FIFA Football / Soccer

FIFA is the acronym for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association or International Federation of Association Football, the organization that governs football, or soccer, worldwide.

FIFA was founded in Paris, France in 1904 in response to the growing popularity of football in Europe.  The founding members were the national football associations of France, Holland, Denmark, Belgium and Germany as well as the Madrid Football Club. Within a decade the organization expanded to include members outside of Europe, including South Africa and the United States, Chile, Canada and Argentina in the Americas. 

 Today FIFA recognizes more than 200 men’s national teams and close to 130 women’s national teams. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland. 

African

Asian

European

North, Central American and Caribbean

Oceania and

South American

Every four years since 1930, save for the WWII era years of 1942 and 1946, FIFA has organized a world cup competition.  Today there are competition’s for both men’s and women’s soccer.  In the World Cup competition the top 32 national teams in the Federation play against one another until one team is deemed the winner.

 The FIFA 2010 Football / Soccer World Cup took place in South Africa.  Spain wound up winning the games, with the Netherlands taking second, Germany third and Uruguay turning in a surprise 4^th place finish.  From its first World Cup match with the 2006 2^nd place winners France, Uruguay declared it was a force to be reckoned with.  One newsworthy component of the 2010 World Cup was the use of the vuvuzuela, a local instrument that led to a constant lougd buzzing noise in the stadium, which many fans and players found distracting.

The FIFA 2006 World Cup was hosted by Germany.  First place honors went to Italy, followed by France, Germany in third place and Portugal fourth.

The FIFA 2002 World Cup games took place in Korea and Japan.  In first was Brazil, the only team that has qualified for every World Cup since its inception.  Germany came in second, followed by Turkey and Korea.

The next FIFA World Cup will be held in 2014 inBrazil.