This is a list of international football governing bodies.
Global
- FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association - 211 members - founded in 1904, represents nations from around the world, and is the overall governing body of recognised international football. Its premier tournament is the quadrennial FIFA World Cup.
- ConIFA - Confederation of Independent Football Associations - 24 members - founded in 2013, represents nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities and regions not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament is the ConIFA World Football Cup.
Defunct
- UIAFA - Union Internationale Amateur de Football Association - 3, later 5 members - founded in 1908 and dissolved in 1912. Main tournament was the Amateur European Championship, this confederations was the rival to FIFA in the early years.
- NF-Board - New Federation Board - 18 members + 14 provisional - founded in 2003, represented nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, regions and micronations not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament was the VIVA World Cup. This organization was dissolved in January 2013.
Continental
FIFA confederations
FIFA-member football associations are formed together into continental confederations, which organize continental national and club competitions.
| Acronym | Name in full | No. of members |
Founded | Continent(s) represented |
Main tournament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Asian Football Confederation | 47 | 1954 | Asia | AFC Asian Cup |
| CAF | Confederation of African Football | 54 F + 2 A | 1957 | Africa | African Cup of Nations |
| CONCACAF | Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football | 41 | 1961 | North America Central America Caribbean |
CONCACAF Gold Cup |
| CONMEBOL | Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol | 10 | 1916 | South America | Copa América |
| OFC | Oceania Football Confederation | 11 F + 2 A | 1966 | Oceania | OFC Nations Cup. |
| UEFA | Union of European Football Associations | 55 | 1954 | Europe | UEFA European Championship (also known as UEFA Euro). |
F = full members; A = associate members.
Inter-continental
The following confederations consist of FIFA member associations that cross continental boundaries.
- UAFA - Union of Arab Football Associations - 22 members - founded in 1974, represents Arab nations from Africa and Asia. The main tournament is the Arab Cup.
Defunct
- PFC Panamerican Football Confederation - 24 members - founded in 1946 was the not official fusion of CONMEBOL, CCCF and NAFC and represented teams from Americas. The main tournament was the Panamerican Championship, when PFC was dissolved, both CCCF and NAFC both were merged to form CONCACAF
Sub-continental
Africa
Affiliated to CAF
| Acronym | Name in full | No. of members |
Founded | Nations represented | Main tournament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CECAFA | Council of East and Central African Football Associations | 10 F + 1 A | 1927 | Those generally regarded as forming the regions of East Africa Some nations of Central Africa |
CECAFA Cup |
| COSAFA | Council of Southern Africa Football Associations | 14 F + 1 A | 1997 | Those generally regarded as forming Southern Africa Island states off the coast of Southern Africa |
COSAFA Cup |
| WAFU | Union of West African Football Associations | 8 | 1977 | Those in West Africa | WAFU Nations Cup |
| UNAF | Union of North African Federations | 5 | 2005 | Those regarded as forming North Africa | |
| UNIFFAC | Central African Football Federations' Union | 8 | Some of the nations that form Central Africa | CEMAC Cup |
Sub-Regions
- WAFU-Zone A - WAFU West Zone - 9 members a sub-zone of WAFU
- WAFU-Zone B - WAFU East Zone - 7 members a sub-zone of WAFU
- UFFOI - Union des fédérations de football de l'océan Indien - 6 members - founded in 2009, a sub-zone of COSAFA.
Asia
Affiliated to AFC
- WAFF - West Asian Football Federation - 12 members - founded in 2000, represents nations at the western extremity of the continent. The main tournament is the WAFF Championship.
- EAFF - East Asian Football Federation - 10 members - founded in 2002, represents nations generally agreed to constitute the "far east". The main tournament is the EAFF E-1 Football Championship.
- SAFF - South Asian Football Federation - 7 members - founded in 1997, represents nations from South Asia. The main tournament is the SAFF Championship.
- CAFA - Central Asian Football Association - 6 members - founded in 2015, represents nations from Central Asia. The main tournament is the CAFA Championship.
- AFF - ASEAN Football Federation - 12 members - founded in 1984, represents nations from Southeast Asia. The main tournament is the ASEAN Championship.
Not affiliated to AFC
- AGCFF - Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation - 8 members - founded in 2016, represents the participating nations of the Arabian Gulf Cup.
North America
Affiliated to CONCACAF
- CFU - Caribbean Football Union - 30 members - represents all nations in the Caribbean. The main tournament was the Caribbean Cup.
- LIFA - Leeward Islands Football Association - 11 members - founded in 1949, represents nations of the Leeward archipelago and is affiliated to CFU. The main tournament was the Leeward Islands Tournament.
- WIFA - Windward Islands Football Association - 4 members - represents nations of the Windward archipelago and is affiliated to CFU. The main tournament was the Windward Islands Tournament.
- NAFU - North American Football Union - 3 members - represents the three sovereign nations of North America. The main tournament was the now defunct North American Nations Cup.
- UNCAF Union Centroamericana de Fútbol - 7 members - represents the seven nations of Central America. The main tournament was the UNCAF Nations Cup.
Defunct confederations affiliated to FIFA
- CCCF - Confederacion Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol - 11 members - dissolved in 1961, represented Central America and Caribbean region and was affiliated to FIFA. The main tournaments were the CCCF Championship and CCCF Youth Championship.
- NAFC - North American Football Confederation - 4 members (later 3) - founded in 1946 and dissolved in 1961, represented the North American region and was affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament was the NAFC Championship.
Defunct confederations not-affiliated to FIFA
- CENF - Confederation of European New Federations - 0 members - founded in 2007 and dissolved in 2008, represented teams not affiliated to FIFA in Europe, and was affiliated to NF-Board. The main tournament was the CENF Cup, but was never played.
- FIFI - Federation of International Football Independents - 5 members - represented nations, dependencies and unrecognized states not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament was the FIFI Wild Cup.
- IFU - International Football Union - 2 provisional members - founded in 2009 as an international football confederation for nations and territories not admitted to FIFA, was dissolved in 2010.
External links
- Official Organisations (incl. National Federations) at the RSSSF
- Football Federations Around the Globe, Soccerlens.com
| International association football | ||
|---|---|---|
| World (FIFA) |  | |
| Asia (AFC) | ||
| Africa (CAF) | ||
| North America (CONCACAF) | ||
| South America (CONMEBOL) | ||
| Oceania (OFC) | ||
| Europe (UEFA) | ||
| Inter-Continental |
| |
| Non-FIFA | ||
RULES TO SOCCER
Soccer has changed the rules for over 120 years now. These rules include, holding/picking up the ball, In the 1880 and 1904 the rule of picking up the ball has changed from being able to pick up the ball and running to only being able to kick the ball. When the ball goes out on your side by your team, the opposing team gets to have a corner kick. When the ball goes out on the side lines, the opposing team must make a throw in by throwing the ball over their heads and their feet not lift off the ground.
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