The slogan summarises FIFA’s mission to ‘develop the game, touch the world and build a better future’, FIFA said.
On the second day of the 57th FIFA Congress in Zurich FIFA president Sepp Blatter said that the resources available to football will enable FIFA to make a major contribution to social development through football.
“FIFA is now in a comfortable financial position and we have to use those resources, said Blatter. “But that is not enough. Social responsibility begins with each and every one of us.”
In this month’s Sport Business International magazine, editorial director Kevin Roberts discusses the need for governing bodies to engage in social programmes.
“FIFA and other sports governing bodies and the stars they represent are in a stronger position than ever before to act as a catalyst for change in the world beyond the white lines,“ Roberts said.
FIFA also revealed its survey of member associations in 2006, which provides an interesting insight into the growth of football worldwide, in terms of participation, increasing match attendances and TV audiences.
The survey showed that some 265 million male and female players and a further five million referees, coaches and other officials are involved in football, giving a grand total of 270 million people, or four per cent of the world’s population.
“Football’s popularity remains undiminished and is actually increasing,” reflected FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. “If you count the relatives and close friends of active participants in football, who share in their passion for the game as fans and support them in other ways, the total number is even more impressive: well over a billion people worldwide are involved in football – at all levels of society and across all borders.”
Some of the most important findings of the Big Count 2006 were:
The overall total of 265 million male and female players is almost ten per cent higher than the number recorded six years ago (242 million). Of the 265 million, 26 million or around ten per cent are women;
Since 2000, the number of registered male and female footballers has increased by around 23 per cent to over 38 million;
The growth in women’s football is particularly striking, with the number of registered players up 54 per cent to 4.1 million, while the number of registered players in the men’s game has likewise seen an increase of 21 per cent to 34.2 million;
The number of unregistered occasional players, which was first recorded in the previous Big Count study, is up seven per cent to 226 million;
There is now a combined total of over one million futsal and beach soccer players (both male and female);
In terms of regional differences, the AFC (85 million footballers) has a clear lead over the other five confederations (UEFA: 62 million; CAF: 46 million; CONCACAF: 43 million; CONMEBOL: 27 million; OFC: 0.5 million). However, if the proportion of footballers to the total population is taken into account, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and UEFA are ahead of the other confederations with seven per cent each;
The number of clubs (301,000) is similar to the figure recorded in 2000. That said, the total number of teams (1.7 million) has increased by approximately 200,000.
The data for Big Count 2006 was collated in the first half of 2006 using a traditional questionnaire and an online survey and achieved a response rate of over 75 per cent. FIFA used Big Count 2000, a UEFA survey from 2005 and other internal surveys to supplement missing data from associations and as a plausibility check. The study was scientifically observed by Lamprecht & Stamm SFB AG, a social research company based in Zurich.
