How many countries are in FIFA?
FIFA
In total, FIFA recognises 211 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 and politically disputed territories such as Palestine.
South America
South America shares with Europe supremacy over the sport of football as all winners in FIFA World Cup history and all winning teams in the FIFA Club World Cup have come from these two continents. Brazil holds the record at the FIFA World Cup with five titles in total. Argentina and Uruguay have two titles each. So far four South American nations have hosted the tournament including the first edition in Uruguay (1930). The other three were Brazil (1950, 2014), Chile (1962), and Argentina (1978).
European nations at the FIFA World Cup
22 of the 55 active FIFA and UEFA members have never qualified for the final tournament.
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA ; French for 'International Federation of Association Football') is an organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, fútsal, beach soccer, and eFootball. FIFA is responsible for the organization of football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991.
Gibraltar Football Association
Current FIFA and UEFA members include several federations which cannot be said to represent independent nations, such as the UK Home Nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), the Faroe Islands, Hong Kong, Macau, Puerto Rico, Chinese Taipei, Tahiti and New Caledonia. French Guiana, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Saint Martin each have national teams which, despite not being FIFA members, are allowed to compete at the CONCACAF confederation level. FIFA has also accepted members from other British overseas territories who compete in FIFA World Cup qualification tournaments despite not being sovereign states, including Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos Islands.
Non-FIFA international football
The United Kingdom is represented in FIFA through its four constituent countries – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
FIFA World Cup hosts
Under FIFA rules as of 2016, the 2026 Cup could not be in either Europe (UEFA) or Asia (AFC), leaving an African (CAF) bid, a North American (CONCACAF) bid, a South American (CONMEBOL) bid or an Oceanian (OFC) bid as other possible options. In March 2017, FIFA's president Gianni Infantino confirmed that "Europe (UEFA) and Asia (AFC) had been excluded from the bidding following the selection of Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 respectively."
FIFA 12
"FIFA 12" has 42 national teams in its international division. Five new teams are added to the list, while Czech Republic, China PR, Paraguay and Ukraine are not included.
2018 FIFA World Cup squads
League systems with 20 or more players represented are listed. In all, World Cup squad members play for clubs in 57 countries, and play in 54 national league systems, as the league systems of England and France include clubs from Wales and Monaco respectively, and one league system covers both the United States and Canada.Clubs with 10 or more players represented are listed.
2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
After the 2005 World Cup, beach soccer continued to grow and spread worldwide at a fast rate. Therefore, FIFA established the "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers", to try to allow more nations to play in the World Cup, as well as getting more national teams involved in the sport. FIFA also increased the number of participating teams in the World Cup from 12 to a record-high 16 teams. This also meant that nations would no longer be invited to play in the World Cup but would have to qualify.
2018 FIFA World Cup
Of the 32 nations qualified to play at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2014. Both Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the World Cup. Other teams returning after absences of at least three tournaments include: Egypt, returning to the finals after their last appearance in 1990; Morocco, who last competed in 1998; Peru, returning after 1982; and Senegal, competing for the second time after reaching the quarter-finals in 2002. It is the first time three Nordic countries (Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) and four Arab nations (Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia) have qualified for the World Cup.
History of the FIFA World Cup
By the twentieth century football had gained ground all around the world and national football associations were being founded. The first official international match outside the British Isles was played between Uruguay and Argentina in Montevideo in July 1902. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on 22 May 1904 – comprising football associations from France, Belgium (the preceding two teams having played their first national against each other earlier in the month), Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with Germany pledging to join.
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition, so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup.
Turkey at the FIFA World Cup
This is a record of Turkey's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
Association football
The major international competition in football is the World Cup, organised by FIFA. This competition takes place every four years since 1930 with the exception of 1942 and 1946 tournaments, which were cancelled due to World War II. Approximately 190–200 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period. The World Cup is the most prestigious association football tournament in the world as well as the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia. FIFA Women's World Cup has been held every four years since 1991. Under the tournament's current format, national teams vie for 23 slots in a three-year qualification phase. (The host nation's team is automatically entered as the 24th slot.) The current champion is the United States, after winning their third title in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
South American nations at the FIFA World Cup
Four nations participated in the 1974 World Cup. For qualification, the nine South American nations were divided into three groups of three teams each, as Brazil qualified automatically as holders; Argentina, Chile, Uruguay also qualified for the tournament. Brazil finished in fourth place, while Argentina was eliminated in the second round, and Chile and Uruguay in the first round. Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be sent off with a red card in an World Cup opening match. João Havelange, president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998, claimed that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed so that England and Germany would win respectively. He stated, "We were the best in the world, and had the same team that had won the World Cup in 1962 in Chile and 1970 in Mexico, but it was planned for the host countries to win."
FIFA
The need for a single body to oversee association football became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear of the headquarters of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) at the Rue Saint Honoré 229 in Paris on 21 May 1904. The French name and acronym are used even outside French-speaking countries. The founding members were the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by the then-Madrid Football Club; the Royal Spanish Football Federation was not created until 1913), Sweden and Switzerland. Also, that same day, the German Football Association (DFB) declared its intention of affiliating through a telegram.
Gibraltar national football team
In 2008 Gibraltar accepted an invitation to participate in The Four Nations Tournament, the most prominent senior football tournament that Gibraltar had ever participated in. The 2008 Four Nations Tournament, won by England C, was played in North Wales, and was contested between Wales Semi-Pro, England C, Scotland B and guest nation Gibraltar after Northern Ireland decided not to take part. Though Gibraltar eventually finished bottom of the group, they pushed tournament winners England C close.After becoming a member of UEFA (see below), the GFA aimed to become a full FIFA member in time to participate in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 26 September 2014, it was announced that Gibraltar's application for FIFA membership was denied, with president Sepp Blatter stating that Gibraltar is ineligible because it is not an independent country. This was despite FIFA at the time including 22 members that are not independent countries, including five in UEFA (Faroe Islands and the four Home Nations of the United Kingdom). The Gibraltar Football Association then announced that it planned to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the same process by which Gibraltar successfully gained UEFA membership in 2013. The CAS heard Gibraltar's case on 21 May 2015. At which time no time frame for a verdict was announced and further legal arguments would still be heard. It was expected that no decision would be reached before the FIFA congress coming the following week. A ruling was announced on 2 May 2016, nearly a year after the CAS heard Gibraltar's case. As part of the ruling, FIFA was ordered to transmit Gibraltar's application for membership to the FIFA congress which was set to take place the following week in Mexico City. Additionally, FIFA was ordered to take "all necessary steps to admit the Gibraltar Football Association as a full member of FIFA without delay." If the vote held at the congress was successful, it was believed that Gibraltar would be a last-minute addition to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. In FIFA's official statement regarding the ruling, the organization said that the it expected to discuss the matter at the upcoming congress and discuss a course of action, including potentially altering the congress agenda to submit Gibraltar's application for membership. On 13 May 2016, Gibraltar was accepted as a member of FIFA with a vote of 172 to 12 in favour. Gibraltar became FIFA's 211th member immediately after the Football Federation of Kosovo was voted member 210.
FIFA eligibility rules
An emergency FIFA committee ruling judged that players must be able to demonstrate a "clear connection" to a country that they had not been born in but wished to represent. This ruling explicitly stated that, in such scenarios, the player must have at least one parent or grandparent who was born in that country, or the player must have been resident in that country for at least two years.
In November 2007, FIFA President Sepp Blatter told the BBC: "If we don't stop this farce, if we don't take care about the invaders from Brazil towards Europe, Asia and Africa then, in the 2014 or the 2018 World Cup, out of the 32 teams you will have 16 full of Brazilian players."
2018 FIFA World Cup squads
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament held in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018. The 32 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 23 players, including three goalkeepers. Only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament.
China at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
FIFA eligibility rules
As the governing body of association football, FIFA is responsible for maintaining and implementing the rules that determine whether an association football player is eligible to represent a particular country in officially recognised international competitions and friendly matches. In the 20th century, FIFA allowed a player to represent any national team, as long as the player held citizenship of that country. In 2004, in reaction to the growing trend towards naturalisation of foreign players in some countries, FIFA implemented a significant new ruling that requires a player to demonstrate a "clear connection" to any country they wish to represent. FIFA has used its authority to overturn results of competitive international matches that feature ineligible players.
FIFA Women's World Cup
Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organised by their respective confederations: Confederation of African Football (CAF), Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), South American Football Confederation CONMEBOL, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and Union of European Football Associations UEFA). For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of berths awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams. The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. Since the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the number of finalists increased from 16 to 24.
FIFA World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. The FIFA World Cup is the largest international team sport competition in the world with a qualification process required to reduce the large field of countries from 211 to just 32 for the World Cup finals.
FIFA eligibility rules
Due to the United Kingdom's position in world football as a sovereign state that has four national teams, there has been a series of additional agreements between national football associations of the United Kingdom; England (FA), Scotland (SFA), Wales (FAW) and Northern Ireland (IFA). The latest agreement came in 2010 and was ratified by FIFA.
FIFA World Cup
Since the 1958 FIFA World Cup, to avoid future boycotts or controversy, FIFA began a pattern of alternating the hosts between the Americas and Europe, which continued until the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 FIFA World Cup, hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan, was the first one held in Asia, and the first tournament with multiple hosts. South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World Cup was hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina 1978, and was the first occasion where consecutive World Cups were held outside Europe.
List of FIFA World Cup winners
The 21 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different nations. Brazil has won the most titles, five. The current champion is France, who won the title in 2018.
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 174 teams entered the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, competing for a total of 32 spots in the final tournament. The 1998 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with two places reserved for France and Brazil as host nation and defending champions, respectively. The remaining 30 places were determined by a qualification process, in which the other 174 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed.
United Arab Emirates at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
African nations at the FIFA World Cup
41 of the 54 active FIFA and CAF members have never qualified for the final tournament.This table shows for each world cup the number of countries at the World Cup, the number of entries (#E) from around the world (including any rejections and withdrawals), the number of African entries (#A), how many of those African entries withdrew (#A-) before/during qualification or were rejected by FIFA, the African representatives at the World Cup finals, the number of World Cup Qualifiers each African representative had to play to get to the World Cup (#WCQ), the furthest stage they reached, their results, and their coaches.
2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Apart from Lithuania, a record 48 of the remaining 54 UEFA nations entered the competition, including World Cup qualifying debutants Germany, Kosovo, Scotland, and Northern Ireland who entered their first international men's futsal competition.
FIFA
Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912, Canada and Chile in 1913, and the United States in 1914.
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by a qualification process, in which the other 207 teams, from the six FIFA confederations, competed. Most of the successful teams were determined within these confederations, with a limited number of inter-confederation play-offs occurring at the end of the process.
Sweden at the FIFA World Cup
This is a record of Sweden's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
Federation of International Sports Table Football
There are 27 FISTF Member Nations and others are not yet FISTF members. Several countries are in development.
in South America, the countries play also the Button Football and Sectorball codes and have a Confederation. Chile is development phase.
The historical relevance of the sport, game and hobby of Sports Table Football/Soccer (aka Newfooty/Subbuteo), from the first day in 1925 till this day. Mentioned are main upcoming anniversaries in the timeline.FISTF, ETF and FISA Hall of Fame winners (2nd, 3rd and 4th place) are mentioned and being updated successively.
Tunisia at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
List of FIFA World Cup opening matches
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition established in 1930. It is contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has taken place every four years, except in 1942 and 1946, when the competition was cancelled due to World War II.
List of footballers with 100 or more caps
FIFA recognises only matches played within the FIFA World Cup (including qualifying competitions), continental competitions (including qualifiers), friendly matches between senior national teams and Olympic final and qualifying matches played up to and including 1948 (with certain exceptions) as international "A" matches. This affects some players who were formerly included in FIFA's 'Century Club'. Therefore, the records established by the associations with regard to these players may differ from the FIFA Century Club.
FIFA 10
"FIFA 10" has 41 teams in its international division. The most notable exclusion is Japan (who made it into the round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup, but whose licensing rights currently belong to Konami). The following international teams are playable in the current generation consoles. But not all the teams are fully licensed e.g. South Africa and Russia.
1966 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the five FIFA confederations. The 1966 FIFA World Cup featured 16 teams with one place reserved for the host nation, England, and one reserved for defending champions, Brazil. The remaining 14 places were determined by a qualification process in which the other 72 teams, from the five FIFA confederations, competed. UEFA, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL qualification was determined within the confederations, whilst AFC and CAF teams (alongside Australia) competed for one place at the tournament.
2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil (video game)
The game contains all of the 203 national teams that took part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification process. The national teams of Bhutan, Brunei, Guam, Mauritania, Mauritius and South Sudan, all of which did not participate in World Cup qualifying, despite being FIFA members, do not feature in the game. Some teams have licensed kits as well as kits worn during the World Cup for select teams, while most get generic unlicensed kits which resemble their official kits.
2014 FIFA World Cup officials
In March 2013, FIFA published a list of 52 prospective referees, each paired, on the basis of nationality, with two assistant referees, from all six football confederations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament. On 14 January 2014, the FIFA Referees Committee appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 different countries for the tournament.
National team appearances in the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association). The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, with the exception of 1942 and 1946 when it was not held due to the Second World War. The competition originally featured 16 teams, and later 24, before settling on its current format of 32 teams starting with the 1998 tournament. Teams initially compete in a group stage, with the final 16 progressing to knockout stages to decide the winner.
Portugal at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
Federazione Italiana Football Sala
In 2009, it joined the International Futsal World League Association, created in Switzerland with the goal to preserve and promote in the world futsal, working to make more and more athletes play it. It was composed by 15 countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Monaco, Seborga, Switzerland, Tunisia. The history of this association lasted only three years: in September 2012, after the European Mediterranean Cup’s carrying out in Imperia, its dissolution was decreed.
African nations at the FIFA World Cup
Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every African country, and 13 members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the men's FIFA World Cup.
The team ranking in each tournament is according to FIFA. The rankings, apart from the top four positions (top two in 1930), are not a result of direct competition between the teams; instead, teams eliminated in the same round are ranked by their full results in the tournament. In recent tournaments, FIFA has used the rankings for seedings for the final tournament draw.
FIFA World Cup
The tournament was expanded to 24 teams in 1982, and then to 32 in 1998, also allowing more teams from Africa, Asia and North America to take part. Since then, teams from these regions have enjoyed more success, with several having reached the quarter-finals: Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; South Korea, finishing in fourth place in 2002; Senegal, along with USA, both quarter-finalists in 2002; Ghana, quarter-finalists in 2010; and Costa Rica, quarter-finalists in 2014. Nevertheless, European and South American teams continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2018 were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all tournaments so far.
FIFA eligibility rules
There are 25 FIFA member associations that share a common nationality with at least one other FIFA member association.
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Overall 18 of the 45 nations who have ever competed have made a top four finish. Brazil remained the only nation to finish in the final four every championship until 2015 when they finished in fifth place. Of those 18 nations, only 7 have made a top four finish before and after FIFA started sanctioning the World Cup.
Gianni Infantino
Infantino was a member of FIFA's Reform Committee. On 26 October 2015, he received the backing of the UEFA Executive Committee to stand for the position of president in the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress. On the same day, he confirmed his candidacy and submitted the required declarations of support. He promised to expand the FIFA World Cup to forty teams.
Football in South America
In 1936, FIFA designated France as host of the third World Cup. This was highly criticized by Argentina, and throughout Latin America, for breaking the unwritten rule that the World Cup would alternate between South America and Europe. FIFA had taken into account the number of FIFA members per continent in its decision – the great majority of the then 57 members came from Europe – and did not forget the difficulties of the first World Cup, when few countries traveled to Uruguay. FIFA was also expressing through this choice its loyalty to its President, Frenchman Jules Rimet, who initiated the first FIFA World Cup, held in 1930. After its candidacy failed, Argentina boycotted the event. Uruguay again decided not to participate. Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and Suriname withdrew from the qualifier, which meant Brazil and Cuba were assured a place in the main tournament.
Confederation of African Football
CAF is the biggest of the six continental confederations of FIFA. Since the expansion of the number of teams at the World Cup finals to 32 in 1998, CAF has been allocated five places, though this was expanded to six for the 2010 tournament in South Africa, to include the hosts.
History of the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930, when FIFA, the world's football governing body, decided to stage an international men’s football tournament under the era of FIFA president Jules Rimet who put this idea into place. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling, with its current 32-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process, involving over 200 teams from around the world.
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 remaining FIFA member associations were eligible to enter the qualifying process, and for the first time in World Cup history, all eligible national teams registered for the preliminary competition, but Zimbabwe and Indonesia were disqualified before playing their first matches. Bhutan, South Sudan, Gibraltar and Kosovo made their FIFA World Cup qualification debuts.
Nigeria at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 205 teams entered the qualification competition, with South Africa, as the host, qualifying for the World Cup automatically. The first qualification matches were played on 25 August 2007 and qualification concluded on 18 November 2009. Overall, 2341 goals were scored over 852 matches, scoring on average 2.74 per match.
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup
A total of 24 teams qualified for the final tournament. Each team's FIFA Rankings in December 2018 are shown in parenthesis.
Chile, Jamaica, Scotland, and South Africa will make their Women's World Cup debuts, while Italy will take part in the event for the first time since 1999 and Argentina will take part in the event for the first time since 2007. Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden, and the United States qualified for their eighth World Cup, continuing their streak of qualifying for every World Cup held so far.
Timeline of association football
France wins their second European Championship title after beating Italy 2–1, with a golden goal in extra time. First FIFA Club World Cup, won by Sport Club Corinthians Paulista. FIFA Player of the Century, a one-off award created by FIFA to decide the greatest football player of the 20th century, is awarded to Pelé and Diego Maradona, shared: both men are officially considered winners of the award.
Real Madrid sign playmaker Zinedine Zidane of Juventus in a world record transfer fee of 72 million euros. Colombia wins the 40th edition of Copa América, as hosts. Australia beats American Samoa 31–0 in 2002 World Cup qualification, the world record in an international match.
Brazil sets up a record fifth title in World Cup competition, the first ever to be played in Asia (also the first outside Europe and the Americas), defeating Germany 2–0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final. The first FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship is held in Canada, with the USA defeating the hosts in the final 1–0 on a golden goal in extra time.
Founded the NF-Board, the first international organization for FAs not admitted to FIFA. Paolo Maldini makes history by captaining AC Milan to a champions league victory, a feat his father Cesare did with the same club exactly 40 years before. Latvia is the first football team from the Baltic states to make an appearance in a major football competition, UEFA Euro 2004.
Greece produce one of the shocks in football history and become surprise winners of the Euro 2004 football tournament, defeating hosts Portugal 1–0 in the final. Waitakere United is founded. Arsenal wins the 2003-04 FA Premier League unbeaten, the second time an English club goes undefeated for an entire season.
The Champions League final in Istanbul sees Liverpool come back from a 0–3 half-time score to defeat A.C. Milan 3–2 in a penalty shootout, following a 3–3 draw. Also, a match-fixing scandal rocks German football, though it does not directly affect the Bundesliga. The Australian A-League is launched in replacement of the NSL to improve the quality of the game in the country.
The 2006 World Cup is held in Germany and won by Italy on a penalty kick shootout over France, and Zinedine Zidane plays his last professional game in the final captaining France only to be sent off in extra time. A major match-fixing scandal erupts in Italy, with five Serie A teams implicated. Egypt record victory for the fifth time in the African Cup of Nations.
Brazil wins the 42nd edition of Copa América, held in Venezuela. Iraq produce one of international football's greatest fairytale victories as the fractured, war-torn nation were crowned champions of the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. FIFA Women's World Cup is held in China and won by Germany. On 9 November Étoile Sportive du Sahel became the first African squad to have won all official club competitions recognized by CAF, after defeating Al-Ahly 3–1 in the CAF Champions League final in Susa.
Spain win their second European Championship title after beating Germany 1–0. Italy and A.C. Milan becomes the first national and club side to wear on their jerseys the FIFA badge of World champions. CONCACAF Champions Cup is replaced by the CONCACAF Champions League, modelled after the UEFA Champions League expand his participant teams from 8 to 24. The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is played for the first time in New Zealand, won by Korea DPR. The Women's Viva World Cup, the first World Cup for women's national teams not affiliated to FIFA, is played for the first time, hosted and won by Sapmi. 
The FIFA Confederations Cup is won by Brazil and is held in South Africa (for the first time a FIFA tournament for senior national teams is held in Africa). Spain achieves two world records: most consecutive wins (15) and most matches without a loss (35, with Brazil). Barcelona achieves a sextuple: La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
FIFA World Cup hosts
Later, Malaysia withdrew from involvement but Singapore and other ASEAN countries continued the campaign to submit a joint bid for the World Cup in 2034. In February 2017, ASEAN held talks on launching a joint bid during a visit by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to Yangon, Myanmar. On 1 July 2017, Vice General Chairman of the Football Association of Indonesia Joko Driyono said that Indonesia and Thailand were set to lead a consortium of Southeast Asian nations in the bid. Driyono added that due to geographic and infrastructure considerations and the expanded format (48 teams), at least 2 or 3 ASEAN countries combined would be in a position necessary to host matches.
List of men's national association football teams
A variety of other national, separatist, sub-national, pseudo-national, and ethnic teams have formed international football organizations outside FIFA's jurisdiction, and play in international tournaments against each other. The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), was founded with the aim of regularising non-FIFA international football, by having a two-year international tournament cycle, with the ConIFA World Football Cup in even numbered years, and continental tournaments in odd-numbered years. This developed the work of the now-defunct N.F.-Board (Nouvelle Fédération-Board), founded in 2001. ConIFA aims to help unrecognised national teams gain recognition, but also to provide a platform for representative teams of regions or diasporas, which do not have a place in a system of international football based on nation-states. In some cases, participation in non-FIFA football has been a first step for teams who later sought (and in some cases, achieved) the right to participate in matches sanctioned by FIFA or one of its affiliated continental confederations. For example, both Kosovo and Gibraltar played in non-FIFA football tournaments before being recognized by FIFA and UEFA.
International Table Soccer Federation
The ITSF has expanded to more than 66 countries and they include:
Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China, Central African Republic, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Hong-Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic Of Korea, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA.
FIFA World Cup
Since the second World Cup in 1934, qualifying tournaments have been held to thin the field for the final tournament. They are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, and Europe), overseen by their respective confederations. For each tournament, FIFA decides the number of places awarded to each of the continental zones beforehand, generally based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams.
FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing body. The competition has been held every four years since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the FIFA Women's World Championship, was held in China.
History of association football
In 1946 the four British nations returned. On 10 May 1947 a 'Match of the Century' between Great Britain and 'Rest of Europe XI' was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow before 135,000 spectators - Britain won 6-1. The proceeds from the match, coming to £35,000, were given to FIFA, to help re-launch it after World War Two. This was followed by FIFA's first post-war World Cup in 1950, held in Brazil. FIFA, meanwhile, continued to expand so that by the time of its fiftieth anniversary it had 84 members.
Non-FIFA international football
Eight sovereign states (Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, and the Vatican City) are not affiliated to FIFA.
1994 FIFA World Cup
The following 24 teams, shown with final pre-tournament rankings, qualified for the final tournamentː
Three nations bid for host duties: United States, Brazil, and Morocco. The vote was held in Zurich on 4 July 1988, and only took one round with the United States bid receiving a little over half of the votes by the Exco members. FIFA hoped that by staging the world's most prestigious tournament there, it would lead to a growth of interest in the sport. One condition FIFA imposed was the creation of a professional football league – Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 and began operating in 1996. There was some initial controversy about awarding the World Cup to a country where football was not a nationally popular sport, and at the time, in 1988, the U.S. did not have a professional league of its own anymore; the North American Soccer League, set up in the 1970s, had folded in 1984 after attendance faded. Success of the 1984 Summer Olympics and particularly the football tournament also contributed to FIFA's decision. Despite the controversy, the U.S. staged a hugely successful tournament, with average attendance of nearly 70,000 breaking a record that surpassed the 1966 FIFA World Cup average attendance of 51,000, thanks to the large seating capacities the stadiums in the United States provided for the spectators in comparison to the smaller venues of Europe and Latin America. To this day, the total attendance for the final tournament of nearly 3.6 million remains the highest in World Cup history, despite the expansion of the competition from 24 to 32 teams at the 1998 World Cup in France. Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Italy and the United States were seeded for the final draw, which took place in Las Vegas on 19 December 1993.
Ukraine at the FIFA World Cup
This is a record of Ukraine's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
History of FIFA
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. It is one of the world's oldest and largest NGOs, being founded on 21 May 1904. It has since expanded to include 209 member associations.
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018. The format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatter's comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams. However, FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke said that expansion in 2018 would be "unlikely", while Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that the country was "preparing on the basis that 32 teams will be taking part." Expansion was ultimately delayed until 10 January 2017, when the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand to 48 teams starting in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
2022 FIFA World Cup
On 12 April 2018, CONMEBOL requested that FIFA expand the 2022 FIFA World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, four years before the 2026 FIFA World Cup as initially planned. FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed willingness to consider the request. However, the FIFA congress rejected the request shortly before the beginning of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Infantino said the global football governing body would not discuss the possibility of having a 48-team World Cup, and that they would first discuss the matter with the host country.
2013 Lebanese match fixing scandal
FIFA held an investigation in order to crack down on match fixing across the world. The investigation was mostly concentrated on European football, but the investigation also took place in Africa, South America and in Asia. In 2012, over 50 countries were under investigation for match-fixing. That number being about one quarter of the entire 209 member in FIFA’s governing body.
History of FIFA
In 1909 South Africa (the first non-European member) joined, and Argentina and Chile followed in 1912. The United States and Canada entered just before World War I in 1913.
Economics of the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup has a significant impact on the global economy. FIFA, football’s global governing body with 204 member countries, is beginning to view itself as a global "big business".
FIFA World Cup
In the tournaments between 1934 and 1978, 16 teams competed in each tournament, except in 1938, when Austria was absorbed into Germany after qualifying, leaving the tournament with 15 teams, and in 1950, when India, Scotland, and Turkey withdrew, leaving the tournament with 13 teams. Most of the participating nations were from Europe and South America, with a small minority from North America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. These teams were usually defeated easily by the European and South American teams. Until 1982, the only teams from outside Europe and South America to advance out of the first round were: USA, semi-finalists in 1930; Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; North Korea, quarter-finalists in 1966; and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.
List of presidents of FIFA
The current president is Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino, elected on 26 February 2016 during an extraordinary session of the FIFA Congress. Prior to his election, Cameroonian Issa Hayatou was acting president after the impeachment of Sepp Blatter on 8 October 2015, which was later followed by a six-year ban from all football-related activities on 21 December 2015.
FIFA World Rankings
The FIFA World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, currently led by Belgium. The teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. The rankings were introduced in December 1992, and eight teams (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) have held the top position, of which Brazil have spent the longest ranked first.
FIFA 10
There are 30 leagues and over 500 teams in the game, as well as 41 national teams. New to "FIFA 10" is the Russian Premier League, which is not featured in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. Unlike previous versions of "FIFA", the Netherlands is included as a fully licensed national team. Due to promotion/relegation and other league expansions, there are 46 teams that were not included in "FIFA 09", including 25 that have never appeared in a "FIFA" game before.
Denmark at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
Cuba at the FIFA World Cup
This is a record of Cuba's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC)
44 Asian teams are affiliated with FIFA, but Cambodia, Philippines, Bhutan and Brunei decided not to take part, and Myanmar was banned from the competition (for refusing to play a qualifier in Iran during 2002 qualifying), so a total of 39 teams took part, competing for 4.5 places in the World Cup.
Italy at the FIFA World Cup
This is a record of Italy's results at the FIFA World Cup. The World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
FIFA World Cup qualification
In early October 2016, it was announced that the World Cup would have featured 40 teams starting with the 2026 tournament, then FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated his support for a 48-team World Cup, mainly to address African concerns. On 10 January 2017, the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand the World Cup to a 48 team tournament that will open with a group stage consisting of 16 groups of three teams, with two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32. The new format for the qualifying process has yet to be confirmed, other than a play-off tournament that consists of one team from each confederation (except UEFA) and one additional team from the confederation of the host country for the last two World Cup berths.
Wales at the FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been contested every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. The Wales national football team has entered every World Cup since the 1950 tournament, but to date has only qualified for one World Cup, in 1958. On that occasion, they reached the quarter-finals before being eliminated by eventual winners Brazil.
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
At the close of entries on 15 March 2007, 204 football associations had entered the preliminary competition: 203 out of the 207 FIFA members at that time (including the host nation, South Africa, as the qualification procedure in Africa also acted as the qualification for the 2010 African Cup of Nations) and the Montenegro team, which later became FIFA's 208th member. The final number of teams entered breaks the previous record of 199 entrants set during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Four FIFA members (all from the AFC) failed to register for the tournament by 15 March 2007: Bhutan, Brunei, Laos, and the Philippines.
FIFA World Cup
Two hundred teams entered the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification rounds; 198 nations attempted to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, while a record 204 countries entered qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
List of men's national association football teams
None of the remaining de facto sovereign or partially recognized states are members of FIFA or any of its affiliated continental confederations. Six have fielded national teams in non-FIFA football matches and unofficial friendlies:
2026 FIFA World Cup
The 2026 FIFA World Cup (; ) will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries; 60 matches, including the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and the final, will be hosted by the United States while neighboring Canada and Mexico will each host 10 matches. The tournament will be the first hosted by three nations.
History of FIFA
Early attempts at the organization of a tournament began, but without the British countries this failed. England, however, joined on 14 April 1905, thanks to great efforts by Baron Edouard de Laveleye who was made the first honorary member of FIFA. In 1906, Daniel Burley Woolfall took over as president, making strides to uniformity in the globe's laws.
Indian national football team all-time records
Till date India has played against 70 other national football teams which are FIFA members out of which 43 of Asia, 8 of Africa, 6 of North America, 3 of South America, 2 of Oceania and 8 of Europe.
FIFA
FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. Member countries must each also be members of one of the six regional confederations into which the world is divided: Africa, Asia, Europe, North & Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.
Oceanian nations at the FIFA World Cup
Only includes appearances of teams when qualified as members of OFC.
10 of the 11 active FIFA and OFC members have never qualified for the final tournament.Until 1966 Oceanian nations did not enter the FIFA World Cup. Australia started first time at the 1966 World Cup qualification. In First Round Australia byes and advanced to the AFC–OFC First Round directly. In Final Round the AFC winner would have to play the 3 African teams on a home-and-away basis. The winner would qualify. South Africa was suspended by FIFA due to apartheid. All fifteen remaining African teams withdrew in protest against there being no automatic qualification for an African team, leaving the AFC–OFC winner to qualify by default. South Korea then withdrew because the 3 team tournament was moved from Japan to Cambodia, leaving only Australia and North Korea to contest the final place. North Korea easily won both legs to qualify. At the 1970 World Cup qualification participated 2 countries from Oceania. New Zealand bye and advanced to the Second Round directly, Australia, Japan and South Korea, played against each other twice in South Korea. The group winner Australia advance to the Second Round. In the Second Round group 1 Australia won against Rhodesia and advanced to the Final Round. New Zealand in the Second Round group 2 lost by Israel and withdrew. In the Final Round Australia lost on aggregate 1-2 by Israel.
1954 FIFA World Cup
Before qualification was complete, the eight seeded teams were determined by FIFA based on world rankings. They were Austria, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Uruguay.
International Floorball Federation
There are currently 70 IFF members (45 ordinary members and 25 provisional members). The newest members are Burkina Faso and Rwanda.Based on the amount of registered floorball players and a country's population, a list of the top 25 countries has been compiled:
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) — was allocated a certain number of the 32 places at the tournament. A total of 197 teams entered the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, for the first time ever, the defending champion (Brazil) did not qualify automatically. The hosts (Germany) retained their automatic spot. In 1934, the defending champions (Uruguay) declined to participate and the hosts (Italy) had to qualify, but in the tournaments between 1938 and 2002 (inclusive), the hosts and the defending champions had automatic berths.
List of men's national association football teams
Non-sovereign associations may still join FIFA or its affiliated confederations in specific circumstances. FIFA have offered exceptions for associations representing a dependency where the application apply for membership is authorised by the association in its parent state. The New Caledonia team was admitted under this regulation in 2004 on the grounds of the distance of New Caledonia from its 'parent' nation, France. The applications for membership by Gibraltar, a territory of the UK and Kosovo, a sovereign state with limited international recognition, were both initially rejected by FIFA in line with the above policy. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected this decision and both teams were accepted in May 2016.
Ohene Djan
In January 1964, FIFA decided that the 16-team finals would be represented by 10 European teams, including hosts England, four Latin American (i.e. South America) teams and one team from the Central American and Caribbean region. This left just one place to be fought for by three continents: Africa, Asia and Oceania. Within a month, Ohene Djan, Ghana’s Director of Sports and also a member of the FIFA executives committee objected.
He sent a telegram to FIFA condemning the decision and calling it "pathetic". Ohene Djan challenged FIFA to reconsider the decision since it was unrealistic for Afro-Asian countries to go through the exercise, struggling through painful and expensive qualifying series to ultimately be offered one slot to fight for.
Tessema joined Djan to present Africa's case to FIFA, arguing that football in Africa had significantly improved over the years, however all efforts to revoke the decission in their favour proved futile. FIFA went on to organise the 1966 FIFA World Cup without an African representative. North Korea won the slot and they put up an impressive performance in the tournament.
Moreover, an African player from colonial Mozambique, Eusebio, who played for Portugal was the leading scorer at the tournament. 
FIFA revised its notes and decided that Africa should have one slot for the 1970 World Cup. Today, Africa has five slots in the Worldcup.
FIFA World Cup
To date, the final of the World Cup has only been contested by teams from the UEFA (Europe) and CONMEBOL (South America) confederations. European nations have won twelve titles, while South American have won nine. Only two teams from outside these two continents have ever reached the semi-finals of the competition: United States (North, Central America and Caribbean) in 1930 and South Korea (Asia) in 2002. The best result of an African team is reaching the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Only one Oceanian qualifier, Australia in 2006, has advanced to the second round.
FIFA Confederations Cup
The FIFA Confederations Cup is an international association football tournament for men's national teams, currently held every four years by FIFA. It is contested by the holders of each of the six (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC and UEFA) continental championships, along with the current FIFA World Cup holder and the host nation, to bring the number of teams up to eight.
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
Only 8 of the 45 countries have failed to appear in a FIFA controlled World Cup. Peru (5) have appeared in the most competitions without any one of those being under FIFA's control. Meanwhile, Iran (7) have appeared in the most FIFA sanctioned tournaments without having ever appeared in the old World Championships before 2005.
African nations at the FIFA World Cup
Seventeen African countries entered the qualification process for the 1966 FIFA World Cup : Algeria, Cameroon, French Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, and Tunisia. FIFA rejected the application of French Congo, and had already suspended South Africa for apartheid, resulting in their disqualification.
History of FIFA
In 1946 the four British nations returned. On 10 May 1947 a "Match of the Century" between Great Britain and "Rest of Europe XI" was played at Hampden Park in Glasgow before 135,000 spectators – Britain won 6–1. The proceeds from the match, coming to £35 000, were given to FIFA, to help re-launch it after World War II. This was followed by FIFA's first post-war World Cup in 1950, held in Brazil. FIFA, meanwhile, continued to expand so that by the time of its fiftieth anniversary it had 84 members.