The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA /ˈffə/. FIFA is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. The congress may be ordinary or extraordinary.

An ordinary congress meets every year, an extraordinary congress may be convened by the FIFA Council (formerly Executive Committee) at any time with the support of one fifth of the members of FIFA.[1]

Each of the 211 members of FIFA has one vote in the congress. The members of FIFA can propose candidates for the World Cup Host and Presidency of FIFA. The FIFA Presidential Election, FIFA World Cup Host country election takes place at the congress in the year following the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup Host country election takes place at the congress in the year following the FIFA Women's World Cup.[2]

History edit

The FIFA Congress has been held annually since 1998. It was previously held every two years. Congresses were not held between 1915 and 1922 and 1939 to 1945, due to the First and Second World Wars. FIFA Presidential Elections have taken place at the 1st, 3rd, 12th, 29th, 30th, 39th, 51st, 53rd, 61st, 65th, 69th and 73rd congresses.

The 1961 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in London elected Stanley Rous as President.[3] The 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in Zürich elected Gianni Infantino as the new president on 26 February 2016.[4] Only five elections have had two or more candidates: the 39th (1974), 51st (1998), 53rd (2002), 65th (2015), and 2016 Extraordinary Congress.

List of congresses edit

  Congress voting for president
* Extraordinary Congress
  Congress voting for World Cup Host
  Congress voting for Women's World Cup Host
Congress
number[5]
Year City Member associations
attending
Notes
1st 1904   Paris 5 First FIFA Congress. Robert Guérin elected as the first president of FIFA.
2nd 1905 5
3rd 1906   Bern 7
4th 1907   Amsterdam 12
5th 1908   Vienna 16
* 1908   Brussels 7
6th 1909   Budapest 13
7th 1910   Milan 12
8th 1911   Dresden 11
9th 1912   Stockholm 17
10th 1913   Copenhagen 12
11th 1914   Christiania (Oslo) 17 Last Congress before World War I.
12th 1923   Geneva 17 First Congress after World War I. Jules Rimet elected FIFA president.
13th 1924   Paris 27
14th 1925   Prague 22
15th 1926   Rome 23
16th 1927   Helsinki 21
17th 1928   Amsterdam 29
18th 1929   Barcelona 23 Uruguay selected as the host of the 1930 FIFA World Cup.
19th 1930   Budapest 27
20th 1931   Berlin 25
21st 1932   Stockholm 29 Italy selected as the host of the 1934 FIFA World Cup.
22nd 1934   Rome 27
23rd 1936   Berlin 37 France selected as the host of the 1938 FIFA World Cup.
24th 1938   Paris 30 Last Congress before World War II.
25th 1946   Luxembourg 34 First Congress after World War II.
Brazil selected as the host of the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
Switzerland selected as the host of the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
26th 1948   London 48
27th 1950   Rio de Janeiro 35 Sweden selected as the host of the 1958 FIFA World Cup.
28th 1952   Helsinki 56
* 1953   Paris 48
29th 1954   Bern 52 Arthur Drewry elected FIFA president.
30th 1956   Lisbon 57
31st 1958   Stockholm 62
32nd 1960   Rome 69 England selected as the host of the 1966 FIFA World Cup.
* 1961   London 67 Stanley Rous elected FIFA president.
33rd 1962   Santiago 59
34th 1964   Tokyo 99
35th 1966   London 94
36th 1968   Guadalajara 78
37th 1970   Mexico City 86
38th 1972   Paris 102
39th 1974   Frankfurt 122 João Havelange elected FIFA president.
40th 1976   Montreal 108
41st 1978   Buenos Aires 107 João Havelange elected to a second term as FIFA president.
42nd 1980   Zürich 103
43rd 1982   Madrid 127 João Havelange elected to a third term as FIFA president.
44th 1984   Zürich 112
45th 1986   Mexico City 111 João Havelange elected to a fourth term as FIFA president.
46th 1988   Zürich 111 United States selected as the host of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
47th 1990   Rome 130 João Havelange elected to a fifth term as FIFA president.
48th 1992   Zürich 118 France selected as the host of the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
49th 1994   Chicago 164
50th 1996   Zürich 182 Japan and South Korea selected as the hosts of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
51st (details) 1998   Paris 196 Sepp Blatter elected FIFA president.
* 1999   Los Angeles 195
52nd 2000   Zurich 200 Germany selected as the host of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
* 2001   Buenos Aires 202
* 2002   Seoul 202
53rd (details) 2002 202 Sepp Blatter elected to a second term as FIFA president.
* 2003   Doha 204
54th 2004   Paris 203 South Africa selected as the host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
55th 2005   Marrakesh 203
56th 2006   Munich 207
57th 2007   Zürich 206 Sepp Blatter elected to a third term as FIFA president.
58th 2008   Sydney 200
59th 2009   Nassau 205
60th 2010   Johannesburg 207
61st (details) 2011   Zürich 208 Sepp Blatter elected to a fourth term as FIFA president.
62nd 2012   Budapest 209
63rd 2013   Port Louis 208
64th 2014   São Paulo 209
65th (details) 2015   Zürich 210 Sepp Blatter elected to a fifth term as FIFA president.
* (details) 2016 207 Gianni Infantino elected FIFA president.
66th 2016   Mexico City 209
67th 2017   Manama[6] 211
68th (details) 2018   Moscow 210 United States, Mexico, and Canada selected as the hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
69th (details) 2019   Paris 211 Gianni Infantino elected to a second term as FIFA president.
70th 2020   Zurich[note 1] 211
71st 2021   Zurich [note 2] 211
72nd 2022   Doha 210
73rd (details) 2023   Kigali 208 Gianni Infantino elected to a third term as FIFA president.
74th 2024   Bangkok 211 Brazil selected as the host of the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.
* Q4 2024   Zurich TBC Selection of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain as the hosts of the 2030 FIFA World Cup to be ratified.
Selection of Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 FIFA World Cup to be ratified.
75th 2025   TBC 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup host to be announced.
76th 2026   or   or   TBC

Extraordinary congresses edit

A total of eight extraordinary congresses have taken place: 1908 (Brussels), 1953 (Paris), 1961 (London), 1999 (Los Angeles), 2001 (Buenos Aires), 2002 (Seoul), 2003 (Doha), and 2016 (Zürich).[11] In the 2016 Extraordinary Congress, FIFA President Sepp Blatter would have remained in his position until his successor is elected.[12] However, due to the fact he was suspended, the Acting FIFA President, Issa Hayatou was in charge of FIFA.[13]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ The 70th FIFA Congress, originally scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa on 5 June 2020,[7] was rescheduled as an online event on 18 September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.[8]
  2. ^ The 71st FIFA Congress, originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo in May 2021,[9] was rescheduled as an online event on 21 May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[10]

References edit

  1. ^ "FIFA Statutes (2010 edition)" (PDF). 19 October 2003. p. 21. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2010.
  2. ^ "FIFA Congress". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2010-04-05.
  3. ^ "FIFA presidential elections". FIFA. Archived from the original on 2010-04-08.
  4. ^ Sweetman, Tom. "FIFA: Presidential election confirmed for February 26". CNN. 20 October 2015. Accessed on 22 December 2015.
  5. ^ "FIFA Congress venues 1904-2016" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  6. ^ "FIFA Council discusses vision for the future of football". Archived from the original on October 17, 2016.
  7. ^ "70th FIFA Congress in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 5 June 2020" (PDF). FIFA. 5 February 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  8. ^ "Bureau of the FIFA Council decisions on FIFA events". FIFA. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  9. ^ "FIFA Council unanimously appoints China PR as hosts of new Club World Cup in 2021". FIFA. 24 October 2019.
  10. ^ "FIFA Council passes landmark reforms for female players and coaches, agrees further steps in COVID-19 response". FIFA. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  11. ^ FIFA Congress venues from 1904 to 2011
  12. ^ "FIFA President to lay down his mandate at extraordinary elective Congress". FIFA. 2 June 2015. Archived from the original on June 2, 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  13. ^ FIFA.com

External links edit