FIFA

Categories: Football (soccer) governing bodies | FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association, universally known by its acronym FIFA, is the international governing body of football (soccer). Its headquarters are in Zürich, Switzerland and its current president is Sepp Blatter.

History

Main article: History of FIFA

The need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to seven other European countries to band together to form this association. FIFA was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904 - the French name and acronym persist to this day, even in English-speaking countries. Its first president was Robert Guérin.

FIFA presided over its first international competition in 1906, however it met with little approval or success. This, in combination with economic factors, led to the swift replacement of Guérin with Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by now 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 1909, Argentina in 1912 and the United States in 1913.

FIFA however floundered during World War I with many players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation fell into the hands of Dutchman Carl Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawl of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies.

The World Cup

Main article: Football World Cup

Jules Rimet became the third President of FIFA in 1921. He presided over another two successful Olympic competitions despite the absense of England and Scotland. The success of the competitions, combined with the rising profile of the game, allowed FIFA to seriously consider for the first time staging its own regular World Championship. Talks on the matter began in 1928, and the first World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930 and was won by the home nation. Despite the reluctance of participation from European nations (due to the travel time required and the ongoing economic depression), the tournament was considered a success and plans were laid for the next World Cup in 1934, in Italy.

Excluding a break for World War II, the World Cup continues to be held once every four years, with the most recent tournament in 2002 held in Japan and South Korea. The next World Cup will be held in Germany in 2006.

Other tournaments

Aside from the World Cup and Olympic competitions, FIFA organises World Championships for players at under-17 level and youth level. In addition to this, it has introduced the Confederations Cup, a competition for the champions from each confederation (plus the hosts and World Cup Winners), every two years; in the year before a World Cup, it serves as a dry run for that competition, with the World Cup host staging the tournament as a test of facilities.

With the development of the women's game, FIFA introduced, in 1991, the Women's World Cup and more recently the Women's Under-20 World Championship.

FIFA's only major club competition is the FIFA Club World Championship. It was slated as the natural progression of the European/South American Cup (which itself ran under a variety of names) to include clubs from all confederations. The tournament was not warmly received on its debut in 2000 and its 2002 edition was cancelled. The tournament, with a shorter revised format, is due to return in Japan in 2005.

FIFA also presides over World Cups in modified forms of the game including beach football (the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and futsal (the FIFA Futsal World Cup).

Laws of the game

The laws of football that govern the game, at not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body called the International Football Association Board (IFAB). FIFA has a 50% representation on its board (four representatives); the other four are provided by the football associations of England, the Scotland, Wales, and the Ireland, in recognition of the British nations' unique contribution to the creation and history of the game.

Organisation

Under the auspices of the President, FIFA is split into six confederations which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of the world. National teams must claim membership to both FIFA and the confederation in which their national is geographically resident to qualify for entry to FIFA's competitions (with a few geographic exceptions listed below):

• AFC - Asian Football Confederation in Asia
• CAF - Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa
• CONMEBOL - Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in South America
• CONCACAF - Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football in North America and Central America
• OFC - Oceania Football Confederation in Australia and Oceania
• UEFA - Union of European Football Confederations in Europe.

Teams straddling the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia have generally had their choice of confederation. As a result, nations including Russia and Turkey have chosen to become part of UEFA despite the bulk of their land area being in Asia. Kazakhstan were the latest team to make the move from AFC to UEFA, in 2002.

Guyana and Suriname have always been members CONCACAF despite being South American countries.

Australia have been given permission to join the AFC instead of the OFC from 2006 onwards. Australia have long lobbied for a change due to its strength which is disproportionate to the other Oceanic teams. No team from the OFC is offered automatic qualification to the World Cup; instead the winner of their section must play a play-off against a CONMEBOL side, a hurdle that Australia have traditionally fallen at.

In total, FIFA recognises 207 national teams; see the list of national football teams and their respective country codes. The FIFA World Rankings are updated four times a year 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

Recognitions and awards

FIFA awards, each year, the title of FIFA World Player of the Year to the most prestigious player of the year, as part of its annual awards ceremony with also recognises team and international football achievements.

As part of its centennial celebrations in 2004, FIFA organised a "Match of the Century" between France and Brazil, the most successful national teams of the last decade. In addition, it commissioned arguably the most famous player ever, Pelé, to produce a list of the greatest players of all time. This list, the FIFA 100, included 50 players who were still actively playing at the time of publication (two of whom were female), and 75 retired players (including himself, but not including deceased players). The list was originally planned to be just 100 players long but Pelé is understood to have found it too hard to choose just 100.

Commercial activities

FIFA announced in April 2004 that it is expecting to earn $144 million profit on $1.64 billion in revenue between 2003 and 2006.

FIFA has licensed its name and copyrighted content to computer game designer EA Sports to provide a number of footballs simulation games for PC and various game consoles. A new instalment in this FIFA series of games is introduced each year, and additional versions are released with World Cup branding to coincide with these tournaments. There was also a one-off "urban football" game (FIFA Street).

External link

• FIFA web site

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