2024 FIFA Series

The 2024 FIFA Series was the inaugural edition of the FIFA Series, an invitational association football competition promoted by FIFA that features friendly matches between national teams from different continental confederations. The inaugural edition featured six different series that took place across five host countries from 21 to 26 March 2024.[1]

2024 FIFA Series
Tournament details
Host countriesAlgeria
Azerbaijan
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Sri Lanka
Dates21–26 March
Teams24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)9 (in 7 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Algeria
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cape Verde
Guinea
Central African Republic
Tournament statistics
Matches played24
Goals scored68 (2.83 per match)
Attendance51,079 (2,128 per match)
Top scorer(s) Yassine Benzia
Tieri-Teddy Godame
Mamadou Kané
Morlaye Sylla
(3 goals each)

Background

The friendly competition was first announced as a FIFA initiative in December 2022 under the name "FIFA World Series",[2] and later confirmed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on 16 March 2023 following his re-election to the post during the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda.[3] The competition will bring together men's national teams from its six confederations in a series of friendly tournaments during the FIFA match window in March of every even-numbered year.[4] The competition is intended to provide FIFA's member associations with "key playing opportunities" by allowing them to more regularly play teams from other confederations which they would otherwise not face, allowing for greater technical development opportunities. It is also intended to provide member associations with additional commercial opportunities and exposure.[1]

The 2024 edition acted as a pilot phase for the competition.[1] In each series apart from Egypt (which was a late addition), all inter-confederation fixtures were the first international meeting between the sides.[5]

Participating teams

The following teams participated in the 2024 event.

Series Team Confederation FIFA Rankings
February 2024[6]
Algeria AlgeriaCAF43
 AndorraUEFA164
 BoliviaCONMEBOL86
 South AfricaCAF58
Azerbaijan AzerbaijanUEFA113
 BulgariaUEFA83
 MongoliaAFC190
 TanzaniaCAF119
Egypt CroatiaUEFA10
 EgyptCAF36
 New ZealandOFC103
 TunisiaCAF41
Saudi Arabia A CambodiaAFC179
 Cape VerdeCAF65
 Equatorial GuineaCAF79
 GuyanaCONCACAF157
Saudi Arabia B BermudaCONCACAF171
 BruneiAFC194
 GuineaCAF76
 VanuatuOFC170
Sri Lanka BhutanAFC184
 Central African RepublicCAF129
 Papua New GuineaOFC165
 Sri LankaAFC204

By confederation
Confederation Teams
AFC5
CAF9
CONCACAF2
CONMEBOL1
OFC3
UEFA4

Venues
Location of the 2024 FIFA Series venues
Country City Stadium Capacity
Algeria Algiers Nelson Mandela Stadium 40,784
Annaba 19 May 1956 Stadium 56,000
Azerbaijan Baku Dalga Arena 6,500
Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium 31,200
Egypt Cairo Cairo International Stadium 75,000
New Administrative Capital New Administrative Capital Stadium 93,940
Saudi Arabia Jeddah King Abdullah Sports City 62,345
Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City 27,000
Sri Lanka Colombo Colombo Racecourse 10,000

Series

The series were organized as international friendlies. Only the Egypt series featured a knockout format, with winners determined by a penalty shoot-out following a tie.

All times are local.[7][8] Each team's confederation is indicated in brackets.

Algeria

The FIFA Series: Algeria took place in Annaba and Algiers from 21 to 26 March 2024, and involved the hosts Algeria (CAF), Andorra (UEFA), Bolivia (CONMEBOL) and South Africa (CAF).[9][10]

Initially, the tournament was expected to be played in a different format, with semi-finals to be played in Oran and Annaba and the finals to be played in Algiers.[11] Albania was also expected to participate but eventually declined to instead play friendlies in Europe and was replaced by Andorra.[12]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Algeria (H) 2 1 1 0 6 5 +1 4
2  Bolivia 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3
3  South Africa 2 0 2 0 4 4 0 2
4  Andorra 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1 1
Source:
(H) Hosts
Andorra 1–1 South Africa
R. Fernández 5' Report Mokwana 25'
Referee: Nabil Boukhalfa (Algeria)
Algeria 3–2 Bolivia
 Report
Referee: Abdel Aziz Bouh (Mauritania)
Bolivia 1–0 Andorra
Vaca 13' Report
Referee: Houssam Benyahia (Algeria)
Algeria 3–3 South Africa
 Report
Referee: Amir Loussaif (Tunisia)

Azerbaijan

The FIFA Series: Azerbaijan took place in Baku on 22 and 25 March 2024, and involved the hosts Azerbaijan (UEFA), Bulgaria (UEFA), Mongolia (AFC) and Tanzania (CAF).[13][14][15][16]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Bulgaria 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 4
2  Azerbaijan (H) 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 4
3  Tanzania 2 1 0 1 3 1 +2 3
4  Mongolia 2 0 0 2 0 4 −4 0
Source:
(H) Hosts
Tanzania 0–1 Bulgaria
Report Despodov 52'
Attendance: 154[17][18]
Azerbaijan 1–0 Mongolia
Mustafazadə 90+1' Report
Referee: Zorbay Küçük (Turkey)
Tanzania 3–0 Mongolia
 Report
Attendance: 146[19]
Referee: Elçin Məsiyev (Azerbaijan)
Azerbaijan 1–1 Bulgaria
Qurbanlı 87' Report Krastev 59'
Attendance: 3,220[20][21]

Egypt (ACUD Cup)

The FIFA Series: Egypt, also known as the ACUD International Football Cup, took place in Cairo and the New Administrative Capital on 22, 23 and 26 March 2024, and involved the hosts Egypt (CAF), Croatia (UEFA), New Zealand (OFC) and Tunisia (CAF).[22]

The tournament was originally not part of the FIFA Series, but a separate cup event called the Winsunited Cup (W Cup).[23] It was scheduled to be played in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.[24] However, due to sponsorship issues, on 14 March 2024 the tournament was moved to Egypt,[25][26] and became part of the FIFA Series.[27]

Croatia won the tournament following a 4–2 victory over the hosts Egypt in the final.[28]

Bracket
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
22 March – New Administrative Capital
 
 
 Egypt1
 
26 March – New Administrative Capital
 
 New Zealand0
 
 Egypt2
 
23 March – Cairo
 
 Croatia4
 
 Tunisia0 (4)
 
 
 Croatia (p)0 (5)
 
Third place play-off
 
 
26 March – Cairo
 
 
 New Zealand0 (2)
 
 
 Tunisia (p)0 (4)

Semi-finals
Egypt 1–0 New Zealand
Mohamed 29' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 30,200
Referee: Clement Franklin Kpan (Ivory Coast)

Third place play-off
New Zealand 0–0 Tunisia
Report
Penalties
 2–4
Referee: Ahmed El Ghandour (Egypt)

Final
Egypt 2–4 Croatia
 Report
Referee: Adalbert Diouf (Senegal)

Saudi Arabia A

The FIFA Series: Saudi Arabia A took place in Jeddah from 21 to 26 March 2024, and involved Cambodia (AFC), Cape Verde (CAF), Equatorial Guinea (CAF) and Guyana (CONCACAF).[29][30][31]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Cape Verde 2 2 0 0 2 0 +2 6
2  Guyana 2 1 0 1 4 2 +2 3
3  Equatorial Guinea 2 1 0 1 2 1 +1 3
4  Cambodia 2 0 0 2 1 6 −5 0
Source:
Cape Verde 1–0 Guyana
Mendes 2' Report
Referee: Shukri Al-Hunfush (Saudi Arabia)
Equatorial Guinea 2–0 Cambodia
 Report
Referee: Hussain Al-Shuwaikh (Bahrain)
Cape Verde 1–0 Equatorial Guinea
Cabral 64' Report
Referee: Qasim Matar Al-Hatmi (Oman)
Guyana 4–1 Cambodia
 Report Chanthea 53'
Referee: Faisal Suleiman Al-Balawi (Saudi Arabia)

Saudi Arabia B

The FIFA Series: Saudi Arabia B took place in Jeddah from 21 to 26 March 2024, and involved Bermuda (CONCACAF), Brunei (AFC), Guinea (CAF) and Vanuatu (OFC).[30]

Initially Curaçao was also expected to participate, but it was eventually replaced by Bermuda.[32]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Guinea 2 2 0 0 11 1 +10 6
2  Brunei 2 1 0 1 3 4 −1 3
3  Bermuda 2 1 0 1 3 5 −2 3
4  Vanuatu 2 0 0 2 2 9 −7 0
Source:
Guinea 6–0 Vanuatu
 Report
Referee: Ahmed Al Ali (Jordan)
Bermuda 2–0 Brunei
 Report
Referee: Qasim Matar Al-Hatmi (Oman)
Guinea 5–1 Bermuda
 Report Bean 15'
Referee: Sami Ahmed Al-Jurays (Saudi Arabia)
Vanuatu 2–3 Brunei
 Report
Referee: Abdullah Dhafer Al-Shehri (Saudi Arabia)

Sri Lanka

The FIFA Series: Sri Lanka took place in Colombo on 22 and 25 March 2024, and involved the hosts Sri Lanka (AFC), Bhutan (AFC), Central African Republic (CAF) and Papua New Guinea (OFC).[33][34][35][36]

The tournament acted as a successor to the 2021 Four Nations Football Tournament, also held at the same venue.[37]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Central African Republic 2 2 0 0 10 0 +10 6
2  Sri Lanka (H) 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2 4
3  Papua New Guinea 2 0 1 1 0 4 −4 1
4  Bhutan 2 0 0 2 0 8 −8 0
Source:
(H) Hosts
Central African Republic 6–0 Bhutan
 Report
Attendance: 1,100[38]
Referee: Mohamed Jafran (Sri Lanka)
Sri Lanka 0–0 Papua New Guinea
Report
Attendance: 5,089[39]
Referee: Meshari Ali Al Shammari (Qatar)
Central African Republic 4–0 Papua New Guinea
  • Yawanendji-Malipangou 11'
  • Godame 25', 43', 78'
 Report
Attendance: 550[40]
Sri Lanka 2–0 Bhutan
 Report
Attendance: 6,320[41]
Referee: Meshari Ali Al Shammari (Qatar)

Goalscorers

There were 68 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2.83 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

References
  1. "FIFA Series international friendlies pilot project to commence in March 2024". FIFA. 26 February 2024.
  2. "FIFA World Cup 2022 praised for its "unique cohesive power"" (in Spanish). FIFA. 16 December 2022.
  3. "2023–2027: FIFA President lays out objectives for the future" (in Spanish). FIFA. 16 March 2023.
  4. "Qué es la FIFA Series, la competencia que contará con amistosos exóticos entre selecciones" [What is the FIFA Series, the competition that would feature exotic friendlies between national teams?] (in Spanish). Olé. 17 February 2024.
  5. "Internationals". 11v11.com. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  6. "FIFA Men's Ranking 15 February 2024". FIFA. 15 February 2024.
  7. "FIFA Series 2024 match schedule now available". FIFA. 20 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
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  9. "Tournoi FIFA Series 2024 : L'Algérie accueille la compétition du 18 au 26 mars 2024" [2024 FIFA Series Tournament; Algeria to host the competition from 18 to 26 March 2024] (in French). Algerian Football Federation. 31 January 2024.
  10. "Sélection nationale : Petkovic dévoile la liste des joueurs pour les matchs face à la Bolivie et l'Afrique du Sud" [National team: Petkovic unveils list of players for matches against Bolivia and South Africa] (in French). Algerian Football Federation. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
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  12. "Foot/Tournoi FIFA Séries 2024: l'Algérie défiera la Bolivie le 22 mars" [Football/2024 FIFA Series Tournament: Algeria to face Bolivia on March 22] (in French). Algiers: Algeria Press Service. 31 January 2024.
  13. "FIFA is launching a new project". Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. 12 January 2024.
  14. "The venue and kick-off time for the matches of Azerbaijan". Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. 20 February 2024.
  15. Ismayilova, Laman (25 January 2024). "Baku to host mini-tournament of FIFA series". AzerNews.
  16. "България ще участва в дебютното издание на турнира FIFA Series" [Bulgaria will participate in the first edition of the FIFA Series tournament] (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Football Union. 22 January 2024.
  17. "Приятелски мачове Кръг 1, 22 март 2024". teambulgaria.bg (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian Football Union. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
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  27. "Egypt announced as host as FIFA Series pilot phase expanded". FIFA. 18 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
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  32. Demba, Varore (15 February 2024). "La Guinée en Arabie saoudite en mars" [Guinea in Saudi Arabia in March] (in French). Sport News Africa.
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