Editing Association football (section)

== Governing bodies ==
{{See also|Association football around the world}}
[[File:FIFA-Headquarter.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[FIFA headquarters|Headquarters]] of [[FIFA]], the world governing body of football]]
The recognised international governing body of football (and associated games, such as [[futsal]] and [[beach soccer]]){{efn|name=Variants}} is [[FIFA]]. The FIFA headquarters are located in [[Zürich]], Switzerland. Six regional confederations are associated with FIFA; these are:<ref name="confeds">{{cite web |title=Member Associations |url=https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/associations |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220105319/https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/associations |archive-date=20 February 2023 |access-date=20 February 2023 |publisher=FIFA}}</ref>
* [[Asia]]: [[Asian Football Confederation]] (AFC)
* [[Africa]]: [[Confederation of African Football]] (CAF)
* [[Europe]]: [[Union of European Football Associations]] (UEFA)
* [[North America|North]]/[[Central America]] & [[Caribbean]]: [[Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football]] (CONCACAF)
* [[Oceania]]: [[Oceania Football Confederation]] (OFC)
* [[South America]]: [[Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol]] (South American Football Confederation; CONMEBOL)

National associations (or national federations) oversee football within individual countries. These are generally synonymous with sovereign states (for example, the [[Cameroonian Football Federation]] in Cameroon), but also include a smaller number of associations responsible for sub-national entities or autonomous regions (for example, the [[Scottish Football Association]] in Scotland). 211 national associations are affiliated both with FIFA and with their respective continental confederations.<ref name="confeds" /> Other national associations may be members of continental confederations but otherwise [[Non-FIFA international football|not participate in FIFA competitions]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Vázquez |first1=Luis Guillermo |last2=Hall |first2=Andy |title=Which CONCACAF teams are not recognized by FIFA? |url=https://en.as.com/soccer/which-concacaf-teams-are-not-recognized-by-fifa-n/ |website=AS USA |access-date=11 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241110143536/https://en.as.com/soccer/which-concacaf-teams-are-not-recognized-by-fifa-n/ |archive-date=10 November 2024 |language=en |date=9 October 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>

While FIFA is responsible for organising international competitions and enforcing most international regulations, the [[Laws of the Game (association football)|Laws of the Game]] are set by the [[International Football Association Board|IFAB]], where each of the four UK associations holds one vote and FIFA collectively holds four votes.<ref name="FIFA" />

{{anchor|Internationalcompetitions}}<!-- [[International competitions in association football]] redirects here -->