FEDEFUT — Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala

What is FEDEFUT?

The Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala (FEDEFUT, styled FedeFut on its own site) is the national association for football in Guatemala.^[1] FIFA lists it in English as the Guatemalan Football Association, in the Concacaf confederation, with www.fedefutguate.gt as its website.^[3] Concacaf’s profile gives the full Spanish name, Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala.^[4]

The federation covers the eleven-a-side game, futsal and beach football. Its site lists men’s national teams at senior, under-23 and under-20 level, women’s teams at senior and under-20 level, men’s and women’s futsal teams and a men’s beach football team.^[1] FIFA’s directory names, beside president Gerardo Paiz, two vice-presidents, a general secretary, a treasurer, a technical director, the head coaches of the men’s and women’s national teams, a futsal coordinator, and the chair of the referees committee and head of the referees department.^[3]

Its site presents a general assembly and an executive committee as its governing organs, and publishes a code of ethics and a conflict-of-interest policy.^[2]

What does FEDEFUT govern or do?

FEDEFUT is the body through which Guatemalan football is answerable to FIFA. When FIFA appointed a normalisation committee for the federation in May 2018, it gave the committee three tasks: “To run the daily affairs of FEDEFUT”, “To review the statutes of the FEDEFUT members and ensure their alignment with the FEDEFUT statutes as well as FIFA’s Statutes and requirements”, and to organise and conduct elections of new executive committees among the members and of a new FEDEFUT executive committee.^[6]

Its regulatory work reaches the top division. The Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala publishes, under its administration menu, a section of “reglamentos” of the federation alongside its own statutes, competition regulation and disciplinary regulation for 2026–27.^[11][12]

Refereeing sits within the federation: FIFA’s directory lists the chair of its referees committee and the head of its referees department, and a futsal coordinator for the indoor game.^[3] FEDEFUT’s own site publishes its code of ethics, its conflict-of-interest rules and its public-information and budget-execution pages.^[1]

When was FEDEFUT founded and where is it based?

The federation’s site states: “Fundada desde 1919. Afiliada a FIFA desde 1946” (founded in 1919; affiliated to FIFA since 1946).^[1] Both dates are the federation’s own account.

Its Concacaf membership is a third, separate date. Concacaf describes the federation as “A founding member of Concacaf in 1961”.^[4] Concacaf states that it “was established in 1961”, “officially formed through the merger of the North American Football Union (NAFU) and the Football Confederation of Central America and the Caribbean (CCCF)”.^[9]

FIFA gives the federation’s address as 2a. Calle 15-57, Zona 15, Boulevard Vista Hermosa, 01015 Guatemala City; Concacaf gives the same address.^[3][4] The federation’s site gives the same street address, and the Liga Nacional’s site lists 2a. Calle 15-57, Bulevar Vista Hermosa, Zona 15 as its administrative address as well.^[1][11]

How is FEDEFUT recognised?

FIFA. FIFA’s member-association directory lists the Guatemalan Football Association in Concacaf.^[3] A normalisation committee had been set up for FEDEFUT by decision of the FIFA Emergency Committee on 18 December 2015, to run its daily business, revise its statutes and organise elections by 30 September 2016; in September 2016 the Bureau of the FIFA Council extended its mandate to 31 July 2017. On 28 October 2016 FIFA announced that the Bureau “has decided to suspend FEDEFUT with immediate effect”, after “On 25 October 2016, the FEDEFUT general assembly decided to reject the extension of the normalisation committee’s mandate and, consequently, the normalisation committee is no longer able to operate.” The release set two conditions for lifting it: ratification by the general assembly of the committee’s mandate until 31 July 2017, and adoption of “the new statutes of FEDEFUT approved by FIFA”.^[5]

On 18 May 2018 the Bureau appointed a new normalisation committee, chaired by Juan Carlos Ríos, with a mandate ending no later than 31 May 2019; FIFA announced the appointment on 22 May 2018.^[6] On 31 May 2018 FIFA announced that the Bureau had lifted the suspension, after confirmation that the normalisation committee “is fully operational”; it set up an international steering committee of the presidents of the Panamanian, Cuban and Mexican associations, warned that FEDEFUT would “be automatically suspended once again” if the decisions were contravened, and stated that “the decision of the Bureau of the Council of 18 May 2018 shall be ratified by the Council at its next meeting.”^[7] Concacaf reported the same day that the lifting restored the federation’s access to international competition and to FIFA and Concacaf development programmes.^[8]

Concacaf. Guatemala appears among Concacaf’s 41 member associations; Concacaf calls the federation a founding member.^[10][4]

What does FEDEFUT organise?

National teams. FEDEFUT fields Guatemala’s national teams — men’s, women’s, futsal and beach football, in the categories listed in §1.^[1] Through it Guatemala enters the Gold Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifying; the 2026 World Cup (11 June–19 July 2026) is past.^[4]

The top division. The first division is the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, played under the sponsor’s name Liga Bantrab. Its site shows the Torneo Apertura 2026 in its classification phase — in progress on 4 October 2026 — with twelve teams in the Liga Mayor.^[11] The league publishes its own statutes, under the title “Estatutos Liga Nacional de Fútbol de la República de Guatemala”, and its 2026–27 competition and disciplinary regulations, beside the federation’s regulations.^[12][11]

Who are its members?

FEDEFUT is an association of member bodies, which FIFA’s 2018 decision treated as distinct from the federation itself: the normalisation committee was “To review the statutes of the FEDEFUT members and ensure their alignment with the FEDEFUT statutes as well as FIFA’s Statutes and requirements” and to organise elections of executive committees among the members as well as of the federation’s own executive committee.^[6]

The members meet in a general assembly. It was the FEDEFUT general assembly’s decision to reject the extension of the earlier normalisation committee’s mandate that FIFA gave as the ground for the October 2016 suspension, and the assembly’s ratification of that mandate and adoption of FIFA-approved statutes were the conditions FIFA set for lifting it.^[5] The federation’s site presents the Asamblea General and the Comité Ejecutivo as its organs.^[2]

The Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala shares the federation’s Zona 15 address, carries the federation’s regulations on its site and lists twelve clubs in its Liga Mayor for the Apertura 2026.^[11]