UAE FA 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.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of Asian football and one of the six Confederations making up FIFA. Formed in 1954 in Manila, Philippines, the AFC is now headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and consists of 47 Member Associations. Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain is the AFC President and Datuk Seri Windsor John of Malaysia is the AFC General Secretary. The AFC is responsible for running football in Asia. Among its various responsibilities are: regulating the game, drafting new laws to improve the sport, implementing the law, boosting grassroots and youth football, and conducting major competitions

The Saudi Pro League (SPL) was founded in 2008 as an independent organization that works under the umbrella of the Saudi Football Federation but with an administrative and Financial independence, as well as holding all commercial rights to the Saudi Pro League. The Saudi Pro League’s Board of Directors consists of SPL’s Chairman, a Representative of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), and SPL Teams. The Saudi Pro League has the right to establish its own regulations in accordance with the Statute of SAFF. The Saudi Pro League as of now consists of 18 Participating teams.