Feb. 6, 2023, 7:21 p.m.
We continue our series of publications on the activities of global international organizations. We refer to such organizations as structures whose members are the vast majority of countries. An important feature of such organizations is that the rules and decisions they adopt actively influence the formation of a certain area of human interests - politics, economics, justice, sports, etc.
Many people have probably heard the statement that football is the number one sport on the planet. There are more than 200,000 sports in the world, so this phrase is certainly an assumption, but the enormous popularity of football cannot be denied. Where the attention of millions is concentrated, there will always be interests of big money and big politics.
General characteristics of the International Football Federation
General characteristics of the International Football Federation
The International Federation of Football (FIFA, short for Federation Internationale de Football Association, FIFA) is the world's premier football organization that governs international football, beach soccer and futsal. FIFA promotes the international spread of football and advocates the principle of fair play. The organization is responsible for organizing global international competitions, among which the FIFA World Cup is the most important. FIFA is currently headquartered in Zurich. The organization was founded in 1904 in Paris by seven European countries - France, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Switzerland and Sweden.
FIFA headquarters. Photo: Wikipedia
FIFA's financial cycle is a four-year period between two World Cups. And it is the World Cup that is the organization's main source of income. In general, FIFA's revenues come from the sale of television broadcasting rights, licensing, rights to host and serve guests of events, marketing, and ticket sales. In particular, one of the sources of income is FIFA's cooperation with Electronic Arts to develop a series of FIFA computer games. For the financial period 2015-18, the organization's revenue amounted to $6.421 billion.
FIFA consists of 211 members. Members of the organization are countries and territories that do not have the status of an independent state. Thus, the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and two special administrative regions of China (Hong Kong and Macau) are separate members of FIFA. All FIFA members are divided into six football confederations: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football Associations (CONCACAF), the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), the Confederation of Oceania Football (OFC) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Image: Wikipedia
The FIFA Congress is the main legislative body of the organization. Each FIFA member has one vote in the congress. Ordinary sessions of the Congress take place once a year. An extraordinary session of the congress can take place at any time. The Congress decides on amendments to the FIFA Statutes and on the specifics of the application and implementation of new provisions. The Congress also approves the annual report, decides on the admission of new members and holds the election of the president.
The FIFA Council is the main decision-making body of the organization between congress meetings. The Council consists of 37 people: the president, eight vice presidents and 28 other members. At least one woman must be elected from each of the football confederations. All council members are elected for a four-year term.
The chief executive of the organization is the president. Since February 2016, this position has been held by Gianni Infantino, a sports functionary from Switzerland. He became the 9th head of FIFA, replacing Issa Hayatou, who was acting president. The 8th president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, was forced to resign due to a corruption scandal.
Photo: Wikipedia
It can be argued that FIFA is responsible for the main events in the world of football - the World Cups. In particular, the organization manages the FIFA World Cup for men and women, the FIFA World Youth Championships for men and women, the FIFA World Cup for men and women under 17, the FIFA Futsal World Cup, and the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. FIFA is also responsible for organizing the football tournament at the Olympic Games. The FIFA Club World Cup should be highlighted separately, as the emphasis in FIFA's work is obviously on organizing national team competitions.
Since 2016, the organization has annually held the FIFA World Player of the Year Awards ceremony. Among the key awards of the ceremony are the Best Footballer of the Year, Best Footballer of the Year, Best Coach of the Year, and Best Coach of the Year.
FIFA Television is a separate important area of work, which consists of five departments and is engaged in the creation of video products, the sale of rights to them and monitoring the quality of these products. FIFA produces its own video program Live Football 1-2 times a month, dedicated to events in world football. In addition to current international news, the program includes discussions of reforms that are being implemented or are only planned in football.
A separate type of FIFA's work is the organization of mass video screenings of international football events on a big screen. Such screenings are organized for those fans who could not get to the stadium directly.
Photo: FIFA
The organization created the FIFA Museum in Zurich. In 2022, the museum was visited by almost 400 thousand people from more than 135 countries. The museum's exposition includes rooms dedicated to the creation of FIFA, the history of football, World Cups, and the development of cyber football. In a separate room, you can watch a movie about the World Cup finals. In the game room, visitors can demonstrate their football skills.
Photo: FIFA
FIFA pays attention to the health of football players. In particular, the organization annually holds medical courses and trainings for its members. FIFA transfers medical knowledge through projects and campaigns such as the FIFA Diploma in Football Medicine. FIFA accredits centers that demonstrate medical, educational, or research expertise in the field of football. This includes the latest research in the field of diagnosis, treatment of injuries, post-traumatic rehabilitation, injury prevention, etc. FIFA has also proposed a warm-up program for older goalkeepers at all levels to reduce the injury rate among them.
Together with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), FIFA is fighting against the spread of doping in football. FIFA has developed anti-doping rules for football and organized an extensive network of doping control in the world.
FIFA has launched a number of campaigns that are of great social importance for the modern world, including Football Unites the World, Save the Planet, Protect the Children, Education for All, and No Discrimination. To promote these campaigns, FIFA creates videos with football stars and develops symbols that are actively displayed during sporting events.
In 2018, the FIFA Council adopted a new ranking system for men's and women's national teams. The rating is constantly updated based on the current results of the teams.
Corruption in FIFA began to be talked about loudly after the book "Foul! Foul! The book claimed that some high-ranking FIFA officials, including the organization's president Sepp Blatter, were regularly involved in corrupt activities. In 2012, a court in the Swiss canton of Zug found FIFA honorary president Joao Avelange guilty of taking bribes in connection with the sale of rights to broadcast the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
In May 2015, the Swiss authorities arrested a number of high-ranking FIFA officials on corruption charges. On June 2, the day before, FIFA President Sepp Blatter, elected for a fifth term, announced his resignation. In October, FIFA's Ethics Committee suspended Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini for 90 days from football-related activities. In December, their suspensions were extended to 8 years. Among the various charges against FIFA officials, they are accused of taking bribes for the "correct" vote to elect the hosts of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, 2010 in South Africa, 2018 in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.
So far, the court has acquitted Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini. At the end of 2022, a four-part documentary about corruption, FIFA Secrets, was filmed. Interestingly, Sepp Blatter took part in it.
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The official trailer for the FIFA Secrets series. Video: Netflix
The Football Federation of Ukraine became a member of FIFA in 1992. Ukraine's national football, futsal, and beach soccer teams regularly participate in competitions organized under the auspices of FIFA. Ukraine's men's national football team is currently ranked twenty-sixth in the FIFA rankings, and the women's team is ranked thirty-third.
Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, FIFA and UEFA decided to suspend the aggressor country's national teams and clubs from all international competitions. This decision, in particular, did not allow the Russian national team to participate in the playoffs for the 2022 World Cup.
Despite certain expectations, the FIFA Congress held on March 31 in Doha did not even consider the issue of suspending Russia's membership in FIFA. However, the membership of Pakistan, Zimbabwe, and Kenya was suspended at the same meeting. Somewhat paradoxically, it was at this very meeting that the Congress decided to include Russian among the official languages of the organization. Moreover, a few months before the start of the World Cup, FIFA sold three Russian channels the right to broadcast the competition.
On the eve of the World Cup final, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the countries of the world with a set of peace initiatives. The address was supposed to be shown before the broadcast of the final match. Interestingly, the Qataris, as the hosts of the championship, supported this idea, but FIFA blocked the broadcast.
FIFA is an organization that has been organizing international competitions for more than a century. During this time, it has accumulated considerable experience and gradually transformed from a team of like-minded people into a powerful commercial organization with amazing revenues. Commercialization is the principle that defines all FIFA activities. At the next World Cup in 2026, the number of teams will be increased from 32 to 48. In 2025, 32 teams are to play in the Club World Cup instead of the 7 that began to determine the winner in February this year. All this is done according to only one principle: more teams, more money for FIFA.
The president of the organization, Gianni Infantino, also proposes to hold the World Cup every three years. Obviously, all this will lead to an increase in the burden on professional athletes, which, in turn, will lead to an escalation in the number of injuries and damages. In the twenty-first century, corruption scandals regularly occur around FIFA. Although investigations do not always lead to the imprisonment of the perpetrators, the massive nature of the revelations leaves no doubt about the specifics of FIFA's mechanisms. There is even an opinion that not a single vote on the future host of the World Cup has been held in a fair way since the 2006 championship.
In recent years, FIFA has been trying to rebrand itself in an attempt to get rid of the scandals, supporting important social campaigns and conducting useful research in the field of sports medicine. Unfortunately, real actions sometimes contradict the bright slogans declared by the organization.
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