Laws and governance
FIFA headquarters is in Zürich, and it is an association established under the law of Switzerland.
FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly of representatives from each affiliated member association. Each national football association has one vote, regardless of size or footballing strength. The Congress assembles in ordinary sessions once every year, and extraordinary sessions have been held once a year since 1998. Congress makes decisions relating to FIFA's governing statutes and their method of implementation and application. Only Congress can pass changes to FIFA's statutes. The congress approves the annual report and decides on the acceptance of new national associations, and holds elections. Congress elects the President of FIFA, its general secretary, and the other members of the FIFA Council in the year following the FIFA World Cup.
The FIFA Council – formerly called the FIFA Executive Committee – is the organisation's main strategic body, making decisions in the intervals between Congress meetings. The council comprises 37 people: the president, who chairs the Council; 8 vice-presidents; and 28 members from the confederations. Each confederation must elect at least one woman to the Council. Six of the Vice-Presidents hold the role ex officio as the Presidents of the Confederations, and the remaining two must come from UEFA. The Council reviews the bids to host the World Cup and proposes up to three of these to the Congress, which votes to select the host country or countries.
The President and the Secretary General are the main office holders of FIFA and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by the general secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280 members. Gianni Infantino is the current president, elected on 26 February 2016 at an extraordinary FIFA Congress session after former president Sepp Blatter was suspended pending a corruption investigation.
FIFA's worldwide organizational structure also consists of several other bodies under the authority of the FIFA Council or created by Congress as standing committees. Among those bodies are the Finance Committee, and Referees Committee, as well as independent judicial bodies the Disciplinary Committee, and the FIFA Ethics Committee.
The FIFA Emergency Committee deals with all matters requiring immediate settlement in the time frame between the regular meetings of the FIFA Council. The Emergency Committee consists of the FIFA president as well as one member from each confederation. Emergency Committee decisions made are immediately put into legal effect, although they need to be ratified at the next Executive Committee meeting.
Between 1994 and 2017, FIFA's independent research arm, the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC), led global sports medicine initiatives. The centre standardized injury surveillance, developed the widespread "FIFA 11+" injury prevention warm-up programme, and established the medical evidence that led to mandatory cooling breaks during matches in extreme heat.
