The continue of history of FIFA

FIFA Presidents 

 

FIFA has been served by eight Presidents since its foundation in 1904. From Frenchman Robert Guerin to the current incumbent Joseph S. Blatter via Jules Rimet, the father of the FIFA World Cup™, each President has played his part in the growth and development of the world's favourite game.

Robert Guerin, France - 1904-06
Born 1876, Died 1952
Frenchman Robert Guerin was the dynamic figure behind the founding of FIFA in 1904. A journalist with Le Matin newspaper, Guerin was actively involved in football through his role as secretary of the Football Department of the Union des Societes Françaises de Sports Athletiques. He brought together representatives of the first seven member countries in Paris for the signing of FIFA's foundation act and agreement of the first FIFA statutes. On 22 May 1904, Guerin - then just 28 - was elected president at the inaugural FIFA Congress and remained in his post for two years, during which time another eight associations came on board, including the English Football Association.

Daniel Burley Woolfall, England - 1906-18
Born 1852, Died 1918
An English FA administrator from Blackburn, Daniel Burley Woolfall was elected as President on 4 June 1906. A key aim during his presidency was to achieve uniform football rules on an international level and he played a prominent role in the drafting of FIFA's new constitution. Under Woolfall, the application of the Laws of the Game, established under the English model, became compulsory and a clear definition was made of international matches. Two years after assuming the presidency, he helped organise the first noteworthy international football competition, the 1908 Olympic Games in London. His reign as president brought the arrival of FIFA's first non-European members in South Africa, Argentina, Chile and the United States but was interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. Woolfall's presidency ended with his death in August 1918.

Jules Rimet, France- 1921-54
Born 1873, Died 1956
(named Honorary FIFA President on 21 June 1954)
When the FIFA World Cup trophy was renamed in honour of Jules Rimet in 1946, it was rightful recognition of the role played by the Frenchman, then celebrating his 25 ^th anniversary as President, in establishing what fast became the sport's foremost competition. Rimet, inspired by the success of the Olympic Football Tournament, was the driving force behind the FIFA World Cup's inception in 1930. His overriding aim was a rapprochement of nations through sport and the First World War only reinforced his determination. He oversaw the first five tournaments before handing 'his' trophy over for the final time to West Germany captain Fritz Walter in June 1954. That same month, the then 80-year-old ended his long reign - during which FIFA membership grew from 20 to 85 countries - and became the federation's first Honorary President.

Rodolphe William Seeldrayers, Belgium - 1954-55
Born 1876, Died 1955
A lawyer from Brussels, Rodolphe William Seeldrayers was an accomplished sportsman in his youth, winning a Belgian championship with Racing Club Brussels - a club he later served as president. As a sports administrator, he helped found the Belgian Football Association and served on the International Olympic Committee. At FIFA he performed the duties of Vice-President for 27 years prior to succeeding Jules Rimet, his great comrade-in-arms. Seeldrayers was President for the 1954 FIFA World Cup and also oversaw the world governing body's 50 ^th anniversary celebrations that same year. He died in office on 7 October 1955.

Arthur Drewry, England - 1955-61
Born 1891, Died 1961
Arthur Drewry served as interim head of FIFA for six months following the death of Rodolphe William Seeldrayers and then became President in his own right in June 1956. Together with Stanley Rous, he had keenly supported Jules Rimet's efforts to bring the British associations back into FIFA in 1946 and he also served as president of the Football League and chairman of the Football Association in England. The near five years that Drewry spent as President - from his election in 1956 to his passing aged 70 on 25 March 1961 - included the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden.

Sir Stanley Rous, England - 1961-74
Born 1895, Died 1986
(named Honorary FIFA President on 11 June 1974)
Sir Stanley Rous had already made an impressive contribution to football on and off the field before becoming President of FIFA. As a top-class referee, he took charge of the FA Cup final in England and 36 international matches. Then, having becoming secretary of the English FA in 1934, he helped rewrite the Laws of the Game in 1938 while his patient diplomacy helped pave the way for the British nations rejoining FIFA in 1946. Rous was knighted in 1949 for his contribution to the London Olympics the previous year and to sport in general. He became the third English President of FIFA when he took the reins in September 1961 and during his term of office, the FIFA World Cup became a worldwide television spectacle - particularly with the Mexico 1970 finals, which were the first to be broadcast around the globe in colour. Four years earlier he had been witness to England's FIFA World Cup triumph on home soil.

João Havelange, Brazil - 1974-98
Born 1916
(named Honorary FIFA President on 8 June 1998)
Dr João Havelange's 24 years as FIFA President were a period of significant change which featured, most notably, the expansion of the FIFA World Cup from a 16-team tournament to one twice as large by the time the Brazilian left his post in 1998. An Olympic swimmer and water polo player in his younger days, Havelange's greatest achievement as a football administrator was arguably to ensure increased involvement on the world stage for teams from Asia, Africa, CONCACAF and Oceania, who had had just three FIFA World Cup finalists between them in 1974. FIFA's Zurich headquarters housed just 12 staff members when he took office yet that figure would increase almost tenfold as FIFA's organisational responsibilities and commercial interests grew, not least with a wave of new tournaments introduced, notably the world championships at Under-17 and U20 level in the late 1980s and the FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup at the start of the 1990s.

Joseph S. Blatter, Switzerland - 1998-present
Born 1936
Joseph S. Blatter had already served FIFA for 23 years when he was elected President of world football's governing body on 8 June 1998. A former keen amateur footballer, he joined FIFA as Director of Technical Programmes in 1975 where he helped lay the foundations for future under-age and women's competitions. He worked closely under his predecessor, Dr João Havelange, serving as General Secretary for nine years from 1981 and subsequently CEO, and playing a key role in organising five FIFA World Cups from Spain 1982 onwards. The Swiss was also the driving force behind FIFA's ongoing partnership with SOS Children's Villages, which started in 1994, and since his election he has extended the federation's humanitarian remit by forming an alliance with UNICEF. Re-elected for a second term as President on 29 May 2002, Mr Blatter has expanded FIFA's competition portfolio, developing the FIFA Club World Cup as well as introducing world championships for Beach Soccer and Futsal. The President was re-elected to serve a fourth term on 1 June 2011.

The laws From 1863 to the Present Day 

© Getty Images

Football has come a long way since its first laws were drawn up in London in 1863. That historic meeting at the Freemasons' Tavern led not only to the foundation of the Football Association but, moreover, to the game's inaugural set of common rules.

Although undergraduates at Cambridge had made an earlier attempt to achieve a uniform standard in the late 1840s - albeit still allowing the ball to be caught - it was not until 1863 that football, a sport played down the centuries in often-violent village contests and then embraced in the early 1800s by the English public schools, had a fixed rulebook.

One club represented at the Freemasons' Tavern, Blackheath, refused to accept the non-inclusion of hacking (kicking below the knee) and subsequently became a founder of the Rugby Football Union. However, the 11 others reached an agreement and, under the charge of one Ebenezer Cobb Morley, 14 laws were soon penned for a game that would, in the following century, become the most played, watched and talked about activity on the planet.

Original offside rule
The offside rule formed part of the original rules in 1863 but it was a far remove from the law as we know it today. Any attacking player ahead of the ball was deemed to be offside - meaning early tactical systems featured as many as eight forwards, as the only means of advancing the ball was by dribbling or scrimmaging as in rugby. In the late 1860s, the FA made the momentous decision to adopt the three-player rule, where an attacker would be called offside if positioned in front of the third-last defender. Now the passing game could develop.

Despite the unification of the rules and the creation of the FA in 1863, disputes, largely involving Sheffield clubs who had announced their own set of ideas in 1857, persisted into the late 1870s. However, the creation of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) finally put an end to all arguments. Made up of two representatives from each of the four associations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland), the IFAB met for the first time on 2 June 1886 to guard the Laws of the Game. Then, as today, a three-quarters majority was needed for a proposal to be passed.

Gradual changes
In those early years, the game gradually assumed the features we take for granted today. Goal-kicks were introduced in 1869 and corner-kicks in 1872. In 1878 a referee used a whistle for the first time. Yet there was no such thing as a penalty up until 1891. In the public schools where modern football originated, there was an assumption that a gentleman would never deliberately commit a foul. Amid the increased competitiveness, however, the penalty, or as it was originally called 'the kick of death', was introduced as one of a number of dramatic changes to the Laws of the Game in 1891.

Penalties, of course, had to be awarded by someone and following a proposal from the Irish Association, the referee was allowed on to the field of play. True to its gentlemanly beginnings, disputes were originally settled by the two team captains, but, as the stakes grew, so did the number of complaints.

By the time the first FA Cup and international fixture took place, two umpires, one per team, were being employed to whom each side could appeal. But it was not the ideal solution as decisions were often only reached following lengthy delays. The referee, at first, stood on the touchline keeping time and was 'referred' to if the umpires could not agree but that all changed in 1891.

Referees introduced
From that date a single person with powers to send players off as well as give penalties and free-kicks without listening to appeals became a permanent fixture in the game. The two umpires became linesmen, or 'assistant referees' as they are called today. Also during that meeting in Scotland, the goal net was accepted into the laws, completing the make-up of the goal after the introduction of the crossbar to replace tape 16 years previously.

With the introduction of rules, the features of the football pitch as we know it slowly began to appear. The kick-off required a centre spot; keeping players ten yards from the ball at kick-off, brought the centre circle. It is interesting to note that when the penalty came in 1891, it was not taken from a spot but anywhere along a 12-yard line before 1902.

The 1902 decision to award penalties for fouls committed in an area 18 yards from the goal line and 44 yards wide, created both the penalty box and penalty spot. Another box 'goal area', commonly called the 'six-yard-box', six yards long and 20 wide, replaced a semi circle in the goalmouth. However it was not for another 35 years that the final piece of the jigsaw, the 'D' shape at the edge of the penalty area,

FIFA joins IFAB
Football fast became as popular elsewhere as it had been in Britain and in May 1904, FIFA was founded in Paris with seven original members: France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain (represented by Madrid FC), Sweden and Switzerland. There was some initial disquiet in the United Kingdom to the idea of a world body governing the sport it had created rules for, but this uncertainty was soon brushed aside. Former FA board member Daniel Burley Woolfall replaced Frenchman Robert Guérin as FIFA President in 1906 - the year the FA joined - and in 1913 FIFA became a member of the IFAB.

In the restructured decision-making body, FIFA was given the same voting powers as the four British associations put together. There remained eight votes and the same 75 per cent majority needed for a proposal to be passed, but instead of two each, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland now had one, while FIFA was given four.

On the field of play, the number of goals increased aided by the 1912 rule preventing goalkeepers from handling the ball outside the penalty area and another in 1920 banning offsides from throw-ins. In 1925, the three-player offside rule became a two-player one, representing another radical change that propelled the game further forward.

Rous rewrites the Laws
By the late 1930s it was felt that the Laws of the Game, now totalling 17, required a makeover. The original Laws had been penned in the language of Victorian England and since then, there had been more than half a century of changes and amendments. Hence the task given to Stanley Rous, a member of the IFAB and the official who first employed the diagonal system of refereeing, to clean the cobwebs and draft the Laws in a rational order. The Englishman, who would become FIFA President in 1961, did such a good job that not until 1997 were the Laws revised for as second time.

Despite football's phenomenal popularity, there was a general agreement in the late 1980s that the Laws of the Game should be fine-tuned in the face of defensive tactics. If fan violence was a serious off-the-pitch problem during that period, then on it the increasingly high stakes meant a real risk of defensive tactics gaining the upper hand.

Hence a series of amendments, often referred to as for the 'Good of the Game', which were designed to help promote attacking football. They began with the offside law in 1990. The advantage was now given to the attacking team. If the attacker was in line with the penultimate defender, he was now onside. In the same year, the 'professional foul' - denying an opponent a clear goal-scoring opportunity - became a sending-off offence.

Back-pass rule changed
Despite these changes, tactics during the 1990 FIFA World Cup™ suggested something more needed to be done. The IFAB responded in 1992 by banning goalkeepers from handling deliberate back-passes. Although the new rule was greeted with scepticism by some at first, in the fullness of time it would become widely appreciated.

The game's Law-makers then struck another blow against cynicism in 1998 when the fierce tackle from behind became a red-card offence. With a new century approaching, the commitment to forward-thinking football could not have been clearer.

Laws of the Game

1863: The Cambridge Rules are rewritten to provide the game's first uniform regulations.
1866: The offside law is changed to allow players to be onside provided there are three players between the ball and the goal.
1882: The associations in Great Britain unify their rules and form the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to control the laws of the game.
1886: The first official meeting of the IFAB takes place.
1891: Introduction of the penalty-kick.
1913: FIFA becomes a member of the IFAB.
1925: Amendment of the offside rule from three to two players.
1938: The present Laws of the Game are framed in a new system of codification, based on the Laws previously in force.
1958: Substitutes are permitted for the first time, albeit only for an injured goalkeeper and one other injured player.
1970: The system of red and yellow cards is introduced for the 1970 FIFA World Cup ™ finals.
1990: The offside law is changed in favour of the attacker, who is now onside if level with the penultimate defender.
1992: Goalkeepers are forbidden from handing back-passes.
1994: The technical area is introduced into the Laws of the Game, with the Fourth Official following the next year.
1996: Linesmen are renamed Assistant Referees.
1997: The Laws are revised.