Association football

==Governing bodies==
{{See also|Association football around the world}}
[[File:FIFA-Headquarter.jpg|alt=|thumb|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]]: [[UEFA|Union of European Football Associations]] (UEFA)
* [[North America|North]]/[[Central America]] & [[Caribbean]]: [[CONCACAF|Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football]] (CONCACAF)
* [[Oceania]]: [[Oceania Football Confederation]] (OFC)
* [[South America]]: [[CONMEBOL|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 news |last=Oinam |first=Jayanta |date=9 December 2022 |title=Harbouring FIFA non-members, the Caribbean Football Union way |url=https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/harbouring-fifa-non-members-the-caribbean-football-union-way |work=FIFA |accessdate=1 September 2023 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902040138/https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/harbouring-fifa-non-members-the-caribbean-football-union-way |url-status=live }}</ref>

While FIFA is responsible for arranging competitions and most rules related to international competition, the actual Laws of the Game are set by the IFAB, where each of the UK Associations has one vote, while FIFA collectively has four votes.<ref name=":1" />

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