FIFA FOUNDATION

The Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in the rear
of the headquarters of the Union Franaise de Sports Athltiques at the Rue Saint
Honor 229 in Paris on 21 May 1904. The foundation act was signed by the
authorised representatives of the following associations: WHO? WHO?
Present at that historic meeting were: Robert Gurin and Andr Espir (France); Louis
Muhlinghaus and Max Kahn (Belgium); Ludvig Sylow (Denmark); Carl Anton Wilhelm
Hirschman (Netherlands); Victor E Schneider (Switzerland). Sylow also represented
the SBF while Spir performed the same function for the Madrid Football Club.
France - Union des Socits Franaises de Sports Athltiques (USFSA)
Belgium - Union Belge des Socits de Sports (UBSSA)
Denmark - Dansk Boldspil Union (DBU)
Netherlands - Nederlandsche Voetbal Bond (NVB)
Spain - Madrid Football Club
Sweden - Svenska Bollspells Frbundet (SBF)
Switzerland - Association Suisse de Football (ASF)
When the idea of founding an international football federation began taking shape
in Europe, the intention of those involved was to recognise the role of the English
who had founded their Football Association back in 1863. Hirschman, secretary of
the Netherlands Football Association, turned to the Football Association. Its
secretary, FJ Wall, did accept the proposal but progress stalled while waiting for the
Executive Committee of the Football Association, the International FA Board and the
associations of Scotland, Wales and Ireland to give their opinion about the matter.
Gurin, secretary of the football department of the Union des Socits Franaises de
Sports Athltiques and a journalist with Le Matin newspaper, did not want to wait
any longer. He contacted the national associations on the continent in writing and
asked them to consider the possibility of founding an umbrella organisation.
When Belgium and France met in the first official international match in Brussels on
1 May 1904, Gurin discussed the subject with his Belgian counterpart Louis
Muhlinghaus. It was now definite that the English FA, under its president Lord
Kinnaird, would not be participating in the foundation of an international federation.
So Gurin took the opportunity and sent out invitations to the founding assembly.
The process of organising the international game had begun.
The first FIFA Statutes were laid down and the following points determined: the
reciprocal and exclusive recognition of the national associations represented and
attending; clubs and players were forbidden to play simultaneously for different

national associations; recognition by the other associations of a player's suspension

announced by an association; and the playing of matches according to the Laws of
the Game of the Football Association Ltd.
Each national association had to pay an annual fee of FF50. Already then there were
thoughts of staging an international competition and Article 9 stipulated that FIFA
alone was entitled to take over the organisation of such an event. It was decided
that these regulations would only come into force as of 1 September 1904.
Moreover, the first Statutes of FIFA were only of a provisional nature, in order to
simplify the acceptance of additional members. On the day of foundation, the
Deutscher Fussball-Bund (German FA) sent a telegram confirming that it would
adhere to these Statutes in principle.
OK! You are beginning to gather information. You MUST resource this, either as
footnotes as you go along or as a bibliography which you keep adding to. Otherwise
you will lose the base. It is easy enough to search out information and to copy/paste
into Word, but at the end of the day, all the project which you deliver must be your
own work or, more likely a compilation of the work of others, in which case you
MUST recognize the other authors.
The process is:
1. Get your idea you have that; it is your project topic and title and theme
2. Decide your framework chapters, etc. You have that too. This gives you the
idea where you want to go.
3. Research under each chapter of the framework in this way:
a. Search in books or internet
b. Note or download
c. Modify, analyse, select what you want from the information you have
4. Create your content by writing from your notes, making sure you
acknowledge data or information which is provided by other authors or
sources
5. Put everything together into your essay or project
6. Revise and modify (and even change your research question or project title
at this point)
7. Deliver a draft
8. Modify and revise again, according to the comments about the draft
9. Deliver
John
Thursday 5th November BONFIRE NIGHT