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After last weekend’s frankly disastrous CONIFA AGM, I’m going to do a thread about non-FIFA football, CONIFA - the non-FIFA version of FIFA - and why it is no longer fit for purpose. Then I’ll shut up about it and focus on trying to help and celebrate teams in that space.
CONIFA represents nations, states and peoples not recognised by FIFA. It’s a noble purpose as it brings a way to express identity through sport to oppressed peoples as well as regional and cultural identities. But things have gone badly awry.
In many ways CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Associations) would be a fascinating case study in sports governance. It started out as the anti-FIFA with the most honourable of intentions but has became scarily similar to the worst of FIFA.
In 2018 I was one of the main organisers of the CONIFA World Football Cup in London and will never forget watching the Tibetan players being greeted by their fans, the @MatabelFootball team dancing in Haringey, and so much more. It was an incredible event.
But after witnessing the organisation starting to outgrow them, a clique of the original CONIFA ExCo (CONIFA's board) members got insecure and tried to rein it in, fight off new ideas and look after their own interests and those of their European FAs.
The AGM last weekend was the perfect example of how far CONIFA has strayed from its original purpose and how there is no longer any hope for its reform. It is a boys’ club.
At the AGM, of CONIFA”s 60 or so members, only 16 were able to vote, all of them European except for Cascadia (North America). No African, Asian, South American or Oceanian team were allowed to have their say.
The reason for this is teams must €500 to be an ‘active’ member and have a vote. Not exactly a great look for an organisation set up to empower the voiceless that it has created two ‘classes’ of member - the wealthy get all the say.
While 500 Euros may not sound like a lot, it’s prohibitive for most non-FIFA FAs who are run by small groups of dedicated volunteers and in the middle of a global pandemic CONIFA resisted requests to waive the fee.
Furthermore, CONIFA changed its system so there’s no qualification for tournaments, but you must be a paying member. So teams must pay in the hope they are selected. Only a few European FAs can take that kind of gamble.
And this works out perfectly for the entrenched ExCo members, including the president, because they are voted in at the AGM by a tiny voting list of teams who are their wealthy, European mates. It makes them invincible and gives the ExCo no reason to care about Africa or Asia.
The president celebrated a unanimous re-election while 80% of CONIFA members had no vote at all. As democracy goes we're close to North Korean democracy.
There are no term limits and only a fool would stand for election against someone when the only people who can vote are 15 of that person’s close friends. So whatever they do, CONIFA ExCo won’t be voted out. There’s zero accountability.
You have a small group of CONIFA ExCo members who are presidents of their FAs who pay 500 Euros so their FA, run by them, can vote them and their friends back in. If it sounds ridiculous that’s because it is.
It's even worse when you consider that several members of the ExCo have ‘loaned’ CONIFA substantial sums of money in the past which they intend to recoup one day. If they leave the ExCo they know a charity will struggle to justify those payments, so they must stay at all costs.
Add to that quagmire that only the president has access to the bank account and, contrary to the constitution, the accounts are not independently audited and it’s not hard to see why that is troubling.
So why do teams stick with CONIFA? It’s tough for FAs to actively reduce their players’ opportunities, especially as non-FIFA teams have few outlets. Given teams aren’t paying their fees, most, understandably, stick around and wait to see if things get better. They can’t.
Depressing? Yes. But all is not lost, a lot of non-FIFA teams are now looking to other avenues, including @WorldUnityFA (where there are no fees), and there are signs that big things are on the horizon, ending CONIFA’s monopoly on the non-FIFA space. And not a moment too soon.
In the meantime I’d urge anyone to support and amplify the amazing teams who inspired me day after day, they need it more than ever because of CONIFA's neglect.
There are too many to mention but check out @FABarawa, @chagosisland, @karen__fa, @MatabelFootball, @kanakapowawae, @ParishesOfJsyFC, @PanjabFA, @FutbolKuskatan, @FAWPunofficial, @TamilEelamFA and @DarfurUnited who left CONIFA last year.
