While most people are aware of the fact that FIFA is the international governing body for the sport of football, they do not know and even fail to ask what it actually stands for.
FIFA is short for Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which translates into International Federation of Association Football in English. It not only governs one of the most popular sports in the world but futsal and beach soccer as well. Keep reading to know more about it.
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FIFA was founded on 21 May 1904 to govern and promote association football on a global scale. In the past 113 years, it has expanded from 7 to 208 member countries. The original 7 member countries of FIFA are Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Sweden. Later in the year, Germany became the eighth member of the organization, while England joined it the year next. The United States became a part of the organization in 1913.
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After facing difficulty in organizing football tournaments during the World War I, FIFA began organizing Soccer Olympic Games in the 1920s, and finally managed to organize a world championship a few years later. The first FIFA World Cup was held in the year 1930 with Uruguay as the host and champion, and only 4 European participants. Since then, FIFA World Cup has been held every four years, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 when the event had to be canceled due to the World War II.
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It is FIFA’s duty to maintain standards in the world of football and administer the world football associations. The Zurich-based organization also takes up the responsibility of organizing as well as promoting football tournaments. Furthermore, it is also the governing body of the Laws of the Game that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) maintains.
FIFA also keeps up the communication with its member associations through its development offices. It takes up the role of the coordinator to ensure that development programs are being implemented at the member association level. FIFA’s mission is to support the development of the sport.
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Well, before you go, check out some amazing facts from the sport of football.
#1. Football is arguably the most popular sport as almost half of the world population watch more than 1 minute of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
#2. The fastest goal in the World Cup history was scored at 11 seconds into the game by Hakan Sukur of Turkey against South Korea in 2002.
#3. Sir Vivian Richards, a celebrated cricketer from West Indies, is famed as the only player to have participated in cricket as well as football world cup.
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#4. The fame for scoring the first hat-trick in football goes to Bert Patenaude of the United States. It was scored during the 1930 FIFA World Cup when the US played Paraguay.
#5. Brazil has won the most number of football world cups for a whopping five times. In 1958, 1962 and 1970, it won three out of four consecutive championships.
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#6. India withdrew from the 1950 World Cup because the FIFA regulations required all the footballers to football boots and not play barefoot.
#7. Roger Milla, in 1992, became the oldest person in the history of football world cup to score a goal. He scored the goal at the age of 42.
So, we did not just answer the question of what does FIFA stand for, but also enlightened you with the history and some interesting facts about the sport. Tell us what you think about the topic through your comments in the section below. We love hearing from you.
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Soccer and Football are synonyms. Football is the official name of the game whereas; soccer is another name which is used in the West. So, we can either call it American Soccer or British Football. Though FIFA (Federation of Football Association), the official association of this sport uses the name Football instead of soccer.