User:DelawareFish/sandbox

The 2024 IFFA Konami League of the World, known colloquially as the 2024 IFFA League or 2024 Konami League, was the inaugural top level international football championship sanctioned by the IFFA, and the first major football tournament run outside of the jurisdiction of FIFA. Qualification for the tournament began in the African Zone on the 2nd of January, 2022, with the first ever IFFA sanctioned match taking place between Zambia and Guinea, and the final 38 game league stage began on the 5th of January, 2023, finishing exactly one year and ten months later on the 5th of October, 2024. ______ were the competition's very first champions.

The IFFA was founded by the football associations of Luxembourg, Andorra and Malta in March of 2020, with the intention of formally seceding from FIFA in order to begin a tournament in which nations such as themselves had a chance of claiming an international title. Slowly, other nations began pledging their allegiance to the breakaway organization, membership growing to 28 by the end of 2021 and reaching 50 by the beginning of the League of the World's first running in 2022, with the membership of the Faroe Islands coming just two days before the tournament was due to begin. Originally, the idea for the League of the World came from Iranian journalist Beroosh Zara, and formal plans had been submitted to run the competition as early as 2020. In order to avoid further ire from FIFA, and limit the effect of fixture congestion, participation was capped at 50 teams, any team who had qualified for the 2022 World Cup was excluded, and as per a founding article of the IFFA, no side ranked higher than 30th in FIFA's rankings could participate.

As they had qualified for the 2022 World Cup, Czechia, South Korea, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Algeria were all barred from participation, meaning that the first tournament would include 46 teams, which would be cut to just 20 for the final 38 game league. Qualification was split into five zones, with Africa, North America and South America all playing six game group stages to decided the two representatives for the final stage. Asia and Oceania were grouped together and allotted six berths for the final round, and the European zone was awarded eight, having by far the most IFFA members at twenty.

IFFA Member Nations
The IFFA (International Federation of Football Associations) was founded in March of 2020 in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, through a meeting of delegates from Andorra, Luxembourg and Malta. In addition to these three founding associations, San Marino and Gibraltar had both pledged their membership to the organization during it's first week, and Albania, Finland, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan by the end of it's first month. With the additions of Ecuador in May, Honduras in July and Guinea in September, the organization had a member from each 'zone' in just sixth months, and by the end of it's first year had grown to include 28 member nations. By the start of it's inaugural tournament, membership had grown to 50. With no data to use to rank it's members, the IFFA elected to use the 2021 FIFA rankings for the inaugural tournament - seeding the top ten participants should they qualify for the final stage to ensure none would play one another either in the first 5 matches or on the final day.

African Zone
Player of the Tournament: 🇿🇲 R. McCallum

North American Zone
Player of the Tournament: 🇭🇳 J. Toro

South American Zone
Player of the Tournament: 🇵🇾 M. Almiron

European Zone
Player of the Tournament: 🇦🇩 M. Pujol

Asian Zone
Player of the Tournament: 🇹🇭 S. Mueanta