FIFA is an international bodyfor association of football, futsal, and beach soccer. It is a non-profit organization. It is association football's highest governing body.

FIFA was established in 1904 to manage international competition amongst Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. It now has 211 national associations as members, with its headquarters in Zürich, Switzerland. These national organisations must also belong to one of the world's six regional confederations: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Central America and the Caribbean, Oceania, and South America.

Robert Guérin was FIFA's first president. In 1906, Guérin was replaced by Daniel Burley Woolfall, an Englishman who was already a member of the organization. Despite the participation of professional footballers, FIFA's first event, the association football competition for the 1908 Olympics in London, was more successful than its Olympic predecessors, despite FIFA's basic principles.