Kurdistan football association announced in a statement that Kurdistan will host CONIFA World Football Cup in 2024. Following a meeting by Conifa members, the Confederation of Independent Football Associations decided on Sunday to hold the next tournament in Kurdistan.
The Kurdish football association said that There are enough Hotels, and stadiums to host such activities.
According to the statement, The tournament will be held in the s ummer of 2024.
The discussion came after a delegation from Conifa visited Kurdistan in March. The Conifa delegation came to investigate Kurdistan’s stadiums, including Zakho’s international stadium, and Erbil’s international stadium.
Due to The high degree of security and stability in the Kurdistan Region, and having good roads and infrastructures, and newly built stadiums, Kurdistan was able to win the right to host the CONIFA Cup.
Tariq Abdulrahman, Head of the Kurdish football association, congratulated all Kurdish people, and fans of the Kurdish national football team.
“We are very happy about this decision, Kurdistan has all the requirements and abilities to host such activities, and I urge the Kurdistan Regional Government to help us host this event successfully,” He said in a press conference.
Kurdaily has learned that the tournament will take place in the following stadiums:-
1-Erbil international stadium
Erbil international stadium also known as Franso Hariri International Stadium, is located in the capital city of Erbil. The stadium is a multiple-purpose stadium, with facilities for athletics. The stadium has a capacity of 25,000. It has hosted many events such as the AFC Cup Final in 2012, WAFF Championship in 2019, Pope visit in 2021.
2-Zakho international stadium
Zakho international stadium is one of the most modern and biggest stadiums in Iraq. It serves as the home stadium of Zakho FC. It can hold more than 30,000 people.
3- Sulimani international stadium
The stadium serves home stadium for the Newroz football club. It is located in Sulimani and can hold more than 20,000 people.
The Confederation of Independent Football Associations is an international governing body for association football teams that are not members of FIFA. The Confederation was established in 2014, with its headquarters in Sweden. Although VIVA previously oversaw the tournaments of the non-autonomous regions and countries with limited recognition. But in 2014 it was replaced by CONIFA.
As of April 2023, The CONIFA has 38 members from all over the world. Most of the members are countries with limited recognition, stateless peoples, minorities and regions, Including Kurdistan Region, Abkhazia and Northern Cyprus.
The Kurdistan football team has participated in several CONIFA tournaments, the last time was in 2016 in Abkhazia. In 2012 Kurdish football team won the World Cup for regions after defeating the Northern Cyprus football team.
Although Kurdistan is not a member of FIFA, the Kurdistan football team has participated in some international football tournaments. For example in 2011 the Kurdish team took part in the Palestine Cup and defeated Mauritania and Tunisia.
Due to safety and security, the Kurdistan Region has hosted several tournaments, for example, in 2014 the region hosted the Asian Cup final game between Erbil FC and Kuwait FC and in 2012 Kurdistan hosted the Viva Cup.
