It is the year 1904: 21 May 1904, to be precise. On that day, FIFA was founded in Paris to organise the world's most popular sport. Representatives from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland signed the founding charter.
To mark FIFA's 120th birthday, the FIFA Museum in Zurich is dedicating a special exhibition to the history of world football. Visitors can delve deep into FIFA’s journey in a total of ten showcases in front of The Rainbow. On display are curated artefacts that symbolise FIFA's milestones.
The first FIFA President and driving force behind this success story was Frenchman Robert Guérin. As the head of the football department of the Union des Ssociétés françaises des sports athlétiques, the Le Matin journalist had already gained his first experience of the game.
It was he who brought together the first seven members in Paris to sign the founding treaty and the first statutes of FIFA. On 23 May 1904, Guérin was elected President at the first FIFA Congress, a position he held for two years. During this time, eight more members were welcomed into the FIFA family, including The Football Association of England.
Since then, 22 editions of the FIFA World Cups™ have been staged, with the ninth FIFA Women's World Cup™ taking place in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in July and August 2023.
"We have to thank the people who stood at 229 rue Saint- Honoré 120 years ago, with Robert Guérin as the first FIFA President. It was a group of dreamers and visionaries representing six countries and one club representing one country. That club was Madrid Football Club [now Real Madrid], representing Spain. They founded FIFA 120 years ago," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the anniversary celebrations in the French capital in May 2024.
We started 120 years ago with seven members. Now there are 211. Five billion people watch the FIFA World Cup and dream of football. Players and FIFA Legends set our pulses racing and give us incredible feelings, and fans from all over the world express their passion and make football truly unique
In this exhibition, we look back on 120 years of bringing the world together.
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