The Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA English:

International Federation of Association Football") is the international

governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. FIFA is
responsible for the organisation of football's major international
tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the
Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991.
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 Zrich, 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.
Although FIFA doesn't control the rules of football (that being the
responsibility of the International Football Association Board), it is
responsible for both the organisation of a number of tournaments and
their promotion, which generate revenue from sponsorship. In 2013 FIFA
had revenues of over 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, for a net profit of 72 million,
and had cash reserves of over 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.
Reports by investigative journalists have linked FIFA leadership with
corruption, bribery, and vote-rigging pursuant to the election of FIFA
President Sepp Blatter and the organisations decision to award the 2018
and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. These allegations
led to the indictments of nine high-ranking FIFA officials and five corporate
executives by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges including
racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. On 27 May 2015 several
of these officials were arrested by Swiss authorities, who were launching a
simultaneous but separate criminal investigation into how the
organisation awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Those among these
officials who were also indicted in the U.S. are expected to be extradited
to face charges there as well.
HISTORY OF 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 Fdration Internationale de
Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear of the headquarters of
the Union des Socits Franaises de Sports Athltiques at the Rue Saint
Honor 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 Madrid Football Club; the Spanish
federation was not created until 1913), Sweden and Switzerland. Also,
that same day, the German Association declared its intention of affiliating
through a telegram.

The first president of FIFA was Robert Gurin. Gurin was replaced in 1906
by Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by then a member of the
association. The first tournament FIFA staged, the association football
competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more successful than its
Olympic predecessors, despite the presence of professional footballers,
contrary to the founding principles of 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.
During World War I, with many players sent off to war and the possibility
of travel for international fixtures severely limited, the organisation's
survival was in doubt. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the
organisation was run by Dutchman Carl Hirschmann. It was saved from
extinction, but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations (of the
United Kingdom), who cited an unwillingness to participate in international
competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home Nations
later resumed their membership.
The FIFA collection is held by the National Football Museum at Urbis in
Manchester, England. The first World Cup in the world was in 1930 in
Montevideo, Uruguay.
LAW AND GOVERNANCE
FIFA is headquartered in Zrich, and is an association established under
the Law of Switzerland.
FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly made up of
representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national
football association has one vote, regardless of its size or footballing
strength. The Congress assembles in ordinary session once every year,
and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. The
congress makes decisions relating to FIFA's governing statutes and their
method of implementation and application. Only the Congress can pass
changes to FIFA's statutes. The congress approves the annual report, and
decides on the acceptance of new national associations and holds
elections. Congress elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary, and
the other members of the FIFA Council on the year following the FIFA
World Cup.
FIFA's Executive Committee, chaired by the President, is the main
decision-making body of the organisation in the intervals of Congress. The
Executive Committee is composed of 24 people: the President, 8 Vice
Presidents, and 15 members. The Executive Committee is the body that
decides which country will host the World Cup.

The President and General Secretary are the main officeholders of FIFA,
and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by the General
Secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280 members. Gianni Infantino
is the current president, appointed on 26 February 2016 at the
Extraordinary FIFA Congress. The former president, Sepp Blatter is
suspended pending a corruption investigation.[12][13] FIFA's worldwide
organisational structure also consists of several other bodies, under
authority of the Executive Committee or created by Congress as standing
committees. Among those bodies are the FIFA Emergency Committee, the
FIFA Ethics Committee, the Finance Committee, the Disciplinary
Committee, and the Referees Committee.

ADMINISTRATIVE COST
The FIFA Emergency Committee deals with all matters requiring
immediate settlement in the time frame between the regular meetings of
the FIFA Executive Committee. The Emergency Committee consists of the
FIFA President as well as one member from each confederation.
Emergency Committee decisions made are immediately put into legal
effect, although they need to be ratified at the next Executive Committee
meeting.
FIFA publishes its results according to IFRS. The total compensation for the
management committee in 2011 was 30 million for 35 people. Blatter, the
only full-time person on the committee, earned approximately two million
Swiss francs, 1.2 million in salary and the rest in bonuses. A report in
London's Sunday Times in June 2014 said the members of the committee
had their salaries doubled from $100,000 to $200,000 during the year.
The report also said leaked documents had indicated $4.4 million in secret
bonuses had been paid to the committee members following the 2010
FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
Besides its worldwide institutions there are six confederations recognised
by FIFA which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of
the world. National associations, and not the continental confederations,
are members of FIFA. The continental confederations are provided for in
FIFA's statutes, and membership of a confederation is a prerequisite to
FIFA membership.
Asian Football Confederation (AFC; 46 members)
Australia has been a member of the AFC since 2006
Confederation of African Football (CAF; 54 members)
Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association
Football (CONCACAF; 35 members)

French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname are CONCACAF members although

they are in South America. The French Guiana team is a member of
CONCACAF but not of FIFA.
Confederacin Sudamericana de Ftbol (CONMEBOL; 10 members)
Oceania Football Confederation (OFC; 11 members)
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA; 55 members)
Teams representing the nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Israel,
Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey are UEFA members, although the majority
or entirety of their territory is outside of continental Europe. Monaco and
the Vatican City are not members of UEFA or 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.
RECOGNITION AND AWARDS
FIFA holds an annual awards ceremony which recognises both individual
and team achievements in international association football. Individually,
the top men's player is awarded the FIFA Ballon d'Or and the top women's
player is named FIFA World Player of the Year; the latter title was also
awarded to the men's player prior to its 2010 merger with France
Football's Ballon d'Or. At the Ballon d'Or banquet, the FIFA Pusks Award,
FIFA/FIFPro Best XI, FIFA Fair Play Award, and FIFA Presidential Award are
also awarded.
In 1994 FIFA published the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team. In 2000 FIFA
published the results of an Internet poll, declaring Real Madrid to be the
FIFA Club of the Century. In 2002 FIFA announced the FIFA Dream Team, an
all-time all-star team chosen by fans in a poll.
As part of its centennial celebrations in 2004, FIFA organised a "Match of
the Century" between France and Brazil.
LAWS OF THE GAME ( association football)
The laws that govern football, known officially as the Laws of the Game,
are not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body
called the International Football Association Board (IFAB). FIFA has
members on its board (four representatives); the other four are provided
by the football associations of the United Kingdom: England, Scotland,
Wales, and Northern Ireland, who jointly established IFAB in 1882 and are
recognised for the creation and history of the game. Changes to the Laws
of the Game must be agreed by at least six of the eight delegates.
FIFA commits itself to constantly improving the sport of football. The FIFA
Statutes form the overarching document guiding FIFA's governing system.

The governing system is divided into separate bodies that have the
appropriate powers to create a system of checks and balances. It consists
of four general bodies: the congress, the executive committee, the
general secretariat, and standing and ad-hoc committees.
Discipline of national association.
FIFA frequently takes active roles in the running of the sport and
developing the game around the world. One of its sanctions is to suspend
teams and associated members from international competition when a
government interferes in the running of FIFA's associate member
organisations or if the associate is not functioning properly.
A 2007 FIFA ruling that a player can be registered with a maximum of
three clubs, and appear in official matches for a maximum of two, in a
year measured from 1 July to 30 June has led to controversy, especially in
those countries whose seasons cross that date barrier, as in the case of
two former Ireland internationals. As a direct result of this controversy,
FIFA modified this ruling the following year to accommodate transfers
between leagues with out-of-phase seasons.
FIFA ANTHEM.
Since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, like the UEFA Champions League, FIFA has
adopted an anthem composed by the German composer Franz Lambert. It
has been recently re-arranged and produced by Rob May and Simon Hill.
The FIFA Anthem is played at the beginning of official FIFA sanctioned
matches and tournaments such as international friendlies, the FIFA World
Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup,
Football at the Summer Olympics, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA
Women's U-17 World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cup, FIFA Beach Soccer World
Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
Since 2007, FIFA has also required most of its broadcast partners to use
short sequences including the anthem at the beginning and end of FIFA
event coverage, as well as for break bumpers, to help promote FIFA's
sponsors. This emulates practices long used by some other international
football events such as the UEFA Champions League. Exceptions may be
made for specific events; for example, an original piece of African music
was used for bumpers during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
CORRUPTION AND LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE
In May 2006 British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book Foul! The
Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals (Harper
Collins) caused controversy within the football world by detailing an
alleged international cash-for-contracts scandal following the collapse of
FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL), and

revealed how some football officials have been urged to secretly repay the
sweeteners they received. The book also alleged that vote-rigging had
occurred in the fight for Sepp Blatter's continued control of FIFA.
Shortly after the release of Foul! a BBC television expos by Jennings and
BBC producer Roger Corke for the BBC news programme Panorama was
broadcast. In this hour-long programme, screened on 11 June 2006,
Jennings and the Panorama team agree that Sepp Blatter was being
investigated by Swiss police over his role in a secret deal to repay more
than 1m worth of bribes pocketed by football officials. Lord Triesman, the
former chairman of the English Football Association, described FIFA as an
organisation that "behaves like a mafia family", highlighting the
association's "decades-long traditions of bribes, bungs and corruption".
All testimonies offered in the Panorama expos were provided through a
disguised voice, appearance, or both, save one; Mel Brennan, formerly a
lecturer at Towson University in the United States (and from 2001 to 2003
Head of Special Projects for CONCACAF, a liaison to the e-FIFA project and
a 2002 FIFA World Cup delegate), became the first high-level football
insider to go public with substantial allegations of greed, corruption,
nonfeasance and malfeasance by CONCACAF and FIFA leadership. During
the Panorama expos, Brennanthe highest-level African-American in the
history of world football governancejoined Jennings, Trinidadian
journalist Lisana Liburd and many others in exposing allegedly
inappropriate allocations of money at CONCACAF, and drew connections
between ostensible CONCACAF criminality and similar behaviours at FIFA.
Since then, and in the light of fresh allegations of bribery and corruption
and opaque action by FIFA in late 2010,both Jennings and Brennan remain
highly critical of FIFA, with Brennan calling directly for an alternative to
FIFA to be considered by the stakeholders of the sport throughout the
world.
In a further Panorama documentary broadcast on BBC One on 29
November 2010, Jennings alleged that three senior FIFA officials, Nicolas
Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira, had been paid huge bribes by
FIFA's marketing partner ISL between 1989 and 1999, which FIFA had
failed to investigate. He claimed they appeared on a list of 175 bribes paid
by ISL, totalling about $100 million. A former ISL executive said that there
were suspicions within ISL that the company was only awarded the
marketing contract for successive World Cups by paying bribes to FIFA
officials. The programme also alleged that another current official, Jack
Warner, has been repeatedly involved in reselling World Cup tickets to
touts; Sepp Blatter said that FIFA had not investigated the allegation
because it had not been told about it via 'official channels'.
The programme also criticised FIFA for allegedly requiring World Cup host
bidding nations to agree to implement special laws for the World Cup,
including blanket tax exemption for FIFA and sponsors, and limitation of
workers' rights. It alleged that governments of bidding nations are

required to keep the details of the required laws confidential during the
bidding process; but that they were revealed by the Dutch government,
which refused to agree to them, as a result of which it was told by FIFA
that its bid could be adversely affected. According to the programme,
following Jennings' earlier investigations he was banned from all FIFA press
conferences, for reasons he says have not been made clear; and the
accused officials failed to answer questions about his latest allegations,
either verbally or by letter.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and Andy Anson, head of England's
World Cup bid, criticised the timing of the broadcast, three days before
FIFA's decision on the host for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, on the grounds
that it might damage England's bid; the voters included officials accused
by the programme.
In June 2011, it came to light that the IOC had started inquiry proceedings
against FIFA honorary president Joo Havelange into claims of bribery. The
BBC Panorama programme alleged that the Brazilian accepted a $1 million
'bung' in 1997 from ISL. The Olympic governing body said "the IOC takes
all allegations of corruption very seriously and we would always ask for
any evidence of wrongdoing involving any IOC members to be passed to
our ethics commission".
2015 Corruption case.
In 2015, U.S. federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials
and associates connected with FIFA, the governing body of association
football, futsal and beach soccer.
Near the end of May 2015, fourteen people were indicted in connection
with an investigation by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division
(IRS-CI) into wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering. The United
States Attorney General simultaneously announced the unsealing of the
indictments and the prior guilty pleas by four football executives and two
corporations.
The investigation mostly revolved around collusion between officials of
continental football bodies CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF
(Caribbean, Central and North America), and sports marketing executives.
The sports marketing executives were holders of media and marketing
rights for high-profile international competitions including the Americas'
FIFA World Cup qualifying tournaments, and showpiece tournaments
CONCACAF Gold Cup and Copa Amrica.
CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb, also serving president of the Cayman
Islands Football Association, was arrested in connection with the
investigation, as were two sitting FIFA Executive Committee members:
Eduardo Li of the Costa Rican Football Federation and Eugenio Figueredo,

formerly of the Uruguayan Football Association, and former CONMEBOL

President Nicols Leoz. The investigation lasted several years, with the
first arrest, of former CONCACAF president Jack Warner's son Daryll, made
in July 2013.
In total, seven current FIFA officials were arrested at the Hotel Baur au Lac
in Zrich on May 27. They were preparing to attend the 65th FIFA
Congress, which was scheduled to include the election of the president of
FIFA. They are expected to be extradited to the United States on suspicion
of receiving US$150 million in bribes.There was also a simultaneous raid
on the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, and later, two further men
handed themselves in to police for arrest: Jack Warner and marketing
executive Alejandro Burzaco. Two further arrests of FIFA officials at the
hotel occurred in December 2015.
The arrests case triggered Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany and
Switzerland to open or intensify separate criminal investigations into top
FIFA officials for corruption.
Guilty pleas
Between 2013 and 2015 four individuals, and two sports
television rights corporations pleaded guilty to United States
financial misconduct charges. The pleas of Chuck Blazer, Jos
Hawilla, Daryan Warner, Darrell Warner, Traffic Group and Traffic
Sports USA were unsealed in May 2015. In another 2015 case,
Singapore also imposed a 6-year "harshest sentence ever
received for match-fixing" on match-fixer Eric Ding who had
bribed three Lebanese FIFA football officials with prostitutes as
an inducement to fix future matches that they would officiate, as
well as perverting the course of justice.
INDICTMENTS AND ARRESTS
Fourteen FIFA officials and marketing executives were indicted by the
United States Department of Justice in May 2015. The officials were
arrested in Switzerland and are in the process of extradition to the US.
Specific charges (brought under the RICO act) include wire fraud,
racketeering, and money laundering.
"Swiss authorities say they have also opened a separate criminal
investigation into FIFA's operations pertaining to the 2018 and 2022 World
Cup bids".
FIFAs top officials were arrested at a hotel in Switzerland on suspicion of
receiving bribes totalling $100m (65m). The US Department of Justice
stated that nine FIFA officials and four executives of sports management
companies were arrested and accused of over $150m in bribes. The UK
Shadow Home Secretary and Labour Member of Parliament, Andy

Burnham, stated in May 2015 that England should boycott the 2018 World
Cup against corruption in FIFA and military aggression by Russia.
2018 AND 2022 World Cup bids
FIFA's choice to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World
Cup to Qatar has been widely criticised by media. It has been alleged that
some FIFA inside sources insist that the Russian kickbacks of cash and
gifts given to FIFA executive members were enough to secure the Russian
2018 bid weeks before the result was announced. Sepp Blatter was widely
criticised in the media for giving a warning about the "evils of the media"
in a speech to FIFA executive committee members shortly before they
voted on the hosting of the 2018 World Cup, a reference to The Sunday
Times exposs and the Panorama investigation.
Two members of FIFA's executive committee were banned from all
football-related activity in November 2010 for allegedly offering to sell
their votes to undercover newspaper reporters. In early May 2011, a
British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018
finals was told by member of parliament, Damian Collins, that there was
evidence from the Sunday Times newspaper that Issa Hayatou of
Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. Qatar
has categorically denied the allegations, as have Hayatou and Anouma.
FIFA President Blatter said, as of 23 May 2011, that the British newspaper
The Sunday Times has agreed to bring its whistle-blowing source to meet
senior FIFA officials, who will decide whether to order a new investigation
into alleged World Cup bidding corruption. "[The Sunday Times] are
happy, they agreed that they will bring this whistleblower here to Zrich
and then we will have a discussion, an investigation of this", Blatter said.
Specifically, the whistleblower claims that FIFA executive committee
members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 million to
vote for Qatar. The emirate's bid beat the United States in a final round of
voting last December. Blatter did not rule out reopening the 2022 vote if
corruption could be proved, but urged taking the matter "step by step".
The FIFA president said his organisation is "anxiously awaiting" more
evidence before asking its ethics committee to examine allegations made
in Britain's parliament in early May 2011.
Hayatou, who is from Cameroon, leads the Confederation of African
Football and is a FIFA vice president. Anouma is president of Ivorian
Football Federation. The whistleblower said Qatar agreed to pay a third
African voter, Amos Adamu, for his support. The Nigerian was later
suspended from voting after a FIFA ethics court ruled he solicited bribes
from undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists. Blatter said
the newspaper and its whistleblower would meet with FIFA secretary
general, Jrme Valcke, and legal director, Marco Villiger.

Allegations against FIFA officials have also been made to the UK

Parliament by David Triesman, the former head of England's bid and the
English Football Association. Triesman told the lawmakers that four longstanding FIFA executive committee membersJack Warner, Nicolas Leoz,
Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudiengaged in "improper and unethical"
conduct in the 2018 bidding, which was won by Russia. All six FIFA voters
have denied wrongdoing.
2011 FIFA PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
FIFA announced on 25 May 2011 that it had opened the investigation to
examine the conduct of four officialsMohamed Bin Hammam and Jack
Warner, along with Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials Debbie
Minguell and Jason Sylvesterin relation to claims made by executive
committee member, Chuck Blazer. Blazer, who is the general secretary of
the CONCACAF federation, has alleged that violations were committed
under the FIFA code of ethics during a meeting organized by Bin Hammam
and Warner on 10 and 11 Maythe same time Lord Triesman had accused
Warner of demanding money for a World Cup 2018 votein relation to the
2011 FIFA presidential election, in which Bin Hammam, who also played a
key role in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, allegedly offered financial
incentives for votes cast in his favour during the presidential election. As a
result of the investigation both Bin Hammam and Warner were suspended.
Warner reacted to his suspension by questioning Blatter's conduct and
adding that FIFA secretary general, Jrme Valcke, had told him via e-mail
that Qatar had bought the 2022 World Cup. Valcke subsequently issued a
statement denying he had suggested it was bribery, saying instead that
the country had "used its financial muscle to lobby for support". Qatar
officials denied any impropriety. Bin Hammam also responded by writing
to FIFA, protesting unfair treatment in suspension by the FIFA Ethics
Committee and FIFA administration.
Further evidence emerged of alleged corruption. On 30 May 2011, Fred
Lunn, vice-president of the Bahamas Football Association, said that he was
given $40,000 in cash as an incitement to vote for FIFA presidential
candidate, Mohamed bin Hammam. In addition, on 11 June 2011 Louis
Giskus, president of the Surinamese Football Association, alleged that he
was given $40,000 in cash for "development projects" as an incentive to
vote for Bin Hammam.
Photo
The 61st FIFA Congress was held between 31 May and 1 June 2011 at the
Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. FIFA is the governing body of world
association football, and the congress is the annual meeting of FIFA's
supreme legislative body. This is the eighth congress to be held in Zurich,
and the first since 2007. After an opening ceremony and a reminder of
FIFA events and activities in 2010, the second day witnessed decisions
taken, and the unveiling of the 2010 financial results. The opening

ceremony was presented by Melanie Winiger, and featured singer Grace

Jones, hammered dulcimer player Nicolas Senn, and juggler Alan Sulc.
Congress Agenda
The congress agenda was released on 5 May.
Internal reform
Following the allegations of corruption Blatter announced changes to
FIFA's internal processes. Future FIFA World Cups will be selected by the
whole FIFA Congress rather than the FIFA Executive Committee, an
internal committee will examine FIFA's corporate governance, and the FIFA
Ethics Committee will be strengthened.
UAE residency motion
A motion bought by the United Arab Emirates Football Association to relax
eligibility rules for foreign-born players was rejected by 153 to 42, with 11
abstentions. The motion argued that players 18 or older could switch
countries after three years' residence instead of five. The president of the
UAE football association Mohamed al-Rumaithi argued that the proposed
change was good for countries trying to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
The motion was also supported by the UAE Football League and Sreko
Katanec, the head coach of the United Arab Emirates national football
team. The proposal was interpreted as a way for rich countries to attract
foreign players with offers of citizenship.
Response To Allegations
After being re-elected as President of FIFA Sepp Blatter responded to the
allegations by promising to reform FIFA in wake of the bribery scandal,
with Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa,
saying there is great expectation for reform. Former US Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger is being tipped for a role on the newly proposed 'Solutions
Committee', and former Netherlands national football team player Johan
Cruyff is also being linked with a role.
UEFA secretary general Gianni Infantino said he hopes for "concrete"
measures to be taken by the world game's authority. Saying that "the
UEFA executive committee has taken note of the will of FIFA to take
concrete and effective measures for good governance ... [and is] following
the situation closely."
IOC president Jacques Rogge commented on the situation by saying that
he believes FIFA "can emerge stronger" from its worst ever crisis, stating
that "I will not point a finger and lecture ... I am sure FIFA can emerge
stronger and from within".

Several of FIFA's partners and sponsors have raised concerns about the
allegations of corruption, including Coca-Cola, Adidas, Emirates and Visa.
Coca-Cola raised concerns by saying "the current allegations being raised
are distressing and bad for the sport"; with Adidas saying "the negative
tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for
football nor for Fifa and its partners"; moreover Emirates raised its
concerns by saying "we hope that these issues will be resolved as soon as
possible"; and Visa adding "the current situation is clearly not good for the
game and we ask that Fifa take all necessary steps to resolve the
concerns that have been raised."
Australian Sports Minister Mark Arbib said it was clear FIFA needed to
change, saying "there is no doubt there needs to be reform of FIFA. This is
something that we're hearing worldwide", with Australian Senator Nick
Xenophon accusing FIFA of "scamming" the country out of the A$46
million (US$35 million) it spent on the Australia 2022 FIFA World Cup bid,
saying that "until the investigation into FIFA has been completed, Australia
must hold off spending any more taxpayers' money on any future World
Cup bids."
Theo Zwanziger, President of the German Football Association, also called
on FIFA to re-examine the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar.
Transparency International, which had called on FIFA to postpone the
election pending a full independent investigation, renewed its call on FIFA
to change its governance structure.
Moreover, former Argentine football player Diego Maradona was critical of
FIFA in light of the corruption scandal, comparing members of the board to
dinosaurs. He said "Fifa is a big museum. They are dinosaurs who do not
want to relinquish power. It's always going to be the same." In October
2011, Dick Pound criticised the organisation, saying, "FIFA has fallen far
short of a credible demonstration that it recognises the many problems it
faces, that it has the will to solve them, that it is willing to be transparent
about what it is doing and what it finds, and that its conduct in the future
will be such that the public can be confident in the governance of the
sport."
NEW Software Technology For The Game
Goal Line Technology
FIFA does not permit video evidence during matches, although it is
permitted for subsequent sanctions. The 1970 meeting of the
International Football Association Board "agreed to request the television
authorities to refrain from any slow-motion play-back which reflected, or
might reflect, adversely on any decision of the referee". In 2008, FIFA
President Sepp Blatter said: "Let it be as it is and let's leave [football] with
errors. The television companies will have the right to say [the referee]

was right or wrong, but still the referee makes the decision a man, not a
machine."
It has been said that instant replay is needed given the difficulty of
tracking the activities of 22 players on such a large field, and it has been
proposed that instant replay be used in penalty incidents, fouls which lead
to bookings or red cards and whether the ball has crossed the goal line,
since those events are more likely than others to be game-changing.
Critics point out that instant replay is already in use in other sports,
including rugby union, cricket, American football, Canadian football,
basketball, baseball, tennis, and ice hockey. As one notable proponent of
video replay, Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz has been quoted as saying
that the "credibility of the game" is at stake.
An incident during a second-round game in the 2010 FIFA World Cup
between England and Germany, where a shot by Englishman Frank
Lampard, which would have levelled the scores at 22 in a match that
ultimately ended in a 41 German victory, crossed the line but was not
seen to do so by the match officials, led FIFA officials to declare that they
will re-examine the use of goal-line technology.
What Is Goal Line Technology ?
In association football, goal-line technology (sometimes referred to as a
Goal Decision System) is a method used to determine when the ball has
completely crossed the goal line in between the goal-posts and
underneath the crossbar with the assistance of electronic devices and at
the same time assisting the referee in awarding a goal or not. The
objective of goal-line technology (GLT) is not to replace the role of the
officials, but rather to support them in their decision-making. The GLT
must provide a clear indication as to whether the ball has fully crossed the
line, and this information will serve to assist the referee in making his final
decision.
Compared to similar technology in other sports, goal-line technology is a
relatively recent addition to association football; its integration having
been opposed by the sport's authorities. In July 2012, the International
Football Association Board (IFAB) officially approved the use of goal line
technology, amending the Laws of the Game to permit (but not require) its
use. Due to its expense, goal-line technology is only used at the very
highest levels of the game. Goal-line technology is currently used in the
top European domestic leagues, and at major international competitions
such as the 2014 Men's and 2015 Women's FIFA World Cups.
Fifa World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international
association football competition contested by the senior men's national
teams of the members of Fdration Internationale de Football Association
(FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been
awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except
in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War.
The current champion is Germany, which won its fourth title at the 2014
tournament in Brazil.
The current format of the competition involves a qualification phase,
which currently takes place over the preceding three years, to determine
which teams qualify for the tournament phase, which is often called the
World Cup Finals. 32 teams, including the automatically qualifying host
nation(s), compete in the tournament phase for the title at venues within
the host nation(s) over a period of about a month.
The 20 World Cup tournaments have been won by eight different national
teams. Brazil have won five times, and they are the only team to have
played in every tournament. The other World Cup winners are Germany
and Italy, with four titles each; Argentina and inaugural winner Uruguay,
with two titles each; and England, France and Spain, with one title each.
The World Cup is 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.

Previous international
competitions
The world's first international football match was a
challenge match played in Glasgow in 1872 between
Scotland and England, which ended in a 00 draw. The
first international tournament, the inaugural edition of
the British Home Championship, took place in 1884. As
football grew in popularity in other parts of the world at
the turn of the 20th century, it was held as a
demonstration sport with no medals awarded at the
1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics (however, the IOC
has retroactively upgraded their status to official
events), and at the 1906 Intercalated Games.
After FIFA was founded in 1904, it tried to arrange an
international football tournament between nations
outside the Olympic framework in Switzerland in 1906.

These were very early days for international football,

and the official history of FIFA describes the competition
as having been a failure.
At the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, football
became an official competition. Planned by The Football
Association (FA), England's football governing body, the
event was for amateur players only and was regarded
suspiciously as a show rather than a competition. Great
Britain (represented by the England national amateur
football team) won the gold medals. They repeated the
feat in 1912 in Stockholm.
With the Olympic event continuing to be contested only
between amateur teams, Sir Thomas Lipton organised
the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy tournament in Turin in
1909. The Lipton tournament was a championship
between individual clubs (not national teams) from
different nations, each one of which represented an
entire nation. The competition is sometimes described
as The First World Cup, and featured the most
prestigious professional club sides from Italy, Germany
and Switzerland, but the FA of England refused to be
associated with the competition and declined the offer
to send a professional team. Lipton invited West
Auckland, an amateur side from County Durham, to
represent England instead. West Auckland won the
tournament and returned in 1911 to successfully
defend their title.
In 1914, FIFA agreed to recognise the Olympic
tournament as a "world football championship for
amateurs", and took responsibility for managing the
event. This paved the way for the world's first
intercontinental football competition, at the 1920
Summer Olympics, contested by Egypt and 13
European teams, and won by Belgium.[11] Uruguay won
the next two Olympic football tournaments in 1924 and
1928. Those were also the first two open world
championships, as 1924 was the start of FIFA's

professional era.

World Cups before World

War II
Estadio Centenario, the location of the first World Cup final in 1930
in Montevideo, Uruguay

Due to the success of the Olympic football

tournaments, FIFA, with President Jules Rimet as the
driving force, again started looking at staging its own
international tournament outside of the Olympics. On
28 May 1928, the FIFA Congress in Amsterdam decided
to stage a world championship itself. With Uruguay now
two-time official football world champions and to
celebrate their centenary of independence in 1930, FIFA
named Uruguay as the host country of the inaugural
World Cup tournament.
The national associations of selected nations were
invited to send a team, but the choice of Uruguay as a
venue for the competition meant a long and costly trip
across the Atlantic Ocean for European sides. Indeed,
no European country pledged to send a team until two
months before the start of the competition. Rimet
eventually persuaded teams from Belgium, France,
Romania, and Yugoslavia to make the trip. In total, 13
nations took part: seven from South America, four from
Europe and two from North America.
The first two World Cup matches took place
simultaneously on 13 July 1930, and were won by
France and USA, who defeated Mexico 41 and Belgium
30 respectively. The first goal in World Cup history was
scored by Lucien Laurent of France. In the final,
Uruguay defeated Argentina 42 in front of a crowd of
93,000 people in Montevideo, and in doing so became
the first nation to win the World Cup.
After the creation of the World Cup, the 1932 Summer
Olympics, held in Los Angeles, did not plan to include
football as part of the schedule due to the low
popularity of the sport in the United States, as

American football had been growing in popularity. FIFA

and the IOC also disagreed over the status of amateur
players, and so football was dropped from the Games.
Olympic football returned at the 1936 Summer
Olympics, but was now overshadowed by the more
prestigious World Cup.
The issues facing the early World Cup tournaments
were the difficulties of intercontinental travel, and war.
Few South American teams were willing to travel to
Europe for the 1934 and 1938 tournaments, with Brazil
the only South American team to compete in both. The
1942 and 1946 competitions, which Nazi Germany and
Brazil sought to host, were cancelled due to World War
II and its aftermath.
World Cups after World War II
The 1950 World Cup, held in Brazil, was the first to include British
participants. British teams withdrew from FIFA in 1920, partly out of
unwillingness to play against the countries they had been at war with, and
partly as a protest against foreign influence on football,[17] but rejoined in
1946 following FIFA's invitation. The tournament also saw the return of
1930 champions Uruguay, who had boycotted the previous two World
Cups. Uruguay won the tournament again after defeating the host nation
Brazil, in the match called "Maracanazo" (Portuguese: Maracanao).
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, semifinalists in 1930; Cuba, quarter-finalists in 1938; North Korea, quarterfinalists in 1966; and Mexico, quarter-finalists in 1970.
Expansion To 32 Teams.
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, quarterfinalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; South Korea,

finishing in fourth place in 2002; Senegal, along with USA, both quarterfinalists in 2002; Ghana, quarter-finalists in 2010; and Costa Rica, quarterfinalists in 2014. Nevertheless, European and South American teams
continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, and 2006
were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all
tournaments so far.
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.
Possible Expansion To 40 Teams.
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, quarterfinalists in 1986; Cameroon, quarter-finalists in 1990; South Korea,
finishing in fourth place in 2002; Senegal, along with USA, both quarterfinalists in 2002; Ghana, quarter-finalists in 2010; and Costa Rica, quarterfinalists in 2014. Nevertheless, European and South American teams
continue to dominate, e.g., the quarter-finalists in 1994, 1998, and 2006
were all from Europe or South America and so were the finalists of all
tournaments so far.
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.
Possible expansion to 40 teams
In October 2013, Sepp Blatter spoke of guaranteeing the Caribbean
Football Union's region a position in the World Cup. In the 25 October 2013
edition of the FIFA Weekly Blatter wrote that: "From a purely sporting
perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously, and
the African and Asian national associations accorded the status they
deserve at the FIFA World Cup. It cannot be that the European and South
American confederations lay claim to the majority of the berths at the
World Cup." Those two remarks suggested to commentators that Blatter
could be putting himself forward for re-election to the FIFA Presidency.
Following the magazine's publication, Blatter's would-be opponent for the
FIFA Presidency, UEFA President Michel Platini responded that he intended
to extend the World Cup to 40 national associations, increasing the
number of participants by eight. Platini said that he would allocate an
additional berth to UEFA, two to Asia Football Confederation and
Confederation of African Football, two shared between CONCACAF and
CONMEBOL, and a guaranteed place for the Oceania Football
Confederation. Platini was clear about why he wanted to expand the World
Cup. He said: "[The World Cup is] not based on the quality of the teams
because you don't have the best 32 at the World Cup ... but it's a good

compromise. ... It's a political matter so why not have more Africans? The
competition is to bring all the people of all the world. If you don't give the
possibility to participate, they don't improve."
Other Fifa Tournaments.
An equivalent tournament for women's football, the FIFA Women's World
Cup, was first held in 1991 in China. The women's tournament is smaller
in scale and profile than the men's, but is growing; the number of entrants
for the 2007 tournament was 120, more than double that of 1991.
Football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games except 1896
and 1932. Unlike many other sports, the men's football tournament at the
Olympics is not a top-level tournament, and since 1992, an under-23
tournament with each team allowed three over-age players. Women's
football made its Olympic debut in 1996, and is contested between full
national sides with no age restrictions.
The FIFA Confederations Cup is a tournament held one year before the
World Cup at the World Cup host nation(s) as a dress rehearsal for the
upcoming World Cup. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA
confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup champion
and the host country.
FIFA also organises international tournaments for youth football (FIFA U-20
World Cup, FIFA U-17 World Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA U-17
Women's World Cup), club football (FIFA Club World Cup), and football
variants such as futsal (FIFA Futsal World Cup) and beach soccer (FIFA
Beach Soccer World Cup). The latter three do not have a women's version,
although a FIFA Women's Club World Cup is planned for 2017.
When the U-20 Women's World Cup is held the year before the Women's
World Cup, both tournaments are awarded in a single bidding process. The
U-20 tournament serves as a dress rehearsal for the larger competition,
the same role as the Confederations Cup plays in the men's game.
Trophy.
From 1930 to 1970, the Jules Rimet Trophy was awarded to the World Cup
winning team. It was originally simply known as the World Cup or Coupe
du Monde, but in 1946 it was renamed after the FIFA president Jules Rimet
who set up the first tournament. In 1970, Brazil's third victory in the
tournament entitled them to keep the trophy permanently. However, the
trophy was stolen in 1983 and has never been recovered, apparently
melted down by the thieves.
After 1970, a new trophy, known as the FIFA World Cup Trophy, was
designed. The experts of FIFA, coming from seven countries, evaluated the
53 presented models, finally opting for the work of the Italian designer

Silvio Gazzaniga. The new trophy is 36 cm (14.2 in) high, made of solid 18
carat (75%) gold and weighs 6.175 kg (13.6 lb). The base contains two
layers of semi-precious malachite while the bottom side of the trophy
bears the engraved year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since
1974. The description of the trophy by Gazzaniga was: "The lines spring
out from the base, rising in spirals, stretching out to receive the world.
From the remarkable dynamic tensions of the compact body of the
sculpture rise the figures of two athletes at the stirring moment of
victory."
This new trophy is not awarded to the winning nation permanently. World
Cup winners retain the trophy only until the post-match celebration is
finished. They are awarded a gold-plated replica rather than the solid gold
original immediately afterwards.
Currently, all members (players, coaches, and managers) of the top three
teams receive medals with an insignia of the World Cup Trophy; winners'
(gold), runners-up' (silver), and third-place (bronze). In the 2002 edition,
fourth-place medals were awarded to hosts South Korea. Before the 1978
tournament, medals were only awarded to the eleven players on the pitch
at the end of the final and the third-place match. In November 2007, FIFA
announced that all members of World Cup-winning squads between 1930
and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded winners' medals.
Qualification.
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.
The qualification process can start as early as almost three years before
the final tournament and last over a two-year period. The formats of the
qualification tournaments differ between confederations. Usually, one or
two places are awarded to winners of intercontinental play-offs. For
example, the winner of the Oceanian zone and the fifth-placed team from
the Asian zone entered a play-off for a spot in the 2010 World Cup. From
the 1938 World Cup onwards, host nations receive automatic qualification
to the final tournament. This right was also granted to the defending
champions between 1938 and 2002, but was withdrawn from the 2006
FIFA World Cup onward, requiring the champions to qualify. Brazil, winners
in 2002, were the first defending champions to play qualifying matches.
Final Tournament.
The current final tournament has been used since 1998 and features 32
national teams competing over the course of a month in the host

nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout
stage.
In the group stage, teams compete within eight groups of four teams
each. Eight teams are seeded, including the hosts, with the other seeded
teams selected using a formula based on the FIFA World Rankings and/or
performances in recent World Cups, and drawn to separate groups. The
other teams are assigned to different "pots", usually based on
geographical criteria, and teams in each pot are drawn at random to the
eight groups. Since 1998, constraints have been applied to the draw to
ensure that no group contains more than two European teams or more
than one team from any other confederation.
Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is
scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. This
means that a total of six matches are played within a group. The last
round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve
fairness among all four teams. The top two teams from each group
advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a
group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a
draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).
If one considers all possible outcomes (win, draw, loss) for all six matches
in a group, there are 729 (= 36) different outcome combinations possible.
However a certain number (207) of these combinations lead to ties
between the second and third places. In such case, the ranking among
these teams is determined as follows:
Greatest combined goal difference in all group matches
Greatest combined number of goals scored in all group matches
If more than one team remain level after applying the above criteria, their
ranking will be determined as follows:
Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams
Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams
Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those
teams
If any of the teams above remain level after applying the above criteria,
their ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots
The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams
play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts
used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16 (or
the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the
runner-up of another group. This is followed by the quarter-finals, the
semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists),
and the final.
Selection Process.
Early World Cups were given to countries at meetings of FIFA's congress.
The locations were controversial because South America and Europe were

by far the two centres of strength in football and travel between them
required three weeks by boat. The decision to hold the first World Cup in
Uruguay, for example, led to only four European nations competing. The
next two World Cups were both held in Europe. The decision to hold the
second of these in France was disputed, as the South American countries
understood that the location would alternate between the two continents.
Both Argentina and Uruguay thus boycotted the 1938 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 only tournament with multiple hosts. South Africa became
the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010. The 2014 FIFA World
Cup is hosted by Brazil, the first held in South America since Argentina
1978, and is the first occasion where consecutive World Cups are held
outside Europe.
The host country is now chosen in a vote by FIFA's Executive Committee.
This is done under an exhaustive ballot system. The national football
association of a country desiring to host the event receives a "Hosting
Agreement" from FIFA, which explains the steps and requirements that are
expected from a strong bid. The bidding association also receives a form,
the submission of which represents the official confirmation of the
candidacy. After this, a FIFA designated group of inspectors visit the
country to identify that the country meets the requirements needed to
host the event and a report on the country is produced. The decision on
who will host the World Cup is usually made six or seven years in advance
of the tournament. However, there have been occasions where the hosts
of multiple future tournaments were announced at the same time, as was
the case for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, which were awarded to
Russia and Qatar respectively.
For the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the final tournament is rotated
between confederations, allowing only countries from the chosen
confederation (Africa in 2010, South America in 2014) to bid to host the
tournament. The rotation policy was introduced after the controversy
surrounding Germany's victory over South Africa in the vote to host the
2006 tournament. However, the policy of continental rotation will not
continue beyond 2014, so any country, except those belonging to
confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments, can apply as
hosts for World Cups starting from 2018. This is partly to avoid a similar
scenario to the bidding process for the 2014 tournament, where Brazil was
the only official bidder.
Bribery And Corruption Investigations.
Performances.

Six of the eight champions have won one of their titles while playing in
their own homeland, the exceptions being Brazil, who finished as runnersup after losing the deciding match on home soil in 1950 and lost their
semifinal against Germany in 2014, and Spain, which reached the second
round on home soil in 1982. England (1966) and France (1998) won their
only titles while playing as host nations. Uruguay (1930), Italy (1934) and
Argentina (1978) won their first titles as host nations but have gone on to
win again, while Germany (1974) won their second title on home soil.
Other nations have also been successful when hosting the tournament.
Switzerland (quarter-finals 1954), Sweden (runners-up in 1958), Chile
(third place in 1962), South Korea (fourth place in 2002), and Mexico
(quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986) all have their best results when serving
as hosts. So far, South Africa (2010) has been the only host nation to fail
to advance beyond the first round.
Records and statics.
Two players share the record for playing in the most World Cups; Mexico's
Antonio Carbajal (19501966) and Germany's Lothar Matthus (1982
1998) both played in five tournaments. Matthus has played the most
World Cup matches overall, with 25 appearances. Brazil's Djalma Santos
(19541962), West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer (19661974) and
Germany's Philipp Lahm (20062014) are the only players to be named to
three Finals All-Star Teams.
Miroslav Klose of Germany (20022014) is the all-time top scorer at the
finals, with 16 goals. He broke Ronaldo of Brazil's record of 15 goals
(19982006) during 2014 semi-final match against Brazil. West Germany's
Gerd Mller (19701974) is third, with 14 goals. The fourth placed
goalscorer, France's Just Fontaine, holds the record for the most goals
scored in a single World Cup; all his 13 goals were scored in the 1958
tournament.
Kolse world cup records
In November 2007, FIFA announced that all members of World Cupwinning squads between 1930 and 1974 were to be retroactively awarded
winners' medals. This made Brazil's Pel the only player to have won three
World Cup winners' medals (1958, 1962, and 1970, although he did not
play in the 1962 final due to injury), with 20 other players who have won
two winners' medals. Seven players have collected all three types of World
Cup medals (winners', runner- ups', and third-place); five players were
from West Germany's squad of 19661974 including Franz Beckenbauer,
Jrgen Grabowski, Horst-Dieter Httges, Sepp Maier and Wolfgang Overath
(19661974), Italy's Franco Baresi (1982, 1990, 1994) and the most recent
has been Miroslav Klose of Germany (20022014) with four consecutive
medals.

Brazil's Mrio Zagallo and West Germany's Franz Beckenbauer are the only
people to date to win the World Cup as both player and head coach.
Zagallo won in 1958 and 1962 as a player and in 1970 as head coach.
Beckenbauer won in 1974 as captain and in 1990 as head coach. Italy's
Vittorio Pozzo is the only head coach to ever win two World Cups (1934
and 1938). All World Cup winning head coaches were natives of the
country they coached to victory.
Among the national teams, Germany has played the most World Cup
matches (106) and appeared in the most finals (8), semi-finals (13),
quarter-finals (16) as well as scoring the most World Cup goals (224),
while Brazil has appeared in the most World Cups (20). The two teams
have played each other twice in the World Cup, in the 2002 final and in
the 2014 semi-final.
World Cup Top Goal Scorer.
Over 2,300 goals have been scored at the 20 editions of the FIFA World
Cup final tournaments, excluding penalties converted during shoot-outs.
Since the first goal scored by French player Lucien Laurent at the 1930
FIFA World Cup, over 1,200 footballers have scored goals at the World
Cup, but only 90 of them have scored at least five goals.
The top goalscorer of the inaugural competition was Argentina's Guillermo
Stbile with eight goals. Since then, only 22 players have scored more
goals at all the games played at the World Cup as Stbile did throughout
the 1930 tournament. The first was Hungary's Sndor Kocsis with eleven
goals scored in 1954. At the next tournament, France's Just Fontaine
improved on this record with 13 goals in only six games. Gerd Mller
scored 10 goals for West Germany in 1970, and broke the overall record
when he scored his 14th goal at the World Cup during West Germany's win
at the 1974 final. His record stood for more than three decades until
Brazil's Ronaldo scored 15 goals between 1998 and 2006. Germany's
Miroslav Klose went on to score a record 16 goals across four consecutive
tournaments between 2002 and 2014. Only two other players have also
scored more than 10 goals at the World Cup: Pel with 12 between 1958
and 1970, and Jrgen Klinsmann with 11 between 1990 and 1998.
Fontaine holds the record for the most goals scored at a single
tournament, with 13 goals in 1958. The players that came closest to this
record were Kocsis in 1954, Mller in 1970 and Portugal's Eusbio in 1966,
with 11, 10 and 9 goals, respectively. The lowest scoring tournament's top
goalscorer was in 1962, when six players scored only four goals each. A
total of 29 different footballers have been credited with the most goals at
a World Cup during the 20 editions, and no one has achieved this feat
twice. Nine of them scored at least seven goals in a tournament, while
Jairzinho became in 1970 the only footballer to score seven goals without
being the top goalscorer that year. These 29 top goalscorer played for 19

different nations, the most (five) for Brazil. Of these 29, 19 came from
Europe and 10 from South America. Except for three in 2010, all the top
goalscorer won the Golden Boot.