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SAFF Championship or Wantok Cup - Which competitions feature the weakest sides?

The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship is a biennial sub-federation tournament where seven teams from South Asia compete with each other.

Started in 1993, India are the most successful team in the history of the competition with seven titles to their name. The Blue Tigers are also the highest-ranked team in the region, currently played at the 107th position in the latest FIFA rankings.

Like the SAFF Championship, nine other sub-federation tournaments are organised across Asia. Some of these tournaments are extremely competitive where the top teams in Asia take part. Among all the sub-federation competitions in Asia, the CAFA Championship competed by four countries from Central Asia and the WAFF Championship competed by countries from West Asia are one of the most competitive tournaments.

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Asia are also the only continent where as many as 10 sub-federation competitions take place. CONMEBOL and CONCACAF jointly hold just one sub-federation tournament, the Pan American Games while in Europe, UEFA Regions' Cup and Baltic Cup take place where some of the biggest teams of the continent take part.

In Africa (CAF), three sub-federation competitions take place, one in the East and Central Africa zone, one in Southern Africa and the third one in West Africa. Out of these three tournaments, only in CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup (Central and East Africa), does no top team from the continent take part. The highest-ranked side in CECAFA Cup are Kenya who are currently ranked 102.

Uganda win Cecafa.Goal Kenya.

Out of all the sub-federation competitions in the world, the SAFF Championship, the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and Oceania's (OFC) Wantok Cup are the only tournaments where the highest-ranked teams are above 100. Wantok Cup's highest-ranked nation is Solomon Islands who are 140 in the current FIFA rankings.

Here, we take a look at all the sub-federation tournaments in the world and who are the highest and lowest-ranked teams in those competitions. The median rank has been considered for all tournaments to determine the level of competitive strength. SAFF's median rank (187) is the highest among all the tournaments which suggest that it is the weakest among all the sub-federation tournaments in the world.

AFC sub-federation tournaments

CompetitionRegionParticipantsHighest and Lowest rank teamsMedian rank of teams
AFF ChampionshipASEANAustralia, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, VietnamAustralia (32), Timor-Leste (194)157
CAFA ChampionshipCentral AsiaUzbekistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Kyrgyz RepublicIran (22), Tajikistan (122)91
EAFF E-1 Football ChampionshipEast AsiaS. Korea, Japan, China, North Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Guam, Mongolia, Guam, Macau, Northern Mariana Islands.Japan (26), Guam (203)148
SAFF ChampionshipSouth AsiaIndia, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.India (107), Sri Lanka (205)187
WAFF ChampionshipWest AsiaIran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Palestine, Oman, Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic.Iran (22), Kuwait (142)91
Arabian Gulf CupWest AsiaBahrain, UAE, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen.Qatar (43), Kuwait (142)75

CAF sub-federation tournaments

CompetitionRegionParticipantsHighest and Lowest rank teamsMedian rank of teams
CECAFA Senior Challenge CupEast & Central AfricaBurundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, ZanzibarKenya (102), Eritrea (204)134
COSAFA CupSouthern AfricaAngola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda.Senegal (20), Seychelles (199)114
WAFU Nations CupWest AfricaSenegal, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Nigeria, Togo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Benin.Senegal (20), Gambia (149)82

OFC sub-federation tournaments

CompetitionRegionParticipantsHighest and Lowest rank teamsMedian rank of teams
OFC Nations CupOFCAustralia, New Zealand, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, VanuatuAustralia (32), Papua New Guinea (164)157
Pacific GamesOFCAustralia, New Zealand, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Guam, Northern Marianas, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna.Australia (32), Tonga (200)162
Wantok CupMelanesiaPapua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.Solomon Islands (140), Papua New Guinea (164)163

UEFA sub-federation tournaments

CompetitionRegionParticipantsHighest and Lowest rank teamsMedian rank of teams
UEFA Regions' CupEuropeTurkey, Croatia, Republic of Ireland, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, France, Portugal, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland, Bosna & Herzegovina, Switzerland, Serbia, England, Lithuania, Israel, Romania, Wales, Finland, San Marino, Slovenia, Moldova, Malta, North Macedonia, Sweden, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Estonia, GeorgiaEngland (3), San Marino (210)42
Baltic CupBaltic StatesEstonia, Latvia, Lithuania, FinlandFinland (55), Lithuania (137)123
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