FIFA - Statistics & Facts

The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is the international governing body of association football which was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It was initially created to oversee international competition among eight national associations in Europe, but it now comprises 211 national associations from across the world. There are six confederations recognized by FIFA which oversee the game on the organization’s behalf in the different continents and regions of the world. The administrative body for association football in Europe and part of Asia is UEFA. In 2021, FIFA had revenues of over 766 million U.S. dollars, over half of which came from television, marketing and licensing rights.

The World Cup

FIFA is responsible for the organization of football’s major international tournaments, the most notable of which is the FIFA World Cup. The men’s inaugural tournament was held in 1930, whilst the Women’s World Cup commenced in 1991. Brazil is the most successful team in the history of the men’s competition as it has lifted the trophy a total of five times, most recently at the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in Korea and Japan. Italy and Germany have both won the title four times. France won the latest edition of the tournament in held in Russia in 2018. The all-time leading goal scorer in the World Cup finals is Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who scored a total of 16 goals across 4 tournaments. He scored his sixteenth and record-breaking goal in Germany's 7-1 semi-final victory over Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. The World Cup is a very lucrative tournament for FIFA and television broadcasting rights for the tournament topped 600 million U.S. dollars in 2014. Many fans also watch the matches live in the stadiums and a total of over 3.03 million spectators saw live games during the 2018 World Cup.

The Club World Cup

As well as holding a World Cup at national level, FIFA has organized the Club World Cup since 2000. This competition involves seven teams who mainly qualify by winning their continental tournaments, such as the European UEFA Champions League or the North American CONCACAF Champions League. Real Madrid is the most successful team in the history of the tournament with four titles, followed by FC Barcelona with three titles.

The Ballon d’Or

Each year FIFA also awards the title of FIFA Ballon d’Or to the top men’s and women’s players of the season. The Argentinean Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo top the list of all-time Ballon d’Or winners, as both have won the award five times each. The trophy is awarded based on the votes from national team coaches and captains, as well as journalists from around the world. The annual Ballon d’Or ceremony also recognizes team and international achievements, as well as giving the FIFA Puskás award to the goal voted by fans as the most aesthetically significant of the year.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Aug 31, 2023

Key insights

FIFA revenue
5.77bn USD
FIFA expenses
3.40bn USD
FIFA investment in FIFA Forward Programme
436m USD
Get more insights

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FIFA breakdown of revenues by segment from 2003 to 2020 (in million U.S. dollars)

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Revenue of FIFA broken down by segment 2003-2020

Countries with the most FIFA World Cup titles as of 2022

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Countries with the most World Cup titles 1930-2022

All time leading goal scorers in the FIFA World Cup as of 2022

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Players with the most World Cup goals 1930-2022

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