FIFA is the sport of soccer ’s world governing body. FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football). Soccer is called football or association football in much of the world. FIFA organizes major international tournaments, including the World Cup and Women’s World Cup. FIFA also hands out awards and punishments and contributes to—but does not solely create—soccer’s code of rules known as the Laws of the Game.
The popularity of international matches led to FIFA’s creation in Paris , France , in 1904. FIFA’s founding nations were Belgium , Denmark , France, the Netherlands , Spain , Sweden , and Switzerland . The first world soccer tournament took place as part of the 1908 Olympic Games in London , England . Over the next several years, many new nations joined FIFA, including Canada and the United States . The first FIFA World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930, and the first Women’s World Cup was held in China in 1991. Each tournament is held every four years.
The FIFA Congress is the organization’s legislative body. The Congress meets annually, but a special meeting can be called to decide pressing and unexpected matters. Such special meetings are called extraordinary Congresses. Each member nation casts one vote in the Congress. FIFA’s current membership consists of over 200 associations from independent countries as well as such dependencies and regions as Montserrat and Palestine . In addition, each of the “British Home Nations”—England, Northern Ireland , Scotland , and Wales —has its own association. FIFA headquarters have been in Zürich , Switzerland, since 1932.
FIFA oversees six regional confederations with their own leagues and tournaments. These are the Confederation of African Football, or Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF); the Asian Football Confederation (AFC); the Confederation of North America , Central America , and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC); the South American Football Confederation, or Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL); and the Union of European Football Associations, or Union des Associations Européennes de Football (UEFA). The confederations have an annual club tournament known as the Champions League. UEFA’s Champions League is considered the best and most prestigious. The annual CONMEBOL tournament is called the Copa Libertadores de América.
Allegations of bribery , vote rigging, and corruption have dogged FIFA over the years. In 2015, several top FIFA officials were arrested on corruption charges involving bribery to influence—among other things—the hosting of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, Russia in 2018, and Qatar in 2022.
