Abstract

Abstract The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the international governing body of football (soccer) and the ultimate power within the football world. Formed in 1904 in Paris, seven nations attended FIFA's first meeting: Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. There are now 208 national associations recognized by FIFA, which has more member states than the United Nations. The “global game” spans culturally diverse societies in all continents, and figures estimate that there are 250 million participants in the game; the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany had a total cumulative television audience of 26.29 billion. FIFA organizes and controls football's World Cup finals and other competitions differentiated according to age and gender. FIFA's greatest asset, and football's flagship tournament, the men's World Cup, has become one of the biggest media spectacles and profitable cultural events in the world; valued also by politicians intent on nation‐building.

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