FIFA

FIFA is a non-profit organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, fútsal, beach soccer, and efootball. It is the highest governing body of football.

FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. These national associations must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.

FIFA outlines a number of objectives in the organizational Statutes, including growing football internationally, providing efforts to ensure football is accessible to everyone, and advocating for integrity and fair play. FIFA is responsible for the organization and promotion of football’s major international tournaments, notably the World Cup and the Women’s World Cup. Although FIFA does not solely set the rules of football, that being the responsibility of the International Football Association Board of which FIFA is a member, it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions. All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorship.

FIFA governs several competitions. These include seven men and five women’s competitions for national teams, three competitions for clubs, and another three competitions for eSports.

National team competitions for men include the FIFA World Cup, Men’s Olympic Football Tournament, and the FIFA U-20 World Cup as well as the Boy’s Youth Olympic Football Tournament, FIFA Futsal World Cup and FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

For the women’s category under the national teams, competitions include the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Women’s Olympic Football Tournament and FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup as well as the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the Girls’ Youth Olympic Football Tournament.

Besides its worldwide institutions, there are six confederations recognized 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, and membership of a confederation is a prerequisite to FIFA membership.

• Asian Football Confederation (AFC; 47 members);
• Confederation of African Football (CAF; 56 members);
• Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF; 41 members);
• Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL; 10 members);
• Oceania Football Confederation (OFC; 14 members);
• Union of European Football Associations (UEFA; 55 members).

In total, FIFA recognizes 211 national associations and their associated men’s national teams as well as 129 women’s national teams. The number of FIFA member associations is higher than the number of UN member states as FIFA has admitted associations from 23 non-sovereign entities as members in their own right, such as the four Home Nations within the United Kingdom and politically disputed territories such as Palestine.

The FIFA Working Committee of Small Nations has categorized potential FIFA members into three categories:

1. Independent states not in FIFA (Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Monaco, Niue, Palau, Tuvalu, Vatican City).
2. Non-independent territories (Åland Islands, Guadeloupe, Greenland, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Martinique, Northern Mariana Islands, Réunion, Sint Maarten, Zanzibar).
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3. Politically sensitive areas (Abkhazia, Crimea, Northern Cyprus, South Ossetia).

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.

FIFA frequently takes active roles in the running of the sport and developing the game around the world. One of its sanctions is to suspend teams and associated members from international competition when a government interferes in the running of FIFA’s associate member organizations or if the associate is not functioning properly.