African football tournament: The CAF Confederation Cup

The CAF Confederation Cup is a tournament controlled by The Confederation of African Football. It is the African equivalent of Europes The UEFA Cup or The Europa League. 67 teams take part in the tournament in knockout stages until 8 teams are left, these 8 teams are then divided into groups of 4 and the runner up and winners from each group take part in semi finals and then the resulting winners of the semi finals take part in a final. 8 teams to lose from The Round of 16 in The CAF Champions League tournament are then entered into The CAF Confederation Cup. The tournament was founded in 2004.

Previous Winners of CAF Confederation Cup

Club Sportif Sfaxien The Tunisian club is the most successful club in the tournament having won the tournament a record 2 times in 2007 and 2008. They also finished runners up in 2010. Number 2 on the list is also a Tunisian club ES Sahel having won it once in 2006. Number 3 on the list is FAR Rabat having won the tournament in 2005 just once. They also finished runners up in 2006. No 4 on the list is Ghanaian Club Accra Hearts of Oak SC who won it in 2004 in the opening year. No 5 on the list is Stade Malien the Mali club who won the tournament in 2009. No 6 on the list is FUS Rabat who are the last and defending Champions. The Moroccan club won it in 2010. No other club has won The tournament in it’s history. Country wise Tunisia are the leaders on the table as their clubs have won the tournament 3 times while Morocco are number 2 on the table. Their clubs having won it two times in it’s history.

African football tournaments: The CAF Champions League

 

The CAF Champions League is a football tournament controlled by The Confederation of African Football that happens every year in Africa. The top teams/clubs from Africa’s top football leagues are invited to this tournament. The resulting winner of the tournament also gets to play in The FIFA Club World Cup which also happens every year. The tournament was founded back in 1964. The tournament starts of with 52 teams in total which compete in knockout phases until only 8 teams are left. The remaining 8 teams are divided into two groups of 4 with the winner and runner up of each group facing each other in the semi final and then the resulting final.

Previous Winners of CAF Champions League 

The current champions of the tournament are TP Mazembe while the most successful club to win the tournament is The Egyptian club Al-Ahly that have won it a record 6 times. Egyptian dominance has pretty strong over the years but is fading the last couple of years as Zamalek also an Egyptian club are no 2 on the all time list having won the tournament 5 times. The DR Congo club TP Mazembe are third in the list having won it 4 times and have won the last 2 editions of the tournament in 2009 and 2010.

Asian football tournament: The AFC Cup

The AFC Cup is a cup competition run by the Asian Football Confederation, it is between domestic asian clubs controlled by The Asian Football Confederation. To qualify for the tournament the clubs have to come from the ‘developing nations’ category. Mature Nations are put in the AFC Champions League while emerging nations are put in the AFC President’s Cup. 32 teams take part in it just like The AFC Champions League. These 32 teams are put in groups of 8 and the top two teams from each group proceed to the knock out stage of the competition. After the knock-out stage The Quarter finals and Semi Finals will be played as two legged matches and the final as one single match.

Previous Winners of FA Cup

The Jordanian Club Al-Faisaly is the most successful club in the tournament having won the title a record 2 times. Current champions are Al-Ittihad the club from Egypt. The most successful nation in the tournament if Jordan as clubs from Jordan have won the tournament a record 3 times while Syria comes in second, where clubs from Syria have won it twice. Rico from Al-Muharraq has been the most prolific scorer in a single year scoring a remarkable 19 goals for his club Al-Muharraq. No other player has come close to this record number of goals in The AFC club in one single year.

2004 – Al- Jaish (Final Played over Two Legs)

2005 – Al – Faisaly (Final Played over two legs)

2006 – Al- Faisaly (Final Played over two legs)

2007 – Shabab Al- Ordon (Final Played over two legs)

2008 – Al- Muharraq (Final played over two legs)

2009 – Al- Kuwait (Final Played over One leg)

2010 – Al – Ittihad (Final Played over one leg)

Asian football tournament: The AFC Champions League

 

The AFC Champions League hosted by The Asian Football Confederation is a tournament that is held every year between the top 32 Asian Clubs coming from the top 10 Asian Leagues. The 32 clubs start of in a group stage manner and then the top two teams from each group proceed to the knockout stage of the tournament. The Winner of the tournament also gets to play in The FIFA World Club Cup which is also held every year.

1990-2010 AFC Champions League Winners

The most successful club in the AFC Champions League is Pohang Steelers who have won the cup 3 times. While if the winners were to judged according to their respective Leagues The Korean league K-League is the most successful league having won the league a record 9 times. While in the last 5 years alone 3 of the 5 winners have come from The K-League. Japan and Saudi Arabia take 2 and 3 positions in the all time list of most AFC Champions League winners from the same country. The Brazilian Leandro of Gamba Osaka holds the Top Scorer record in the league scoring 10 goals in the 2009 season for his club.

Football tournament: F.A Cup – The Football Association Cup

The FA Cup is an English football Cup Tournament it’s full name is The Football Association Cup or The Football Association Challenge Cup. It is also the oldest Cup competition in the world.

The F.A Cup is a knockout competition and starts with 763 teams who gradually knocked out round after round until there is one team left. The semi finals and final of the competition are played in Wembley in London. Manchester United have won it a record 11 times with Arsenal winning it 10 times.

Previous Winners – (1990-2011)

• 2011- Manchester City
• 2010- Chelsea
• 2009- Portsmouth
• 2008- Chelsea
• 2007- Liverpool
• 2006- Arsenal
• 2005- Manchester United
• 2004- Arsenal
• 2003- Arsenal
• 2002- Liverpool
• 2001- Chelsea
• 2000- Manchester United
• 1999- Arsenal
• 1998- Chelsea
• 1997- Manchester United
• 1996- Everton
• 1995- Manchester United
• 1994- Arsenal
• 1993- Liverpool
• 1992- Tottenham
• 1991- Manchester United
• 1990- Liverpool

Football tournaments: Europa League

The UEFA Europa League formerly known as The UEFA Cup is Europe’s second most prestigious cup competition after The UEFA Champions League. It is between teams from all over Europe. It’s current format is 160 teams start off and 48 teams play in the group stages. After the group stages 8 teams join from The UEFA Champions League who finished 3rd in their respective groups and then a knockout round off 32 teams commence. The UEFA Europa League and The UEFA Cup are considered the same tournament.

Winners of Europa League

• Atletico Madrid 
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Zenit St Petersburg
• Espanyol
• Sevilla
• Moscow
• Valencia
• Porto
• Feyenoord
• Liverpool
• Galatasaray
• Parma
• Internazionale
• Schalke 04
• Bayern Munich
• Parma
• Internazionale
• Juventus
• Ajax
• Internazionale
• Juventus
• Napoli
• Leverkusen
• Gothenburg
• Real Madrid
• Real Madrid
• Tottenham
• Anderlecht
• Gothenburg
• Ispwich
• Franfurt
• Borrusia
• PSV
• Juventus
• Liverpool
• Borussia
• Feyenoord
• Liverpool
• Tottenham

Football tournaments: Copa Libertadores – South American football

Copa Libertadores is a football tournament held in South America every year by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is one of the most popular tournaments in the world and is considered as a true honor to win it. 38 teams from around the best leagues in South America start out and compete each other for the title. The tournament lasts over 8 months and is played over 3 stages. The last stage is the knockout stage in which two legged ties are played QFs, SFs, and finals are played.

Winners of Copa Libertadores- From 1990-2010

Independiente have won the Copa Libertadores a record 7 times. Santos from Brazil are the current champions. Boca Juniors have won it 6 times coming in 2nd in the all time list. Argentina leads the list of clubs with the most Copa Libertadores wins with 22 wins. Brazil is second with 15 wins and Uruguay is 3rd with 8 wins. While Paraguay and Colombia come in 4th and 5th in the all time list with 3 wins and 2 wins respectively.

Football tournament profile: Confederation of African Football

Confederation of African football is the controlling body of African football in Africa and represents all the national African Football Associations. It is also known as CAF. It is one of the biggest of the six confederations of FIFA. Currently there are 55 member associations in The CAF, it’s headquarters is located in Egypt in 6 October City. It’s official languages are English, French and Arabic while the current Secretary General of the organization is Moustafa Fahmy. The organization was formed in 1957

The top ranked country in The CAF is The Ivory Coast that has 922 ranking points and is ranked no 14 in the world. Ghana comes in no 2 with a World Ranking of 33 and Egypt comes in no 3 with a ranking of 34. Brukina Faso and Nigeria complete the top 5 African CAF teams with world rankings of 37 and 41 respectively.

In the women’s field Nigeria is no 1 with a world ranking of 27, Ghana no 2 with a world ranking of 51, Equatorial Guinea no 3 with a world ranking of 55 while South Afica and Cameroon take the no 4 and no 5 spots respectively with world rankings of 63 and 68.

In the club department the best club team is Al Ahly that are number on. They come from Egypt and a total of 4 Egyptian clubs make the top 10 of this list with Zamalek in at no 5. Haras El-Hodood Club at no 8 and Ismaily at no9. While 2 Algerian and 2 Jordanian clubs both make the top with Al-Hilal and Al-Merreikh both from Jordan at no 4 and no 7 respectively. While ES Setif and JS Kabylie both from Algeria make the no 2 and no6 spots respectively.

Football tournament: CONCACAF Gold Cup

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is the premier national football team tournament of the continental area governed by the CONCACAF body with the winner going on to compete at the FIFA Confederations Cup against the champion nation of each of the other five continental federations. The CONCACAF Gold Cup competition has been held under its current name since 1991 and has been in existence since 1963 under various titles and formats. Currently it is contested between the top 12 nations of the continental region, with three national football teams from the North American zone qualifying along with the five top nations competing at the Central American Cup a competition held exclusively for the Central American Zone, and four qualifying via the Caribbean Cup, held among nations from the Caribbean Zone. A few non-CONCACAF nations have previously competed in the Gold Cup via invitation including Brazil and Columbia at three staging’s of the event each. The tournament is currently generally hosted by the nation which previously won it; the USA has staged the tournament a record 11 times with Mexico being the host nation on three occasions. Along with being the most successful nation to compete in the Gold Cup, Mexico is also the defending champions of the competition.

3 Most Famous Football Tournaments

There are plenty of football tournaments available to watch on TV, but the thrill of watching it live is definitely far from being different. If you were looking for a really interesting match between two football giants, then probably you would have to wait for the right time or season, for most famous and excellent football tournaments are held seasonally anyway. Back on track, the three most famous football tournaments in the world would undeniably be:

• the Olympics,
• the World Cup, and
• the UEFA Cup tournaments

Football was first introduced into the Olympics in the year 1900, with the first set of medals given out some eight years later; during which professional footballers from clubs were not allowed to represent their countries initially. As for the World Cup, which returns every 2 years on common occasions, this was introduced by FIFA in the year 1930. It started off with merely 13 countries in the beginning, and thus far has expanded its territories up to Japan and Korea in the recent years. The UEFA Cup on the other hand returns to fame every 4 years and involves football giants from all over Europe. This tournament does not have a fixed amount of countries or teams however, and the number notably changes every year to date.