User:Manyoun Kuel/The Formation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

FIFA Formation
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is an association governed by Swiss law founded in 1904 and based in Zurich. It has 208 member associations and its goal, is to enshrined in its Statutes, is the constant improvement of football. FIFA employs some 310 people from over 35 nations and is composed of a Congress legislative body, Executive Committee, executive body, General Secretariat administrative body, and committees assisting the Executive Committee. FIFA is the international governing association of the sport of football, known as soccer in the United States and in all over the world. In fact, it is the largest sporting governing body in the world. The FIFA Headquartered is in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA is accountable for the organization and management of the major international football tournaments, the most notable being the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup, held every four years, is a competition between men's teams representing various nations. Over 200 associations are members of FIFA, making it the world's second largest international association, with the United Nations being the largest. The need for a single association to oversee the worldwide game prompted the founding of FIFA in Paris on 21 May 1904. Original membership belonged to seven European countries, though within several years membership began to expand beyond the European continent. The first non-European country to join was South Africa, in 1909, followed by Argentina, Chile, and the United States in subsequent years. Following the success of the Football International de Football Association competitions and the rising popularity of football, FIFA began seriously contemplating the staging of its own regular World Championship. The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. The next World Cup was held thereafter in Italy in 1934.

FIFA not only operates at the international level, but it also has confederations governing the game in the different continents and regions of the world. Most national federations qualify their teams for entry into FIFA competitions by claiming membership to both FIFA and their region's confederation. In addition to its management of the World Cup and involvement in Olympic competitions, FIFA also manages World Championships for players at the under-17 and under-20 levels. It has also introduced the Confederations Cup, a competition held every four years for the champions from each confederation along with the World hosts and World Cup Winners. FIFA also presides over World Cup tournaments geared specifically toward women, club competition, and modified forms of football including beach football and futsal or indoor football. The intellectual property value, including merchandising profits, of FIFA has become very valuable. Football simulation games for the personal computer and other game consoles are released annually, with additional versions sporting World Cup branding to correspond with the tournaments. FIFA recognises 208 national associations and their associated men's national teams as well as 129 women's national teams; see the list of national football teams and their respective country codes. FIFA has more member states than the UN, as FIFA recognises 23 non-sovereign entities as distinct nations, such as the four Home Nations within the United Kingdom or politically disputed territories such as Palestine. Only 9 sovereign entities don't belong to FIFA Monaco, Vatican City, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Palau, Nauru and South Sudan. The FIFA World Rankings are updated monthly and rank each team based on their performance in international competitions, qualifiers, and friendly matches. There is also a world ranking for women's football, updated four times a year. The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of FIFA, and has met 66 times since 1904. Since 1998 the congress has been held annually. At the congress decisions are made relating to FIFA's governing statutes and their method of implication and application. The congress approves the annual report, and decides on the acceptance of new national associations and holds elections. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing strength. In the year following the FIFA World Cup, the President of FIFA is elected.

The political issues at the time
The Politics at the time and even today it has a big influence on FIFA-s selection process for World Cup locations, for example looking at the recent World Cup in South Africa, where critics, commentators questioned the suitability and safety of the venue right up to the starting kick-off. FIFA tends to choose locations for the World Cup that are politically stable and considered safe for tourists. This makes the dream of hosting the World Cup virtually unattainable for many developing countries. Even though these countries could benefit from the increased tourism and economic activity that would come with any World Cup, they are often passed over for more politically and economically stable countries. Gaining the home-field advantage can also play a role within the selection of the World Cup location. Countries with more political clout within FIFA try to draw the World Cup to their home turf, where they will be assured of a built-in cheering section for their team. This can put teams from developing countries at a decided disadvantage. While fans from wealthy countries can afford to travel to watch the matches, most fans from developing countries cannot afford the often prohibitive costs of attending the games abroad.

The political issues today
Politics is the only way for soccer to developed today because everywhere you go there is soccer looking at the Australian soccer or A-league is not very strong because everyone like AFL in Australia because it’s the only sport that give Australia government a big popularity, if a country has no good sport team it is hard to be known around the world politics is being played in every way America is now known around the world for the best sport they have, they have good sport like NBA, NFL and Soccer. Therefore sport play a big role in the country identity for example looking at the Scotland football, the sport of football has come a long way since the days of the English public school boys. Scotland has been a pivotal player at every stage of the sports development, and the sport has played a central role in maintaining and defining Scottish identity. In the early days of the sport, the Scots were politically weak within the United Kingdom, but were kings on the pitch, winning 11 and drawing 4 of the 18 matches against England in the 1870s and 1880s. Today, the tables are turned, as Scotland is increasingly politically independent with a strengthening nationalist movement, but the national side is struggling and the league faces the same difficulties it has for over a century. We’ll look at what’s changed for Scottish football, how football fits into modern Scottish identity, and what’s next for Scotland and the Scottish FA.

Where it is going in the future
Football is the largest sports organisation in the world, football becomes the biggest sport that have a large popularity in the world. Soccer has started as small type of sport in 1904 in Europe and become the largest thing for the world, football has the organizing body which is called FIFA, and is looking after all the countries those are involved in the world cup competition and even the Olympic Games. FIFA is now growing into a big sporting organization that control and managed the beauty of sport around the world FIFA is now known to the rest of the world and they even host their first African world cup in South Africa in 2010 last year and now is moving into Asian continent. So therefore in about 5 years’ time FIFA will be the biggest sport organization around the world with a big national entertainment of soccer, football is growing into a different level looking at the quality of the game now and back in 1904 fields, uniforms the money that those teams have and the referees are now better than before and even the technique. Does FIFA impact soccer at the local club level? The impact of FIFA in the local level are the rules, regulation, polices and procedures have impact on the local level, to bring up the local to the world soccer level through. For examples thing like FIFA business within sport, their media and TV advertisement and policies of the club and players contract. From my understanding FIFA have a big impact to the soccer in a local level because soccer or football as now become the world largest business sport, now it is hard for anyone to get a soccer club that can play him because every club is looking for people or players that can grow their club in business side and for any club you go to they now looking for under age players, and players are so expensive to get club like Manchester United are now looking for players those are fit for their club and can win them the trophy. Now players are so hard for them to get into the national teams because they are now fit for the level of the game that FIFA have. Everything now is change even the uniforms and the quality of players that each club buy for their club and the players are now being paid a lot of money for their performance at a national level.

Does it impact soccer at the national level? How.
FIFA impact on a national level is designing the policies between players. Looking at the local government and clubs, in looking at the soccer level in the Australia now the FIFA money into sport. impact is that looking over the players where by now Australian sport are developing and before the Australian government did not paid a lot of impact soccer in all the level in the national and in local. FIFA was established in the early 1904 in Swiss and football existed without a single set of rules for years, played in various forms throughout the country (and the world), primarily by the lower class. However, football came together under a more formalized set of rules due largely to its presence in schools. In 1863, a group of London-based schools came together to draw up an agreed upon set of rules. 11 schools formed the Football Association (FA), and modern football was more or less officially born. In 1871, England saw its first FA Cup, a competition between various football clubs. 15 clubs participated in the first tourney, with Wanderers winning the first championship. Some of the initial aspects of the game remain today – both sides used 11 men on the pitch and touching the ball with the hands was illegal (save for the goalkeeper). However, other things in those first games have long since disappeared: teams switching sides after each goal and passing only as a last resort.

What are people thinking about FIFA at the local and national level today?
Now everyone thing that FIFA is a very important organization which help soccer grow in all level at the international level FIFA is a power full body representing soccer as sporting code. For example, Looking at the Australian government interest on soccer as sporting code is still weak compare to England Spain and all the other European country, not to mention the South American countries.

Conclusion
FIFA is a very good organization that was established to run soccer and gain interest of soccer all around the world, from 1904 soccer was managed by FIFA and become a very big and popular sport around England and were curried to the rest of the European country and the rest of the world. FIFA has become a big organization with 208 members and developed soccer from the local to the national level and made soccer reached the other part of the world for example FIFA had host their first world cup in South African in 2010 and gain a lot of African interest in soccer and the African soccer were seen or made known to the rest of the world and now become part of the nations those are within the FIFA world.

Refrence
Classical Football (2011) The History of FIFA http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/fifa/historyfifa1.html: (Accesed, 12 October, 2011)

OleOle (2011) FIFA World Cup http://www.oleole.com/fifa/world-cup/history/ehi7.html: (Accesed, 12 October, 2011)

FIFA (2011) FiFA Soccer http://fifasoccerblog.com/blog/fifa-history-101/:(Accesed, 12 October, 2011)

Saberingles (2011) History of the FIFA World Cup

http://www.saberingles.com.ar/reading/world-cup3.html : (Accesed, 13 October, 2011)

BlogSport (2011)Politics & Soccer http://a517dogg.blogspot.com/: (Accesed, 13 October, 2011)

Ucpress (2011) Soccer as a Political Stage

http://www.ucpress.edu/blog/5365/soccer-as-a-political-stage/: (Accesed, 13 October, 2011)

Business of Soccer (2011) how soccer relate to business http://www.businessofsoccer.com/ :( Accesed, 13 October, 2011)