FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (
French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
,
beach football and
futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...
. It was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
,
Sweden and
Switzerland. Headquartered in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich ...
, Switzerland, 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:
CAF (Africa),
AFC (Asia and Australia),
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
(Europe),
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
(North & Central America and the Caribbean),
OFC (Oceania) and
CONMEBOL (South America).
FIFA outlines a number of objectives in the organizational Statutes, including growing association football internationally, providing efforts to ensure it is accessible to everyone, and advocating for integrity and fair play. It is responsible for the organization and promotion of association football's major international
tournaments
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
, notably the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
which commenced in 1930 and the
Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991. Although FIFA does not solely set the
laws of the game, that being the responsibility of the
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
of which FIFA is a member, it applies and enforces the rules across all FIFA competitions. All FIFA tournaments generate revenue from sponsorship; in 2018, FIFA had revenues of over
US $
The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
4.6 billion, ending the 2015–2018 cycle with a net positive of US$1.2 billion, and had cash reserves of over US$2.7 billion.
Reports by investigative journalists have linked FIFA leadership with corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging related to the election of
FIFA president
The following is a list of presidents of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world association football governing body.
Presidents Daniel Burley Woolfall, Rodolphe Seeldrayers, and Arthur Drewry died during the ...
Sepp Blatter and the organization's decision to
award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. These allegations led to the
indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate executives by the
U.S. Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
on charges including
racketeering,
wire fraud
Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activity ...
, and
money laundering. On 27 May 2015, several of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities, who were launching a simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the organization awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Those among these officials who were also indicted in the U.S. are expected to be extradited to face charges there as well.
Many officials were suspended by FIFA's
ethics committee
An ethics committee is a body responsible for ensuring that medical experimentation and human subject research are carried out in an ethical manner in accordance with national and international law.
Specific regions
An ethics committee in the E ...
including
Sepp Blatter and
Michel Platini
Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...
. In early 2017, reports became public about FIFA president
Gianni Infantino
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...
attempting to prevent the re-elections of both chairmen of the ethics committee,
Cornel Borbély and
Hans-Joachim Eckert, during the FIFA congress in May 2017. On 9 May 2017, following Infantino's proposal,
FIFA Council
The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...
decided not to renew the mandates of Borbély and Eckert.
Together with the chairmen, 11 of 13 committee members were removed.
History
The need for a single body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The Fédération internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear of the headquarters of the
Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) at the Rue Saint Honoré 229 in Paris on 21 May 1904. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries. The founding members were the national associations of
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Spain (represented by then-
Madrid Football Club;
the Royal Spanish Football Federation was not created until 1913),
Sweden and
Switzerland. Also, that same day, the
German Football Association (DFB) 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
Daniel Burley Woolfall (15 June 1852 – 24 October 1918) was the second president of FIFA.
An English Football Association administrator from Blackburn, Woolfall was elected as president on 4 June 1906. A key aim during his presidency was to a ...
from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, by then a member of the association. The first tournament FIFA staged, the association football competition for the
1908 Olympics in London was more successful than its Olympic predecessors, 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
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
in 1909,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
in 1912,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
in 1913, and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in 1914.
The 1912 Spalding Athletic Library "Official Guide" includes information on the 1912 Olympics (scores and stories), AAFA, and FIFA. The 1912 FIFA President being Dan B Woolfall.
Daniel Burley Woolfall
Daniel Burley Woolfall (15 June 1852 – 24 October 1918) was the second president of FIFA.
An English Football Association administrator from Blackburn, Woolfall was elected as president on 4 June 1906. A key aim during his presidency was to a ...
was president from 1906 to 1918.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, with many players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited, the organization's survival was in doubt. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organization was run by Dutchman
Carl Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction but at the cost of the withdrawal of the
Home Nations
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
(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
The National Football Museum is England's national museum of football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of football memorabilia.
The museum was originally b ...
at
Urbis
Urbis was an exhibition and museum in Manchester, England, designed by Ian Simpson (architect), Ian Simpson. The building opened in June 2002 as part of the redevelopment of Exchange Square (Manchester), Exchange Square known as the Millennium Qu ...
in Manchester, England.
The first World Cup was held in 1930 in
Montevideo, Uruguay.
Identity
Flag
The FIFA flag has a blue background, with the organization's wordmark logo in the middle. The current FIFA flag was first flown during the
2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
The 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June 2018, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia at 3:30 (BST), about a half hour before the opening match which Russia won 5–0 over Saudi Arabia.
Mascots
Zabivak ...
in Moscow, Russia, and has been used ever since.
Anthem
Akin to the
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
, FIFA has adopted an anthem composed by the German composer
Franz Lambert since the
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
. It has been re-arranged and produced by
Rob May
Rob May (born 15 February 1969, in London) is a musician, songwriter and record producer.
May co-founded and toured with Beehive, who won a MOBO Best Gospel Act award in 1997 for their self-produced album, ''Brand New Day''.
He has played keyb ...
and
Simon Hill
Simon Hill (born 1 November 1967) is an English football commentator based in Australia.
British-based work
After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 1990, Hill began his work in the field of journalism, initially writing for news ...
. The FIFA Anthem is played at the beginning of official FIFA sanctioned matches and tournaments such as international friendlies, the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
,
FIFA Women's World Cup,
FIFA U-20 World Cup
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...
,
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...
,
Football at the Summer Olympics
Football at the Summer Olympics, referred to as the Olympic Football Tournament, has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 (the inaugural Games) and 1932 (in an attempt to promote the new FIFA Wo ...
,
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup,
FIFA Women's U-17 World Cup,
FIFA Futsal World Cup
The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...
,
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and
FIFA Club World Cup.
Since 2007, FIFA has also required most of its broadcast partners to use short sequences including the anthem at the beginning and end of FIFA event coverage, as well as for
break bumpers, to help promote FIFA's sponsors. This emulates practices long used by some other international football events such as the UEFA Champions League. Exceptions may be made for specific events; for example, an original piece of African music was used for bumpers during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Presidents
Structure
Six confederations and 211 national associations
Besides its worldwide institutions, there are six confederations recognized by FIFA which oversee the game in the different
continent
A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...
s 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
The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly i ...
(AFC; 47 members)
*
Confederation of African Football (CAF; 56 members)
*
(CONCACAF; 41 members)
*
Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL; 10 members)
*
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC; 13 members)
*
Union of European Football Associations
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
(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; see the
list of national football teams and their respective
country codes
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes (geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term ' ...
. 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
Home Nations is a collective term with one of two meanings depending on context. Politically it means the nations of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). In sport, if a sport is g ...
within the United Kingdom and the two
special administrative regions of China:
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
.
The
FIFA Men's World Rankings
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil national football team, Brazil . The teams of the List of men's national football teams, men's member nations of FIFA, football's w ...
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.
Laws and governance
![Home of FIFA - buiding and flags](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Home_of_FIFA_-_buiding_and_flags.jpg)
FIFA is
headquartered
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...
in
Zürich
, neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon
, twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco
Zürich ...
, and is an association established under the
law of Switzerland
Swiss law is a set of rules which constitutes the law in Switzerland.
Structure and Sources
There is a hierarchy of political levels which reflects the legal and constitutional character of Switzerland.
The Federal law (german: Bundesrecht, ...
.
FIFA's supreme body is the
FIFA Congress
The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA . FIFA is the international governing body of ...
, an assembly made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength. The Congress assembles in ordinary sessions once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. Congress makes decisions relating to FIFA's governing statutes and their method of implementation and application. Only Congress can pass changes to FIFA's statutes. The congress approves the annual report, and decides on the acceptance of new national associations, and holds elections. Congress elects the
President of FIFA
The following is a list of presidents of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the world association football governing body.
Presidents Daniel Burley Woolfall, Rodolphe Seeldrayers, and Arthur Drewry died during the ...
, its general secretary, and the other members of the
FIFA Council
The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...
in the year following the
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
.
FIFA Council – formerly called the FIFA Executive Committee and chaired by the president – is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of congress. The council is composed of 37 people: the president; 8 vice presidents; and 28 members from the confederations, with at least one of them being a woman. The executive committee is the body that decides which country will host the World Cup.
The president and the general secretary are the main office holders of FIFA, and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by the general secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280 members.
Gianni Infantino
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...
is the current president, elected on 26 February 2016 at an extraordinary FIFA Congress session after former president
Sepp Blatter was suspended pending a
corruption investigation.
FIFA's worldwide organizational structure also consists of several other bodies, under the authority of the FIFA Council or created by Congress as standing committees. Among those bodies are the FIFA Emergency Committee, the
FIFA Ethics Committee, the Finance Committee, the Disciplinary Committee, and the Referees Committee.
The FIFA Emergency Committee deals with all matters requiring immediate settlement in the time frame between the regular meetings of the
FIFA Council
The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...
. The Emergency Committee consists of the FIFA president as well as one member from each confederation. Emergency Committee decisions made are immediately put into legal effect, although they need to be ratified at the next Executive Committee meeting.
Administrative cost
FIFA publishes its results according to
International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards, commonly called IFRS, are accounting standards issued by the IFRS Foundation and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They constitute a standardised way of describing the company's f ...
. The total compensation for the management committee in 2011 was 30 million for 35 people. Blatter, the only full-time person on the committee, earned approximately two million Swiss francs, 1.2 million in salary and the rest in bonuses. A report in London's ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' in June 2014 said the members of the committee had their salaries doubled from $100,000 to $200,000 during the year. The report also said leaked documents had indicated $4.4 million in secret bonuses had been paid to the committee members following the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
in South Africa.
Governance
The laws that govern football, known officially as the
Laws of the Game, are not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body called the
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
(IFAB). FIFA has members on its board (four representatives); the other four are provided by the football associations of the United Kingdom:
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, who jointly established IFAB in 1882 and are recognized for the creation and history of the game. Changes to the Laws of the Game must be agreed upon by at least six of the eight delegates.
The FIFA Statutes form the overarching document guiding FIFA's governing system. The governing system is divided into separate bodies that have the appropriate powers to create a system of checks and balances. It consists of four general bodies: the congress, the executive committee, the general secretariat, and standing and ad hoc committees.
Discipline of national associations
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.
A 2007 FIFA ruling that a player can be registered with a maximum of three clubs, and appear in official matches for a maximum of two, in a year measured from 1 July to 30 June has led to controversy, especially in those countries whose seasons cross that date barrier, as in the case of
two former Ireland internationals. As a direct result of this controversy, FIFA modified this ruling the following year to accommodate transfers between leagues with out-of-phase seasons.
Video replay and goal-line technology
FIFA now permits the use of video evidence during matches, as well as for subsequent sanctions. However, for most of FIFA's history it stood opposed to its use. The 1970 meeting of the
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
"agreed to request the television authorities to refrain from any slow-motion play-back which reflected, or might reflect, adversely on any decision of the referee". As recently as 2008 FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: "Let it be as it is and let's leave
ootballwith errors. The television companies will have the right to say
he referee
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
was right or wrong, but still the referee makes the decision – a man, not a machine." This stance was finally overturned on 3 March 2018, when the IFAB wrote
video assistant referee
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who reviews decisions made by the referee.
The assistant video assistant referee (AVAR) is a current or former referee appointed to assist the VAR in the video ope ...
s (also known as VARs) into the Laws of the Game on a permanent basis. Their use remains optional for competitions.
In early July 2012 FIFA sanctioned the use of goal-line technology, subject to rules specified by the
International Football Association Board
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardia ...
(IFAB), who had officially approved its use by amending the
Laws of the Game to permit (but not require) its use. This followed a high-profile incident during a second-round game in the
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
between England and Germany, where a shot by Englishman
Frank Lampard
Frank James Lampard (born 20 June 1978) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Everton. He is widely regarded as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players, and one of the greatest midfielder ...
, which would have levelled the scores at 2–2 in a match that ultimately ended in a 4–1 German victory, crossed the line but was not seen to do so by the match officials, which led FIFA officials to declare that they would re-examine the use of
goal-line technology In many outdoor ball sports, a goal line is a line in front of goal post and which a team attempts to advance the ball or puck towards to score a goal or points. In particular, see:
* Football pitch
A football pitch (also known as soccer fiel ...
.
Controversy
On 28 February 2022, due to the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
and in accordance with a recommendation by the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC), FIFA suspended the participation of Russia.
The Russian Football Union unsuccessfully appealed the FIFA ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which upheld the ban. Some observers, while approving of the boycott of Russia, have pointed out that FIFA did not boycott Saddam Hussein's
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
as an aggressor during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, Saudi Arabia for its
military intervention in Yemen, Qatar for its
human rights violations
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
, or the United States for the actions of the U.S. military during the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
.
FIFA previously banned Indonesia due to government intervention within the team. FIFA requires members play “with no influence from third parties.”
Recognition and awards
FIFA holds an annual awards ceremony,
The Best FIFA Football Awards
The Best FIFA Football Awards is an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA.
The first awarding ceremony was held on 9 January 2017 in Zürich, Switzerland. The award is aimed at reviving the FIFA Wo ...
since
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, which recognizes both individual and team achievements in international association football. Individually, the top men's player is awarded
The Best FIFA Men's Player
The Best FIFA Men's Player is an association football award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, since 2016, to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. The award was formerly known ...
and the top women's player is
The Best FIFA Women's Player
The Best FIFA Women's Player is a football
award presented annually by the sport's governing body, FIFA, since 2016, to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous calendar year. From 2001 to 2015, the award was know ...
. Other main awards are
The Best FIFA Football Coach and
FIFA FIFPro World11.
In 2000, FIFA presented two awards,
FIFA Club of the Century
FIFA Club of the Century was an award presented by FIFA to decide the best football club of the 20th century. Real Madrid was the winner of the award with 42.35% of the vote, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2 ...
and
FIFA Player of the Century
FIFA Player of the Century was a one-off award created by FIFA to decide the greatest football player of the 20th century, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2000. Diego Maradona and Pelé were joint winners of ...
, to decide the greatest football club and player of the 20th century.
Real Madrid was the club winner, while
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...
and
Pelé were the joint player's winners.
FIFA competitions
National teams
Men's
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
*
Men's Olympic Football Tournament (U-23)
*
FIFA U-20 World Cup
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...
*
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...
*
FIFA World Series
*
FIFA Futsal World Cup
The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherland ...
*
Men's Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament (U-20)
*
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
*
FIFA Arab Cup
The FIFA Arab Cup ( ar, كأس العرب, translit=Kaʾs al-ʿArab), or simply Arab Cup, is an international association football competition which has been organized by FIFA since 2021, and is contested by the senior men's national teams of ...
(
senior teams of the
UAFA (
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
))
Women's
*
FIFA Women's World Cup
*
Women's Olympic Football Tournament
Football at the Summer Olympics, referred to as the Olympic Football Tournament, has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 (the inaugural Games) and 1932 (in an attempt to promote the new FIFA Wo ...
*
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
*
FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The tournament is held in even-numbered ye ...
*
FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup
*
Women's Youth Olympic Futsal Tournament (U-20)
Clubs
Men's
*
FIFA Club World Cup
*
FIFA Youth Cup
Women's
*
FIFA Women's Club World Cup
The FIFA Women's Club World Cup is an international women's association football competition that is proposed by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. , plans for the competition h ...
*FIFA Youth Cup
eSports
Individual
*
FIFAe World Cup
Team
*
FIFAe Club World Cup (
FIFAe Club Series)
*
FIFAe Nations Cup (
FIFAe Nations Series)
Former tournaments
*
FIFA Confederations Cup
Current title holders
Esports
FIFA World Rankings
Men's
The following table has the Top 20 ranked men's football countries in the world.
Women's
The following table has the Top 20 ranked women's football countries in the world.
Sponsors of FIFA
; FIFA Partner
*
Adidas
*
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
*
Hyundai/Kia Motors
*
Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netwo ...
*
QatarEnergy
QatarEnergy ( ar, قطر للطاقة), formerly Qatar Petroleum (QP), is a state owned petroleum company of Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. The ...
*
Visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
*
Wanda Group
Wanda Group (), or the Dalian Wanda Group (), is a Chinese multinational conglomerate founded in Dalian, Liaoning and headquartered in Beijing. It is a private property developer and owner of Wanda Cinemas and the Hoyts Group.
With inve ...
FIFA+
In April 2022 FIFA launched FIFA+, an
OTT service providing up to 40,000 live matches per year, including 11,000 women's matches. It was also confirmed that FIFA would make available archival content, including every FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup match recorded on camera, together with original documentary content.
Eleven Sports
Eleven Sports is a multinational sports and entertainment media group. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, it is owned by Andrea Radrizzani's sports and media investment platform Aser Ventures.
Eleven Sports' business model initially centred a ...
was later reported to be responsible for populating the FIFA+ platform with live matches.
Corruption
In May 2006, British investigative reporter
Andrew Jennings
Andrew Jennings (3 September 1943 – 8 January 2022) was a British investigative reporter. He was best known for his work investigating and writing about corruption in the IOC and FIFA.
Early life
Jennings was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, ...
' book ''Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging, and Ticket Scandals'' (
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...
) caused controversy within the football world by detailing an alleged international cash-for-contracts scandal following the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner
International Sport and Leisure (ISL), and revealed how some football officials have been urged to secretly repay the sweeteners they received. The book also alleged that vote-rigging had occurred in the fight for
Sepp Blatter's continued control of FIFA as the organization's president. Shortly after the release of ''Foul!'' a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' exposé by Jennings and BBC producer Roger Corke, screened on 11 June 2006, reported that Blatter was being investigated by Swiss police over his role in a secret deal to repay more than £1m worth of
pocketed by football officials.
, the former chairman of the English Football Association, described FIFA as an organization that "behaves like a
family", highlighting the organization's "decades-long traditions of bribes, bungs and corruption".
All testimonies offered in the ''Panorama'' exposé were provided through a disguised voice, appearance, or both, save one:
, a former CONCACAF official, became the first high-level football insider to go public with substantial allegations of corruption, nonfeasance, and malfeasance by CONCACAF and FIFA leadership. Brennan—the highest-level African-American in the history of world football governance—joined Jennings, Trinidadian journalist Lisana Liburd and many others in exposing allegedly inappropriate allocations of money by CONCACAF, and drew connections between ostensible CONCACAF criminality and similar behaviors at FIFA. Since then, and in the light of fresh allegations of corruption by FIFA in late 2010, both Jennings and Brennan remain highly critical of FIFA has Brennan called directly for an alternative to FIFA to be considered by the stakeholders of the sport throughout the world.
In a further ''Panorama'' exposé broadcast on 29 November 2010, Jennings alleged that three senior FIFA officials,
, had been paid huge bribes by ISL between 1989 and 1999, which FIFA had failed to investigate. Jennings claimed they appeared on a list of 175 bribes paid by ISL, totaling about $100 million. A former ISL executive said that there were suspicions within the company that they were only awarded the marketing contract for successive World Cups by paying bribes to FIFA officials. The program also alleged that another current official,
, has been repeatedly involved in reselling World Cup tickets to touts; Blatter said that FIFA had not investigated the allegation because it had not been told about it via 'official channels.'
''Panorama'' also alleged that FIFA requires nations bidding to host the World Cup to agree to implement special laws, including a blanket
. Contrary to FIFA's demands, these conditions were revealed by the Dutch government, resulting in them being told by FIFA that their bid could be adversely affected. Following Jennings' earlier investigations, he was banned from all FIFA press conferences, for reasons he claimed had not been made clear. The accused officials failed to answer questions about his latest allegations, either verbally or by letter.
Prime Minister
, head of England's World Cup bid, criticized the timing of the broadcast, three days before FIFA's decision on the host for the
, on the grounds that it might damage England's bid; the voters included officials accused by the program.
In June 2011, it came to light that the
into claims of bribery. ''Panorama'' alleged that Havelange accepted a $1 million 'bung' in 1997 from ISL. The IOC stated that it "takes all allegations of corruption very seriously and we would always ask for any evidence of wrongdoing involving any IOC members to be passed to our ethics commission".
In a 2014 interview, American sportswriter
said that corruption is endemic to FIFA leadership and that the organization should be abolished for the good of the game. He said that currently, FIFA is in charge of both monitoring corruption in association football matches, and marketing and selling the sport, but that two "separate" organizational bodies are needed: an organizational body that monitors corruption and match-fixing and the like, and an organization that's responsible for marketing and sponsorships and selling the sport. Zirin said the idea of having a single organization that's responsible for both seems highly ineffective and detrimental to the sport.
In May 2015, 14 people were arrested, including nine FIFA officials, after being accused of corruption.
Between 2013 and 2015 four individuals, and two sports television rights corporations pleaded guilty to United States financial misconduct charges. The pleas of
were unsealed in May 2015.
In another 2015 case, Singapore also imposed a 6-year "harshest sentence ever received for match-fixing" on match-fixer Eric Ding who had bribed three Lebanese FIFA football officials with prostitutes as an inducement to fix future matches that they would officiate, as well as perverting the course of justice.
in May 2015. The officials were
in Switzerland and are in the process of extradition to the US. Specific charges (brought under the
.
"Swiss authorities say they have also opened a separate criminal investigation into FIFA's operations pertaining to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids".
FIFA's top officials were arrested at a hotel in Switzerland on suspicion of receiving bribes totaling $100m (£65m). The US Department of Justice stated that nine FIFA officials and four executives of sports management companies were arrested and accused of over $150m in bribes. The UK Shadow Home Secretary and Labour Member of Parliament,
, stated in May 2015 that England should boycott the 2018 World Cup against corruption in FIFA and military aggression by Russia.
FIFA's choice to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been widely criticized by media. It has been alleged that some FIFA inside sources insist that the Russian kickbacks of cash and gifts given to FIFA executive members were enough to secure the Russian 2018 bid weeks before the result was announced. Sepp Blatter was widely criticized in the media for giving a warning about the "evils of the media" in a speech to FIFA executive committee members shortly before they voted on the hosting of the 2018 World Cup, a reference to ''
.
Two members of FIFA's executive committee were banned from all football-related activity in November 2010 for allegedly offering to sell their votes to undercover newspaper reporters. In early May 2011, a British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 finals was told by a member of parliament,
of Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. Qatar has categorically denied the allegations, as have Hayatou and Anouma.
FIFA president Blatter said, , that the British newspaper ''
'' has agreed to bring its whistle-blowing source to meet senior FIFA officials, who will decide whether to order a new investigation into alleged World Cup bidding corruption. "
are happy, they agreed that they will bring this whistleblower here to Zürich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation of this", Blatter said.
Specifically, the whistle-blower claims that FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar. The emirate's bid beat the United States in a final round of voting last December. Blatter did not rule out reopening the 2022 vote if corruption could be proved, but urged taking the matter "step by step". The FIFA president said his organization is "anxiously awaiting" more evidence before asking its ethics committee to examine allegations made in Britain's Parliament in early May 2011.
Hayatou, who is from Cameroon, leads the
and is a FIFA vice president. Anouma is president of
. The whistle-blower said Qatar agreed to pay a third African voter,
, for his support. The
was later suspended from voting after a FIFA ethics court ruled he solicited bribes from undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists. Blatter said the newspaper and its whistle-blower would meet with FIFA secretary general,
, and legal director, Marco Villiger.
Allegations against FIFA officials have also been made to the UK Parliament by
, the former head of England's bid and the English Football Association. Triesman told the lawmakers that four long-standing FIFA executive committee members—
—engaged in "improper and unethical" conduct in the 2018 bidding, which was won by Russia. All six FIFA voters have denied wrongdoing.
On 28 September 2015,
would have then been awarded to the United States. However, this plan changed after the election ballot, and the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar instead of the U.S.
According to leaked documents seen by ''The Sunday Times'', Qatari state-run television channel Al Jazeera secretly offered $400 million to FIFA, for broadcasting rights, just 21 days before FIFA announced that Qatar will hold the 2022 World Cup. The contract also documented a secret TV deal between FIFA and Qatar's state-run media broadcast Al Jazeera that $100 million will also be paid into a designated FIFA account only if Qatar wins the World Cup ballot in 2010. An additional $480 million was also offered by the State of Qatar government, three years after the initial offer, which brings the amount to $880 million offered by Qatar to host the 2022 world cup. The documents are now part of the bribery inquiry by Swiss Police.
FIFA refused to comment on the inquiry and responded to ''The Sunday Times'' in an email and wrote "allegations linked to the Fifa World Cup 2022 bid have already been extensively commented by Fifa, who in June 2017 published the Garcia report in full on Fifa.com. Furthermore, please note that Fifa lodged a criminal complaint with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, which is still pending. Fifa is and will continue to cooperate with the authorities".