The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Federation of Association Football (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA. FIFA is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. The congress may be ordinary or extraordinary. An ordinary congress meets every year, an extraordinary congress may be convened by the FIFA Council (formerly Executive Committee) at any time.
FIFA was founded in 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations; Russia was suspended in 2022. It meets annually for ordinary congresses to decide on rules amendments, statutes, and to approve the annual report. Each member has one vote in the congress. The members can propose candidates for World Cup host and Presidency of FIFA. The FIFA Presidential election and FIFA World Cup Host country election takes place at the congress in the year following the World Cup which is always played after four years.
Let’s note that the 70th congress was supposed to take place in Ethiopia June 2020 but due to Covid 19 pandemic it was held online in September 2020, the same happened to the 71st which was to take in Tokyo in May 2021 but unfortunately it was rescheduled as an online event in the same month. The 72nd was held in Qatar which is set to host the 2022 Football World Cup.
President Kagame with current FIFA president Infantino
On Thursday June 23rd, FIFA approved Rwanda to host the 73rd FIFA congress. In less than four years Rwanda hosted the Fifa Council meeting in 2018. Rwanda has shown that she is the global hub for Sport events as she hosted the 2016 African Nations Championships (CHAN), the 2021 Basketball and Volleyball African championships and the finals for both the 2021 and 2022 Basketball Africa League.
Currently, Rwanda is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) the 54-nation community. CHOGM is held in Africa for the first time since 2007.
By Manzi Rene Victory
