9781422278321

WORLD REGIONS The world is a big place, and managing the hundreds of confederations affiliated with the world’s most popular sport is a big job. That job falls to soccer’s worldwide governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Based in Switzerland, FIFA has 211 member associations, the vast majority of which represent individual countries. FIFA recognizes regional confederations, which geographically group each country into one of six confederations that line up with the Earth’s six populated continents. In alphabetical order of the abbreviations by which they are commonly referred to, the confederations are: the Asian Football Confederation (AFC); the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF); the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean

Association Football (CONCACAF); the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL); the Oceania Football Conference (OFC); and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). There are a few geographic quirks , most notably that Australia is an AFC member after leaving the OFC in 2006. AFC The AFC was founded in the Philippines in 1954 with 12 member nations. There are now 47 nations represented in the AFC, which is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Japan, one of the best teams in the AFC, has qualified for every World Cup since 1998

Iran, Australia, and Japan have been the best teams in the AFC over the past decade. Japan has won a record four AFC Asian Cups, the confederation’s top competition. In terms of World Cup success, Japan has qualified for each of the last five World Cup final tournaments, while

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