The International Federation of Association Football, commonly known by the acronym FIFA, is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is responsible for the organisation and governance of football's major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup,
held since 1930. Nineteen editions of the FIFA World Cup have been held
so far. The next edition is to be held in Brazil in 2014.
FIFA has 208 member associations, three more than the International Olympic Committee and five fewer than the International Association of Athletics Federations.
History
The need for a single body to oversee the game became apparent at the
beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of
international fixtures. FIFA was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904; the
French name and acronym remain, even outside French-speaking countries.
The founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark,
France, The Netherlands, Spain (represented by Madrid Football Club, Spanish federation
was created in 1913), Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that same day, the
German Association declared its intention of affiliating through a
telegram.
The first president of FIFA was Robert Guérin. Guérin was replaced in 1906 by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member association. The next tournament staged, the football competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more successful, despite the presence of professional footballers, contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.
Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile in 1912, and Canada and the United States in 1913.
During World War I,
with many players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for
international fixtures severely limited, there were few international
fixtures, and the organisation's survival was in doubt. Post-war,
following the death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations
(of the United Kingdom), who cited an unwillingness to participate in
international competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home
Nations later resumed their membership.
The FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum in England.
Structure
FIFA is an association established under the Laws of Switzerland. Its headquarters are in Zurich.
FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly made up of
representatives from each affiliated member association. The Congress
assembles in ordinary session once every year and, additionally,
extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. Only the
Congress can pass changes to FIFA's statutes.
Congress elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary and the other members of FIFA's Executive Committee.
The President and General Secretary are the main officeholders of FIFA,
and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by the
General Secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280 members.
FIFA's Executive Committee, chaired by the President, is the main
decision-making body of the organisation in the intervals of Congress.
FIFA's worldwide organisational structure also consists of several other
bodies, under authority of the Executive Committee or created by
Congress as standing committees. Among those bodies are the Finance
Committee, the Disciplinary Committee, the Referees Committee, etc.
Beside from its worldwide institutions (presidency, Executive
Committee, Congress, etc.) there are six confederations recognised by
FIFA which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of
the world. National associations, and not the continental
confederations, are members of FIFA. The continental confederations are
provided for in FIFA's statutes. National associations must claim
membership to both FIFA and the confederation in which their nation is
geographically resident for their teams to qualify for entry to FIFA's
competitions (with a few geographic exceptions listed below):
- AFC – Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia
- CAF – Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa
- CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football in North and Central America
- CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in South America
- OFC – Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania
- UEFA – Union of European Football Associations in Europe
Nations straddling the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia
have generally had their choice of confederation. As a result, a number
of transcontinental nations including Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have chosen to become part of UEFA despite the bulk of their land area being in Asia. Israel,
although lying entirely within Asia, joined UEFA in 1994, after decades
of its football teams being boycotted by many AFC countries. Kazakhstan moved from the AFC to UEFA in 2002. Australia was the latest to move from the OFC to AFC in January 2006.
Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana have always been CONCACAF members despite their location in South America.
In total, FIFA recognises 208 national associations and their
associated men's national teams as well as 129 women's national teams;
see the list of national football teams and their respective country codes. FIFA has more member states than the United Nations, as FIFA recognises several non-sovereign entities as distinct nations, such as the four Home Nations within the United Kingdom or politically disputed territories such as Palestine.Only 8 sovereign entities doesn't belong to FIFA (Monaco, Vatican, Micronesia, Marshall, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palaos, Nauru).
The FIFA World Rankings
are updated monthly and rank each team based on their performance in
international competitions, qualifiers, and friendly matches. There is
also a world ranking for women's football, updated four times a year.
