The 2024 FIFA Series was an invitational football tournament promoted by FIFA as part of the inaugural FIFA Series. The tournament was formed as an initiative to aid the development of national association football teams through international friendly matches. The competition had two parts: five friendlies and one final championship match. It involved men's national teams from different continental confederations and took place across five host countries from 21 to 26 March 2024. Croatia defeated Egypt 4–2 in the final match, becoming the tournament's first champions.
Background The project was first announced as a FIFA initiative in December 2022 under the name "FIFA World Series", 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. The competition will bring together men's national teams from its six confederations in a series of friendly matches during the FIFA match window in March of every even-numbered year. The matches are 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 intended to provide member associations with additional commercial opportunities and exposure.
The 2024 edition acted as a pilot phase for the project and had two parts: five friendlies and one final championship match. In each series apart from Egypt (which was a late addition), all inter-confederation fixtures were the first international meeting between the sides. The winners of the final championship match were awarded gold medals and the ACUD Cup Trophy after the tournament.
Participating teams The following teams participated in the 2024 event.
Series Team Confederation FIFA RankingsFebruary 2024AlgeriaCAF43UEFA164CONMEBOL86CAF58AzerbaijanUEFA113UEFA83AFC190CAF119EgyptUEFA10CAF36OFC103CAF41Saudi Arabia AAFC179CAF65CAF79CONCACAF157Saudi Arabia BCONCACAF171AFC194CAF76OFC170Sri LankaAFC184CAF129OFC165AFC204
By confederation ConfederationTeamsAFC5CAF9CONCACAF2CONMEBOL1OFC3UEFA4
Venues
CountryCityStadiumCapacityAlgeriaAlgiersNelson Mandela Stadium40,784Annaba19 May 1956 Stadium56,000AzerbaijanBakuDalga Arena6,500Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium31,200EgyptCairoCairo International Stadium75,000New Administrative CapitalMisr Stadium93,940Saudi ArabiaJeddahKing Abdullah Sports City62,345Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City27,000Sri LankaColomboColombo Racecourse10,000
Series The first five series were organized as international friendlies while the last series in Egypt featured a knockout format, with winners determined by a penalty shoot-out following a tie.
All times are local. 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). Andorra entered the series as a replacement for Albania, which had originally been invited but preferred to play friendlies in Europe, considering them better preparation ahead of UEFA Euro 2024.
Initially, the series 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.
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).
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).
The tournament was originally not part of the FIFA Series, but a separate cup event called the Winsunited Cup (W Cup). It was scheduled to be played in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. However, due to sponsorship issues, on 14 March 2024 the tournament was moved to Egypt, and became part of the FIFA Series.
Croatia won the tournament following a 4–2 victory over the hosts Egypt in the final championship match.
Bracket
Semi-finals
Third place play-off
Final
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).
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).
Initially Curaçao was also expected to participate, but they were eventually replaced by Bermuda.
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).
The tournament acted as a successor to the 2021 Four Nations Football Tournament, also held at the same venue.
Summary + 2024 FIFA Series (men's) summary Tournament Champions Runners-up Third-place Egypt
Goalscorers
References
External links FIFA Series fixtures at FIFA.com