FIFA: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:16, 2 August 2006

Revision as of 14:14, 7 August 2006

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The need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. [[The Football Association]] had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to seven other European countries to band together to form this association. FIFA was founded in [[Paris]] on [[May 21]], [[1904]] — the [[French language|French]] name and acronym persist to this day, even outside French-speaking countries. The literal translation into English is "International Federation of [[Association Football]]". Its first president was [[Robert Guérin]].

FIFA presided over its first international competition in 1906, but this met with little approval or success. This, in combination with economic factors, led to the swift replacement of Guérin with [[Daniel Burley Woolfall]] from [[EnglandU.K]], by now a member association. The next tournament staged, the football competition for the [[Football at the 1908 Summer Olympics|1908 Olympics in London]] was more successful, despite the presence of professional footballers, contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.

Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of [[South African Football Association|South Africa]] in 1909, [[Argentine Football Association|Argentina]] and [[Federaci%C3%B3n_de_F%C3%BAtbol_de_Chile|Chile]] in 1912 and the [[United States Soccer Federation|United States]] in 1913.