FIFA has more members than the United Nations, and each gets one vote
Football's world governing body counts 211 national associations, more than the UN has member states, because it admits 23 non-sovereign entities such as England, Scotland, Hong Kong and Macau. At its annual Congress, every one of them casts a single equal vote, whatever its size or footballing pedigree.
FIFA was founded on 21 May 1904 in the back of a French sports federation's headquarters on the Rue Saint Honoré in Paris. The founders were the associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with Germany announcing by telegram the same day that it would join. Spain was represented by Real Madrid, since the national federation did not yet exist. The French name stuck worldwide. Robert Guérin was the first president, followed in 1906 by the Englishman Daniel Burley Woolfall.
Its first tournament was the football competition at the 1908 London Olympics. Membership reached beyond Europe with South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912 and the United States in 1914. The First World War nearly finished the organisation; the Dutchman Carl Hirschmann kept it alive, though the four British associations walked out rather than play their wartime enemies, returning later. The first World Cup followed in Montevideo in 1930, and the Women's World Cup began in 1991.
Members must also belong to one of six continental confederations, which vary enormously in size, from Europe's 55 members to South America's ten. Congress amends the statutes, admits new members and elects the president, while a 37-member Council handles strategy between sessions, shortlists World Cup bids and must include at least one woman from each confederation. Gianni Infantino became president on 26 February 2016, after his predecessor Sepp Blatter was suspended during a corruption investigation.
The money is considerable. FIFA earned over 5.8 billion US dollars in 2022 and closed its 2019 to 2022 cycle 1.2 billion dollars ahead, with reserves above 3.9 billion. Even the soundtrack is managed: an anthem by the German composer Franz Lambert has opened official matches since the 1994 World Cup, and since 2007 broadcasters have had to use short anthem sequences to frame coverage.
Source: FIFA
