What is FIFA?

FIFA also called The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.

History of FIFA & origin

FIFA was founded on 21 May 1904 in Paris with the aim of governing association football internationally. For the 110 years, it has managed to expand to 208 member countries. During its creation FIFA brought together the soccer governing bodies of Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden. Germany joined a while later in the year with England coming on board in April of the following year.

Robert Guerin became the first FIFA president after his appointed during the first FIFA Congress held on 23 May. Having initially left out the British countries, FIFA faced a major challenge in organizing a tournament. However, things started looking better and it gained influence from 1906 after the appointment of Daniel Burley Woolfall as the next president. FIFA continued facing challenges especially during the World War I where the International soccer was greatly affected. The president passed on in 1918 adding to the woes of FIFA at the time.

Organization of soccer Olympic games

Eventually FIFA recovered and began organizing Olympic Games soccer tournaments in 1920s. Success in the organization was observed prompting the World’s largest NGO to organize its own world championship in 1928. At this time, soccer had been abandoned from the Olympics. Uruguay was picked to host the tournament having won the previous two Olympics and the country was celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The first FIFA World Cup

The very first World Cup tournament was held in July 13, 1930 selected Uruguay as host nation and only four European members participating. Italy held the second World Cup in 1934. Since then FIFA has held the tournament after every four years except for two times during the World War II. The body kept expanding with members joining from various regions.

Developments advanced and in the 1960s the games started to appear on television. Successive presidents brought new ideas and improvements to the game and made the body more popular. Incorporating new ideas in the 1970s brought new membership from smaller countries. Currently, the FIFA president is Sett Blatter who has overseen the modernization of the game.

FIFA Roles and Responsibility

FIFA has the duty to maintain top notch standards in soccer. It is tasked with administering the world soccer associations. It is in charge of organizing tournaments, promoting the tournaments and governing field matters relating to soccer. The body is responsible for constant development of soccer. It relies on the statutes to govern the system. It is also in charge of the Laws of the Game which are maintained by International Football Association Board (IFAB).

FIFA Congress

The four separate bodies of FIFA are empowered to create a reliable system of checks. The Congress is the supreme organ of FIFA. It consists of all member associations with each having one vote. It serves as the legislative body and meets annually. The Congress is responsible for providing significant amendments to the FIFA statutes to keep up with the developments and trends at the time. They do elect the FIFA president for a four year term.

FIFA Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is presided over by the FIFA president. The Executive is the decision making body and it oversees the duties and responsibilities of the Disciplinary Committee, the Finance Committee and the Referees committee. The Standing Committees advise the Executive Committee in carrying out its duties. It takes decisions concerning the organization of competitions and development of football. And lastly is the General Secretariat which performs the administrative duties.

FIFA Organization of The World Cup & Women's World Cup

The major international soccer tournaments it governs are the World Cup since 1930 and Women’s World Cup starting 1991. Not only does FIFA promote the performance of international soccer, it does focus on maintaining friendly ties between countries. Further, it is involved in active functions in the administration of soccer in keeping up with its mission of developing the game. It has the capacity to suspend teams and association members that are not managed properly or whose government interferes in the management of the game.

FIFA role & mission

FIFA, through its development offices, maintains communication with the member associations. It coordinates with the offices to ensure implementation of development programs at the member association level. The offices serve to coordinate the activities of FIFA with various confederations, inform member associations about the set development activities, and monitor football trends and member association.

FIFA has a mission to support the development of football. It sets out to achieve this by organizing competitions at all levels, from amateur to professional competitions. FIFA gets to implement congress resolutions, rules of the game and the federation constitution. Finally, FIFA promotes soccer through campaigns against discrimination in the lines of race, politics and religion.