Everyone interested in football knows that FIFA is one of the sport’s most important governing bodies. Founded in 1904, nowadays, FIFA is a non-profit organisation that has a total of 211 member associations. The entity is behind football’s biggest tournaments, such as the FIFA World Cup.
Speaking of FIFA, we at Nostrabet.com will walk you through all of the recognised confederations as of 2025. Not all football fans are familiar with them, and those who are aware of their existence don’t know much about them. These confederations are the backbone of international football, so let’s go through everything you need to know.
Overview of FIFA and Confederations
As mentioned, FIFA is football’s most popular governing body and has been around for many years. It started operating more than 120 years ago and has become the global authority for international football. As a result, FIFA is behind many big events in international football, including the famous World Cup.
Aside from being famous for all of its events, FIFA has also become the subject of investigative journalism reports. In the last couple of years, FIFA’s leadership has been linked to corruption, vote-rigging, and bribery. The investigation came following the World Cup slots given to Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).
An interesting fact is that FIFA is not only associated with football. The governing body is also responsible for futsal and beach soccer. FIFA’s HQ is located in Zurich, and it has a total of 211 national associations that are split between the six different confederations:
- CAF (Africa)
- AFC (Asia)
- UEFA (Europe)
- CONCACAF (North, Central America & the Caribbean)
- OFC (Oceania)
- CONMEBOL (South America)
The associations within these confederations receive financial and logistical support through various programs from FIFA. Needless to say, securing FIFA membership allows football clubs from specific places to be eligible to take part in international competitions and receive funding.
The process for a national organisation to join FIFA is not as easy as it sounds. First, a given country must establish a national football association and join its respective continental confederation. Once done, an application must be made to FIFA, which must evaluate it, and then the voting council must accept the proposal.
2025 Data Breakdown – Number of Associations
Each of FIFA’s six confederations consists of various associations, and there are, 211 in total, as of 2025. Those who follow the football betting scene or the sport in general are aware of the most popular ones, but we will try to go through each confederation and learn more about some of the associations that stand out.
AFC
The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of futsal, beach soccer, and football in Asia. Formed in 1954, it consists of 47 members from the world’s largest continent. An interesting fact is that Asia had its own women’s football association, formed in 1968. However, after a meeting in 1986, the Asian Ladies Football Confederation decided to join the AFC.
The 47 member associations are divided into five subregions: Central, East, South, Southeast, and West. Each subregion includes different countries. Every country outside of Macau and the Northern Marina Islands is an IOC member.
When it comes to betting on the AFC leagues, players usually have a lot of opportunities. Football may not be as popular in Asia as in Europe, but things are slowly changing, allowing online bettors to have more opportunities.
CAF (Africa)
The Confederation of African Football is Africa’s authority for football, beach soccer, and futsal.
It was formed in 1957 when FIFA decided to recognise Africa as a Confederation. Since then, CAF has been responsible for organising events and regulating the sport on the continent.
An interesting fact about CAF is that it will have a total of 9 slots for the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and could receive 10 slots with an extra play-off event.
CAF has 54 members, but several African territories are not affiliated with CAF in any way. This includes the Chagos Islands and Mayotte. Two states with limited international recognition (the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and Somaliland) have national teams. These places do not fall under CAF’s jurisdiction because they work with organisations, such as CONIFA.
Africa is slowly becoming one of the hottest picks for online bettors. The industry is growing rapidly globally, but users should be aware of match-fixing. Although this happens worldwide, it is more common in some parts of Africa.
UEFA (Europe)
Every football fan knows that UEFA is the most popular football governing body. Home to 55 national associations (the most compared to other confederations), UEFA has existed since 1954 and has its headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Alongside all European countries, UEFA also governs the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Armenia, and Israel. UEFA consists of the different national football associations, as well as the most popular club competitions:
- European Championship
- Nations League
- Champions League
- Europa League
- Conference League
- Super Cup
Online bettors need no introduction to UEFA and everything it represents. Europe is home to the world’s most prestigious club competitions, so there’s always something interesting that people can bet on. Most will choose Europe’s Big 5 (English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A), but people often wager on some lesser-popular options.
CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean)
CONCACAF is another FIFA Continental Governing Body for association football.
It has 41 members that are from North America, the Caribbean, Central America and 3 nations from the Guianas subregion of SA.
CONCACAF was founded in Mexico City in 1961. Nowadays, its headquarters are in Miami. It’s led by a general secretary, as well as a congress, committees, and different standing committees.
An intriguing fact about this football confederation is that there might be several aspiring future members, such as Greenland, Saint Barthelemy and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Aside from them, there are two potential future members – Saba and Sint Eustatius.
Although not as popular as the rest for football betting, CONCACAF definitely has a promising future. In countries such as the U.S., football (soccer, as they call it) is becoming a lot more popular. The fact that players like Messi are part of the MLS and the U.S. held the FIFA Club World Cup had a huge impact on the sport’s popularity. Also, let’s not forget that the U.S. (alongside Mexico and Canada) will host the FIFA World Cup 2026.
OFC (Oceania)
The Oceania Football Confederation is the next option on the list. It has 13 members in total, 11 of whom are full-time members, and the rest are not affiliated with FIFA.
Due to the region’s size and the fact that it consists of island nations where football isn’t the most popular sport, the OFC does not have a big influence on the sport. In fact, it is the only confederation that does not have even one international title. Australia secured the best result by reaching the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup final, but failed to win the competition.
Speaking of Australia, the country left OFC and joined AFC in 2006, which left New Zealand as the largest federation within this confederation.
In terms of betting, considering the size and popularity, not that many people are interested in wagering on matches from the OFC. In fact, most bookies will rarely offer any betting options for the local club competitions there. New Zealand is one of the few exceptions, and it really depends on the specific bookmaker.
CONMEBOL (South America)
Lastly, we have CONMEBOL (also called CFS). This is South America’s governing body of football, and it’s the oldest confederation. Formed in 1916, CONMEBOL has 10 members, making it the smallest of all FIFA confederations. Despite that, CONMEBOL is the most successful confederation in terms of results because its national teams have won 10 FIFA World Cups.
In fact, the CONMEBOL nations have 22 International Trophies, including FIFA World Cups and Olympic Gold medals. Considering the competition, football experts often describe CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifiers as being the toughest in the world.
Since CONMEBOL has countries like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay, and others, it’s no surprise that it is a fan-favourite among online bettors. All bookmakers will provide at least a few options for all leading club competitions from each country. What’s more, places like Brazil have become exceptionally popular among sports betting fans, so operators often include dedicated promotions.
Future Outlook
Since several countries and regions have football teams but have yet to join FIFA, we expect the organisation to have more than 211 national members. However, this will depend on FIFA’s decision about its membership requests.
We have to admit that FIFA is doing its best to support smaller nations. Thanks to initiatives such as Talent Development and FIFA Forward, the governing body has invested millions in football-related projects. People focus mostly on regions in Africa, Asia, and Oceania because they are not performing as well as the rest.
Overall, the future looks interesting for FIFA and its confederations. We expect to see big changes, especially once the FIFA World Cup 2026 is over.
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