Introduction to FIFA tournaments Added: 02/24/2006

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FIFA consists of six departments (confederations) that manage football in the different regions and continents of the world. National football federations have to maintain membership in both Federation Internationale de Football Association and the confederation where their nation is geographically located for their national teams to get qualified for entry to FIFA competitions (the few geographic exceptions are listed below):

In Asia and Australia - Asian Football Confederation (AFC);
In Africa - Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF);
In South America  - Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol (CONMEBOL);
In Central America and North America - Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF);
In Oceania - Oceania Football Confederation (OFC);
In Europe - Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)

Nations straddling the boundary between Asia and Europe have normally had their choice of confederation. Consequently, nations including Turkey and Russia have selected to become part of UEFA, although the bulk of their land area is located in Asia. In 1994 Israel joined UEFA, even though its territory is lying entirely in Asia. It happened after years of isolation by most of its neighbors of Middle Eastern. Kazakhstan was the latest nation that transferred from AFC to UEFA, in 2002. It is noteworthy that Suriname and Guyana have always been members of CONCACAF, even though they are located in South America.

Recently, Australia has been given the right to play under the AFC management instead of OFC. Australia has yearned for a long time for that change because of its national team's strength, which is unequal to other teams in Oceania. No OFC team is offered automatic World Cup qualification; instead the team which won the section tournament has to play play-off matches against a team from CONMEBOL, a barrier at which Australia has traditionally fallen.

 

In total, FIFA recognises 207 national federations and their associated national teams. The FIFA World Rankings are updated monthly and rank each team based on their performance in international competitions, qualifiers, and friendly matches. There is also a world ranking for women's football, updated four times a year.

FIFA carries out international FIFA tournaments (FIFA football cups and FIFA championships) such as the World Cup, Olympic Games football competitions, World Champs for youth level and those under 17, Confederations Cup, and Women's World Cup. Also FIFA manages the modified forms of the game, such as international futsal (the FIFA Futsal World Championship).and beach football (the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup).

One of the latest FIFA tournaments is The FIFA Confederations Cup. It is the national teams tournament, which is carried out every four years by Federation Internationale de Football Association. Winners of regional confederation championships (CONCACAF, UEFA, CONMEBOL, CAF, OFC, AFC) participate in that tournament, alongside with the FIFA World Cup champion and the country, which hosts the World Cup that particular year. Thus, the quantity of rivals goes up to eight teams. FIFA World Cup is the most famous and popular of FIFA tournaments, which has a great history. FIFA tournaments have always attracted much attention of the football fans.

 

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