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FIFA (French:Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is an internationalself-regulatory governing body ofassociation football,futsal andbeach soccer. It is one of the world's oldest and largestNGOs, being founded on 21 May 1904.[1] It has since expanded to include 211 member associations and is governed by a set of regulations.[2]
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The first official match between representatives of two nations was conducted betweenEngland andScotland in 1872 atHamilton Crescent,Partick, Glasgow,[3] finishing in a 0–0 draw. The following year atThe Oval, England enjoyed a 4–2 victory over the travelling Scots. This was followed by the creation of the world's second national football association, theScottish Football Association in 1873. Previously theFootball Association had been the world's only governing body, though codified football was being played only in the United Kingdom at this stage.
With the number of inter-nation matches increasing as football spread, the need for a global governing body emerged. Initially, it was intended to reflect the formative role of the British in football's history,[4][5] but the football associations of theHome Nations unanimously rejected such a body. This was led by rejection from Football Association PresidentLord Kinnaird. Thus the nations ofcontinental Europe decided to go it alone and 'FIFA' was born in Paris, uniting the football governing bodies of France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland on 21 May 1904.Germany also joined the federation on the same day bytelegram but is not considered a founding member.
The initialstatutes of FIFA stated that:
These statutes came into effect on 1 September 1905, decided by the founding members and Germany. The first FIFA Congress was held on 23 May 1904 – MauriceRobert Guérin[6] was elected president,Victor E. Schneider of Switzerland andCarl Anton Wilhelm Hirschmann of the Netherlands were madevice-presidents, andLouis Muhlinghaus of Belgium was appointed secretary andtreasurer with the help ofLudvig Sylow of Denmark.
Early attempts at the organisation of a tournament began, but without the British countries, this failed. England, however, joined on 14 April 1905, thanks to great efforts byBaron Edouard de Laveleye who was made the first honorary member of FIFA. In 1906,Daniel Burley Woolfall took over as president, making strides to uniformity in the globe's laws.
FIFA continued to expand in federations and influence, being able to monopolise international matches. However, its organizational skills were still not refined, and it was theFootball Association which organised the football tournaments at the1908 and1912 Olympic Games, both won by Great Britain.
Also during those years it briefly faced the appearance of a new rival international governing body, theUIAFA, which finally did not consolidate and disappeared, prevailing FIFA.[7][8][9]
In 1909,South Africa (the first non-European member) joined, andArgentina andChile followed in 1912. TheUnited States andCanada entered just beforeWorld War I in 1913.
International football was rare during World War One and FIFA nearly collapsed after Woolfall's death in 1918; It was Hirschmann, almost acting alone, who kept FIFA alive, and in 1919 convened an assembly inBrussels. However, the British associations (representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) withdrew in protest against the inclusion of countries from theCentral Powers. They re-joined in the early '20s, but withdrew again in 1928 following a disagreement with FIFA regarding payments to amateur players, and did not return until after World War II. In 1920,Jules Rimet of France was elected chairman, becoming president in 1921.
FIFA began to organise Olympic games football tournaments, with 60,000 spectators watching the final at the1924 Summer Olympics betweenUruguay andSwitzerland.
These successes prompted FIFA, at the Amsterdam congress of 28 May 1928, to consider staging its own World Championship. At the following Congress inBarcelona plans were finalised – it would be held in Uruguay, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary ofindependence the following year. Unfortunately, Europe was in the midst of an economic crisis, and teams would have to do without their key players for two months – several nations pulled out. Without them, the firstWorld Cup opened inMontevideo on 18 July 1930 – with only four European teams.
Following the disappointment of not hosting the first tournament, Italy was chosen as the venue for the1934 World Cup. Following the previous tournament, all matches were played in one country, meaning some teams made the long trip home after just one qualifying round. The final, won by theItalians, was the first to be broadcast live on radio. Italy defended this title in the last World Cup before World War II, in France.
In 1946 the four British nations returned. On 10 May 1947 a "Match of the Century" betweenGreat Britain and "Rest of Europe XI" was played atHampden Park in Glasgow before 135,000 spectators – Britain won 6–1. The proceeds from the match, coming to £35 000, were given to FIFA, to help re-launch it after World War II. This was followed by FIFA'sfirst post-war World Cup in 1950, held in Brazil, and won by Uruguay. FIFA, meanwhile, continued to expand so that by the time of its fiftieth anniversary it had 84 members.
In 1954, Jules Rimet was replaced byRodolphe William Seeldrayers of Belgium; Seeldrayers died the next year and was succeeded by Englishman,Arthur Drewry. He again had a short presidency and was replaced upon his death in 1961 bySir Stanley Rous, a formerreferee. During Rous' presidency, the game continued to spread, with the World Cup appearing on television for the first time. Rous was a traditionalist, promoting theamateurism of the national game and a romantic view of "Corinthian" values. He helped make the World Cup one of the big international sports events, behind perhaps only the Olympic Games in worldwide prestige. His tenure was also marked with controversy, as he supported the South African apartheid regime, and worked to allow the country to participate in the World Cup, despite having been banned from CAF. This caused tensions between Rous and a number of FIFA confederations.
Rous was replaced in 1974 by the BrazilianJoão Havelange. FIFA became a more commercial institution at this time. He increased the number of teams in the World Cup to 24 for the1982 World Cup and then to 32 at the1998 World Cup. He also broughtIsrael into the international game (affiliated toUEFA) and saw FIFA spread across the globe, with small nations such asGuam,Lesotho andMontserrat joining.
The next president,Sepp Blatter, maintained this policy; he promised the2010 World Cup to Africa, for example. He oversaw a federation that was a massive corporate body and whose actions have a global economic and political impact.
In 2006, after the game between Switzerland and South Korea, South Korean access to the FIFA website has been blocked. The rumour spread in Korea that if they send 500 million protest notes to the FIFA administration Switzerland's victory might be cancelled. Because of this, overwhelming access from Korean users (which was detected by IP address) caused problems and FIFA eventually denied Korean access.[10]
FIFA attempted to address the issue of extreme altitude in May 2007, ruling that no future international matches could be played at an altitude over 2500 m (8200 ft).[11]
The FIFA altitude ban would most notably have affected the national teams ofAndean countries. Under this proposal,Bolivia would no longer be able to play international matches inLa Paz (3600 m),Ecuador would be unable to play inQuito (2800 m), andColombia could no longer play inBogotá (2640 m).
However, FIFA soon backed away from the proposal after international condemnation,[12] and under political pressure from theCONMEBOL countries, first extending the maximum altitude to 2800 m (9190 ft) in June 2007, which made Bogotá and Quito viable international venues once again, and then waiving the restriction for La Paz in July 2007.[13]
In May 2011, after Qatar was selected to host the 2022 World Cup, allegations of bribery on the part of two members of theFIFA Executive Committee were tabled by Lord Triesman of the English FA. These allegations were based on information from a whistleblower involved with the Qatari bid. FIFA has since opened an internal inquiry into the matter, and a revote on the 2022 World Cup remains a possibility if the allegations are proven. FIFA presidentSepp Blatter has admitted that there is a groundswell of popular support to re-hold the 2022 vote won by Qatar.
In testimony to a UK parliamentary inquiry board in May 2011,David Triesman, Baron Triesman alleged that Trinidad and Tobago'sJack Warner demanded $4 million for an education centre in his country and Paraguay'sNicolás Léoz asked for an honorary knighthood in exchange for their votes. Also, twoSunday Times reporters testified that they had been told that Jacques Anouma of the Ivory Coast andIssa Hayatou of Cameroon were each paid $1.5 million to support Qatar's bid for the tournament. All four have denied the allegations.[14]Mohammed bin Hammam, who played a key role in securing the games for Qatar, withdrew as a candidate for president of FIFA in May 2011 after being accused of bribing 25 FIFA officials to vote for his candidacy.[15] Soon after, FIFA suspended bin Hammam andJack Warner as the ethics investigation continued.[16] After his suspension, Warner stated that FIFA had awarded him1998 World Cup rights in Trinidad and Tobago after he had helped Blatter win his campaign to become FIFA president and given preferential treatment for future World Cup rights after supporting Blatter's 2002 reelection.[17]
The corruption allegations against Bin Hammam and Jack Warner were levelled byCONCACAF general secretaryChuck Blazer. In response, CONCACAF presidentLisle Austin attempted to fire Blazer, but the move was blocked by the CONCACAF executive committee.[18]
In 2011, FIFA made an exception for theBritishHome Nations to wear a black armband with aremembrance poppy emblem on it. In 2016, the Home Nations games clashed again with the United Kingdom's Remembrance Day period, however, this time FIFA told them that they were not allowed to wear the poppy armbands. All four Home Nations announced that they would wear the poppy armbands regardless and face the penalty. Although all four Home Nations had originally agreed to ignore the ban, Wales and Northern Ireland were misled to believe that there would only be a punishment if the opposition team complained about the armband. AsEngland playedScotland both teams agreed not to complain and therefore avoid a penalty.Wales andNorthern Ireland on the other hand, who both faced teams from away, would receive a penalty. The Welsh and Northern Irish teams decided at the last minute to not wear the poppy arms bands and instead come up with other inventive ways to introduce the poppy at the games, including wreaths of poppies and fans holding up placards with poppy images on them.
On 14 November 2016, FIFA announced that England and Scotland, which had played each other and worn the poppy armbands, would both face penalties, even though no one had made a complaint. On 23 November, the same was announced about Wales and Northern Ireland, despite their teams not wearing the armbands and despite, once again, the absence of complaints. The list of charges brought against the Welsh team controversially included "fans in the stadium wearing a Remembrance poppy on their shirts".
FIFA has been served by eight Presidents since its foundation in 1904:[19]
| No. | President | Nationality | Presidency |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Guérin |  France | 1904–1906 |
| 2 | Daniel Burley Woolfall |  England | 1906–1918 |
| – | Cornelis Hirschman(acting) |  Netherlands | 1918–1921 |
| 3 | Jules Rimet | France | 1921–1954 |
| 4 | Rodolphe Seeldrayers |  Belgium | 1954–1955 |
| 5 | Arthur Drewry | England | 1955–1961 |
| 6 | SirStanley Rous | England | 1961–1974 |
| 7 | DrJoão Havelange |  Brazil | 1974–1998 |
| 8 | Sepp Blatter |  Switzerland | 1998–2015 |
| – | Issa Hayatou(acting) |  Cameroon | 2015–2016 |
| 9 | Gianni Infantino | Switzerland/ Italy | 2016–present |
FIFA has been served by nine secretaries general since its foundation in 1904:[20]
| Secretary general | Nationality | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Louis Muhlinghaus | Belgium | 1904–1906 |
| Cornelis August Wilhelm Hirschman | Netherlands | 1906–1931 |
| Ivo Schricker |  West Germany | 1932–1951 |
| Kurt Gassmann | Switzerland | 1951–1960 |
| Helmut Käser | Switzerland | 1961–1981 |
| Sepp Blatter | Switzerland | 1981–1998 |
| Michel Zen-Ruffinen | Switzerland | 1998–2002 |
| Urs Linsi | Switzerland | 2002–2007 |
| Jérôme Valcke |  France | 2007–2015 |
| Markus Kattner(acting) | Germany | 2015–2016 |
| Fatma Samoura |  Senegal | 2016–2023 |
| Mattias Grafström |  Sweden | 2024–present |
