Despite sometimes fractious international relations, football continued to rise in popularity. It made its official Olympic debut at the London Games in 1908, and it has since been played in each of the Summer Games (except for the 1932 Games in Los Angeles). FIFA also grew steadily—especially in the latter half of the 20th century, when it strengthened its standing as the game’s global authority and regulator of competition. Guinea became FIFA’s 100th member in 1961; at the turn of the 21st century, more than 200 nations were registered FIFA members, which is more than the number of countries that belong to the United Nations.
The World Cup finals remain football’s premier tournament, but other important tournaments have emerged under FIFA guidance. Two different tournaments for young players began in 1977 and 1985, and these became, respectively, the World Youth Championship (for those 20 years old and younger) and the Under-17 World Championship. Futsal, the world indoor five-a-side championship, started in 1989. Two years later the first Women’s World Cup was played in China. In 1992 FIFA opened the Olympic football tournament to players aged under 23 years, and four years later the first women’s Olympic football tournament was held. The World Club Championship debuted in Brazil in 2000. The Under-19 Women’s World Championship was inaugurated in 2002.
FIFA enrollment is available to all public affiliations. They should acknowledge FIFA’s position, notice the laws of football, and have a reasonable football foundation (i.e., offices and inward association). FIFA rules expect individuals to frame mainland confederations. The first of these, the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (generally known as CONMEBOL), was established in South America in 1916. In 1954 the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) were set up. Africa’s overseeing body, the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), was established in 1957. The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) followed four years after the fact. The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) showed up in 1966. These confederations may arrange their own club, worldwide, and youth competitions, choose agents for FIFA’s Executive Committee, and advance football in their particular mainlands as they see fit. Thus, all football players, specialists, alliances, public affiliations, and confederations should perceive the authority of FIFA’s Arbitration Tribunal for Football, which successfully works as football’s high court in genuine questions.
Until the mid 1970s, control of FIFA (and consequently of world football) was solidly in the possession of northern Europeans. Under the administrations of the Englishmen Arthur Drewry (1955–61) and Stanley Rous (1961–74), FIFA received a somewhat moderate aristocrat relationship to the public and mainland bodies. It made due on unobtrusive pay from the World Cup finals, and generally little was done to advance football in non-industrial nations or to investigate the game’s business potential inside the West’s post bellum period of prosperity. FIFA’s administration was more worried about issue of guideline, like affirming novice status for Olympic rivalry or restricting those related with illicit exchanges of players with existing agreements. For instance, Colombia (1951–54) and Australia (1960–63) were suspended incidentally from FIFA in the wake of allowing clubs to select players who had broken agreements somewhere else on the planet.