MLSZ Competitors

Founded in 1904, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the umbrella organisation of its members, currently 211 national football associations. Its main objectives, enshrined in its statutes, are to develop football around the world, to stage international competitions and to protect the integrity of football (against match manipulation, doping etc.). FIFA is composed of a number of political bodies (such as the FIFA Congress and the FIFA Council) and the administration. The highest political position is the FIFA President, elected every four years by FIFA’s member associations. The FIFA administration, with more than 800 people from over 60 nations, is based in Zurich. It is run by the Secretary General (CEO). FIFA stages FIFA World Cups™ in various forms such as youth, men’s and women’s, futsal, beach soccer or club competitions. The men’s FIFA World Cup™ is not only the most popular single sporting event in the world but also the financial backbone for FIFA and its efforts to develop football worldwide. The financial success of the FIFA World Cup™ allows FIFA to run a wide range of football development programmes and to provide funds, infrastructure and know-how to its member associations through the FIFA Forward Development Programme. For more information visit our website.

UEFA – the Union of European Football Associations – we are the game's governing body in Europe. We are a representative democracy, and the umbrella organisation for 55 national football associations across Europe. Our objectives are, among other things, to deal with all questions relating to European football, to promote football in a spirit of unity, solidarity, peace, understanding and fair play, without any discrimination on the part of politics, race, religion, gender or any other reason, to safeguard the values of European football, maintain relations with all stakeholders involved in European football, and support and safeguard its member associations for the overall well-being of the European game. We have a clear vision: a united European football family working together to improve enjoyment of the game.

The Serie A Championship is the premier football division in Italy and is one of the world's elite football leagues. Since Serie A's inception more than 100 years ago, the Ballon d'Or has been awarded 18 times to players of Serie A Clubs, more than any other league in the world. Furthermore, of the 55 UEFA Champions League finals that have been played, 25 of them have involved Serie A Clubs, making Serie A Championship amongst the most highly important leagues in Europe. Italian Clubs also lead the way in terms of European competition titles (UEFA Champions’ League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Supercup), with 30 total victories. As for the FIFA Club World Cup, with a combined total of 9 titles, the Serie A Clubs lead the ranking of European club victories. At present, the Serie A Championship consists of 20 Clubs playing a total of 380 Matches between them each Season, usually running from August until May the following year.