab Games, which was held in Algeria during the period from 5 to 15 last July, and the Saudi team won the gold medal after winning on penalties over the Syrian team.

The year 2023 also witnessed the holding of one of the largest Arab Federation competitions, the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, which began with the preliminary round qualifiers stage held in Jeddah Governorate, with the participation of 4 clubs: Arta Solar from Djibouti, Volcan from the Comoros, Horseed from Somalia, and Fahman from Yemen, where the latter qualified. On to the next stage of the tournament.

The matches of the first and second rounds of the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, were held in a home-and-away format, which resulted in the qualification of 6 clubs to the group stage, namely Al-Shabab of Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahli Tripoli of Libya, Al-Wahda of the United Arab Emirates, Union Sportive Monastirienne of Tunisia, Al-Kuwait of Kuwait and Sfaxien of Tunisia, which joined the clubs Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr ( Saudi Arabia), Raja and Wydad (Morocco), Zamalek (Egypt), Al-Sadd (Qatar), Esperance (Tunisia), Shabab Belouizdad (Algeria), and Al-Shorta (Iraq), as group stage matches were held in Taif, Abha and Al-Baha during the period from July 27 and 12.

Last August, Al-Nassr from Saudi Arabia won the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, after defeating its Saudi counterpart, Al-Hilal (2-1).