List of football federations
This is a list of international football governing bodies.
Global
- FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association - 211 members - founded in 1904, represents nations from around the world, and is the overall governing body of recognised international football. Its premier tournament is the quadrennial FIFA World Cup.
- CONIFA - Confederation of Independent Football Associations - 44 members - founded in 2013 as CIFA, represents nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities and regions not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament is the CONIFA World Football Cup.
Defunct
- UIAFA - Union Internationale Amateur de Football Association - three, later seven members - founded in 1908 and dissolved in 1912. Main tournament was the Amateur European Championship, this confederations was the rival to FIFA in the early years.
- NF-Board - New Football Federations-Board / Nouvelle Fédération-Board - 18 members + 14 provisional - founded in 2003, represented nations, dependencies, unrecognized states, minorities, stateless peoples, regions and micronations not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament is the VIVA World Cup. This organization was dissolved in January 2013, however was revived in 2017, despite not being able to host any events that it tried to host, even after its announced revival. As of 2025, no successful events have been hosted since its revival.
Continental
FIFA confederations
FIFA-member football associations are formed together into continental confederations, which organize continental national and club competitions.| Acronym | Name in full | No. of members | Founded | Continent represented | Main tournament |
| AFC | Asian Football Confederation | 47 | 1954 | Asia | AFC Asian Cup |
| CAF | Confederation of African Football | 54 F + 2 A | 1957 | Africa | African Cup of Nations |
| CONCACAF | Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football | 41 | 1961 | North America Central America Caribbean | CONCACAF Gold Cup |
| CONMEBOL | Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol | 10 | 1916 | South America | Copa América |
| OFC | Oceania Football Confederation | 11 F + 2 A | 1966 | Oceania | OFC Nations Cup. |
| UEFA | Union of European Football Associations | 55 | 1954 | Europe | UEFA European Championship |
F = full members; A = associate members.
Inter-continental
The following confederations consist of FIFA member associations that cross continental boundaries.- UAFA - Union of Arab Football Associations - twenty-two members - founded in 1974, represents Arab nations from Africa and Asia. The main tournament is the Arab Cup.
Defunct
- PFC Panamerican Football Confederation - twenty-four members - founded in 1946 was the not official fusion of CONMEBOL, CCCF and NAFC and represented teams from Americas. The main tournament was the Panamerican Championship, when PFC was dissolved, both CCCF and NAFC both were merged to form CONCACAF
Sub-continental
Africa
Affiliated to CAF| Acronym | Name in full | No. of members | Founded | Nations represented | Main tournament |
| CECAFA | Council of East and Central African Football Associations | 10 F + 1 A | 1927 | Those generally regarded as forming the regions of East Africa Some nations of Central Africa | CECAFA Cup |
| COSAFA | Council of Southern Africa Football Associations | 14 F + 1 A | 1997 | Those generally regarded as forming Southern Africa Island states off the coast of Southern Africa | COSAFA Cup |
| WAFU | Union of West African Football Associations | 16 | 1977 | Those in West Africa | WAFU Nations Cup |
| UNAF | Union of North African Federations | 5 | 2005 | Those regarded as forming North Africa | |
| UNIFFAC | Central African Football Federations' Union | 8 | Some of the nations that form Central Africa | CEMAC Cup |
Sub-Regions
- WAFU-Zone A - WAFU West Zone - nine members a sub-zone of WAFU
- WAFU-Zone B - WAFU East Zone - seven members a sub-zone of WAFU
- UFFOI - Union des fédérations de football de l'océan Indien - six members - founded in 2009, a sub-zone of COSAFA.
Asia
| Acronym | Name in full | No. of members | Founded | Nations represented | Main tournament |
| WAFF | West Asian Football Federation | 12 | 2001 | Represents nations from West Asia | WAFF Championship |
| EAFF | East Asian Football Federation | 10 | 2002 | Represents nations from East Asia | EAFF E-1 Football Championship |
| SAFF | South Asian Football Federation | 7 | 1997 | Represents nations from South Asia | SAFF Championship |
| CAFA | Central Asian Football Association | 6 | 2015 | Represents nations from Central Asia | CAFA Nations Cup |
| AFF | ASEAN Football Federation | 12 | 1984 | Represents nations from Southeast Asia | ASEAN Championship |
Not affiliated to AFC
- AGCFF - Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation - eight members - founded in 2016, represents the participating nations of the Arabian Gulf Cup.
North America
- CFU - Caribbean Football Union - thirty members - represents all nations in the Caribbean. The main tournament was the Caribbean Cup.
- * LIFA - Leeward Islands Football Association - eleven members - founded in 1949, represents nations of the Leeward archipelago and is affiliated to CFU. The main tournament was the Leeward Islands Tournament.
- * WIFA - Windward Islands Football Association - four members - represents nations of the Windward archipelago and is affiliated to CFU. The main tournament was the Windward Islands Tournament.
- NAFU - North American Football Union - three members - represents the three sovereign nations of North America. The main tournament was the now defunct North American Nations Cup.
- UNCAF Union Centroamericana de Fútbol - seven members - represents the seven nations of Central America. The main tournament was the UNCAF Nations Cup.
Defunct confederations affiliated to FIFA
- CCCF - Confederacion Centroamericana y del Caribe de Futbol - eleven members - dissolved in 1961, represented Central America and Caribbean region and was affiliated to FIFA. The main tournaments were the CCCF Championship and CCCF Youth Championship.
- NAFC - North American Football Confederation - four members - founded in 1946 and dissolved in 1961, represented the North American region and was affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament was the NAFC Championship.
Defunct confederations not-affiliated to FIFA
- CENF - Confederation of European New Federations - unknown number of members - founded in 2007 and dissolved in 2009, represented teams not affiliated to FIFA in Europe, and was affiliated to NF-Board. The main tournament was the CENF Cup, but is unknown to have been played.
- FIFI - Federation of International Football Independents - five members - represented nations, dependencies and unrecognized states not affiliated to FIFA. The main tournament was the FIFI Wild Cup.
- : The main South American non-FIFA organisation. As of August 2025, There are 11 member associations.
- IFU - International Football Union - two provisional members - founded in 2009 as an international football confederation for nations and territories not admitted to FIFA, was dissolved in 2010.