COVID-19 has made many humanitarian projects almost impossible. But it gave other people time to think about their next steps. Darfur United took advantage of this time to create the World Unity Football Alliance.
FIFA does not identify places such as Darfur, the Chagos Islands and Western Sahara. People in those countries don’t have the chance to hold a World Cup qualifying match or watch their representatives play against the biggest football stars in the world.
Teams like Darfur United aim to give others in those jobs to disenfran something to come together for. Darfur United was created through humanitarian action and the iACT organization to give hope to others living in Darfur refugee camps.
In 2013, Darfur United and other outdoor football associations, FIFA, joined forces to shape CONIFA, the Confederation of Independent Football Nations. CONIFA organizes tournaments for these teams, adding their flagship event, the World Cup, which was last held in London in 2018.
The organizers of this tournament faced enormous challenges, ranging from sponsors fleeing Tibet’s participation, to ensuring that players were not stopped by the local police for wanting to participate in the tournament. But in the end, London 2018 was a great success.
Since then, a gap has emerged within CONIFA, with other football associations having other visions of CONIFA’s control. This breakup led many of the members to create the World Unity Football Alliance.
Gabriel Stauring, founder of Darfur United, told me that they had had disorders with CONIFA for about a year. But when the penny fell, it did so at CONIFA’s annual general meeting in January, when, frustrated by the direction the organization was taking, several CONIFA executive committee members resigned.
Stauring said the AGM had made it clear that Darfur United might not achieve everything it planned to do within CONIFA limits. He said “there were too many things that were not similar to our own values,” especially Darfur United’s efforts to use the game for the greater good. He also stated that despite paying his dues, voice and participation in the meetings, Darfur United did not withdraw anything from CONIFA other than what they did themselves. They then created the World Unity Football Alliance for groups with similar values that sought to further unite, organize and fill the void they felt CONIFA did not cover.
Most CONIFA groups are already waging a challenging war just to play football in front of like-minded groups without fighting others. But CONIFA’s internal distribution makes it difficult for some of the groups to achieve their goals within the organization.
Paul Watson, one of the executive committee members who resigned at the AGM in January, told me that he thought that some of the unrest within CONIFA was so deeply entrenched that they may not be resolved. For example, to be inclusive, members can enroll in CONIFA without being active, but if they need a vote in the AGM and a vote within the organization, they will have to pay an annual payment of 500 euros.
In a world where some groups have the budget for a banana after education and have to resort to crowdfunding to allow their players to move to tournaments, those rates are significant, especially for groups where humanitarian disorders are a major component of explaining why their existence. Haji Munye, president of Barawa FA, a team made up of the diaspora in southern Somalia, told me that rates could feed 50 families in Barawa for a month.
The result is that despite the most productive intentions of well-meaning volunteers, CONIFA’s decisions end up being made through only a handful of its members, and some of the private rights teams that CONIFA seems to have formed to help have ended. disadvantaged by their rights within CONIFA itself.
According to Darfur United, the WUFA style is less centralized, more collaborative than CONIFA. Rather, it is intended to be a platform for its members to do things on their own and to help members who have fewer resources or other difficulties. Paul Watson said that while with CONIFA, the groups spoke a little outdoors about tournaments, “The wonderful thing is that now all groups talk to each other, share stories about their cultures, about their groups, and now the groups are talking a hundred times more than before.
So where does that leave CONIFA? WUFA members are among the maximum active conIFA members. Barawa, for example, hosted the last World Cup in London. And CONIFA has more than 60 members, Watson told me that in reality, only about 25 of them are very active, meaning that the two organizations may end up being similar in length in the near future. However, CONIFA continues to grow and has added several new members this year.
WUFA and CONIFA deserve to be able to coexist. Apart from Darfur United, many WUFA members are still in CONIFA. WUFA does not ask groups to leave CONIFA, and the CONIFA statute prevents it from firing a team. CONIFA said in a that it welcomed the new organization and that “we don’t see this as a competition … we are positive about anything that can strengthen our members and their activities.”
CONIFA’s new Secretary General Jason Heaton also said that despite members of the General Shareholders’ Meeting voting for the Secretary-General to become a paid post, he made the decision that it was “much more advantageous to reverse the budget that was held in the long run.” CONIFA and its members. “And that WUFA members who are still part of CONIFA will get to continue to grow and grow. He also said plans are underway to fully expand continental competitions starting next year, which would mean more localized investments on all continents.
For the World Unity Football Alliance, it is planned to host a type of tournament next year, the highest likely in the United States, followed by a larger global occasion in 2022.
I’m a soccer editor who follows what happens in the game all over the world, from Southampton to Sapporo and in between. My lyrics appeared
I’m a soccer editor who follows what happens in the game around the world, from Southampton to Sapporo and in between. My writing has made the impression in The Guardian and in many independent football magazines such as Pickles and In Bed With Maradona. I also provide a football video here in Seoul, and my articles have been translated into Korean and Chinese. In addition to looking and writing about the game, I also enjoy a kick. Follow me on Twitter s kleaguefootball