059. Soccer Sway

With the 2010 World Cup just a few days away, I felt it it was time to sway some attention over to www.gousabid.com.

In December 2010, soccer’s governing body—the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)—will select the countries that will host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup™.

FIFA has received confirmations of interest from ten potential bidders, including the USA, to host one of the two tournaments. The other countries currently in the process of bidding for the event are:

Australia Belgium-Netherlands England Indonesia Japan

Qatar (2022) Russia South Korea (2022) Spain-Portugal

Before voting, FIFA’s Executive Committee will visit each of the sites to confirm that the bidding country meets the requirements to host the event. Ultimately, the host countries are determined based on votes from the FIFA Executive Committee members.

FIFA

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, FIFA is the international governing body of soccer.

In 1904, nine countries signed the foundation act establishing the Association. Today, FIFA has more member associations than both the United Nations and International Olympic Committee.

Each member association—country—sends a representative to FIFA Congress. 

FIFA Congress generally meets every two years. It makes decisions on governing matters, decides on the an annual reports and rules on the acceptance of national associations. Perhaps most importantly, FIFA Congress also elects the President, the General Secretary and other members of the Executive Committee. 

The current President of FIFA is Joseph "Sepp" Blatter of Switzerland.

FIFA held the first FIFA World Cup™ in 1930. Since then, countries have participated in the tournament every four years.*

To learn more on their web site, click here.

* With the exception of 1942 and 1946 due to World War II