Definition of FIFA
The International Football Association is defined as the supreme sports body responsible for supervising the game of football around the world, and it is known by the acronym FIFA (FIFA); This name came from the first letters of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) in French.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association includes 211 national sports federations from around the world, and these federations are considered as representatives of FIFA in their countries; It is financially and technically supported by many different programs offered by this global organization.
National Football Associations fall under six continental confederations, namely:
UEFA; Which is known by the acronym (UEFA), the Asian Football Confederation; known by the acronym (AFC), the South American Football Confederation; known by the acronym CONMEBOL, the Confederation of African Football; (CAF), the North and Central American and Caribbean Confederation (CONCACAF), and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).
The role of all these federations is to provide support to the FIFA organization, as they have the right to be represented in the FIFA organization through members who are elected to be in the executive committee of this sports organization.
At their discretion, both the national and the continental federations must recognize FIFA as the supreme governing body for the sport of football and the body responsible for setting the laws and rules of the game.
History of the International Football Association
The popularity of the game of football increased significantly in the early twentieth century, and the leaders of the national federations of this game in the continent of Europe felt that the need had become urgent to establish a special federation for the game and a supreme governing body for it; In order to keep pace with the increasing popularity of the game, hence the idea of founding the International Football Association Board; Where seven national federations, namely the federations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, met under the auspices of the French journalist Robert Guerin in the French capital, Paris, specifically at the headquarters of the French Football Federation on the twenty-first of May 1904 AD; To announce the establishment of FIFA, as the official body through which the relations between the various national football associations, players and officials throughout the world are strengthened.
The declaration of founding was accompanied by the establishment of a statute of a temporary nature, which provided for mutual recognition between the national federations participating in the founding of the federation, preventing players and clubs from playing for more than one national federation at the same time, and playing football matches in accordance with the laws of the federation that were limited at that time, and after If FIFA organizes football tournaments under the umbrella of the Olympic Games in 1924 and 1928, Jules Rimet, the third president of FIFA, saw that it was necessary to create a tournament exclusively for football, and accordingly what is known as the FIFA World Cup was established, which Its popularity has grown exponentially to become the most important sporting event around the world.
Responsibilities of FIFA
Fédération Internationale de Football Association, as the supreme administrative authority for this game, is entrusted with many matters that include various aspects of this sport; Where the federation must organize and set the laws that should be governed by the rules of playing in football, the federation also supervises the transfers of players from one team to another and sets standards for arbitration, training and even sports treatment methods, as well as focusing on encouraging and promoting the development of football around the world.
The International Federation also organizes many international tournaments in football, including the World Cup, the Women's World Cup, the U-20 World Cup, the Beach Soccer World Cup, the FIFA Five-a-Day Football World Cup, and the Club World Cup Confederations Cup, in addition to many other international tournaments.
FIFA Presidents
The position of Director of the International Football Association has witnessed a succession of many people since its establishment to this day, and the Swiss Gianni Infantino is the current president of FIFA; As he was appointed to this position in 2016, succeeding his predecessor, Joseph Blatter, and the following table shows the previous presidents who occupied the position of FIFA President, in addition to the years in which each of them continued in the position of President:
FIFA Awards
The FIFA awards many annual awards that honor the achievements of players and teams, and the following shows these awards:
- FIFA award for the best player in the world.
- FIFA award for the best female player in the world.
- FIFA award for the best coach in the world.
- FIFA award for the best female coach in the world.
- FIFA award for the best goalkeeper in the world.
- FIFA award for the best goalkeeper in the world.
- The FIFA Best Goal Award, or the Puskas Award.