FIFA started with seven members, and after the 50th Ordinary Congress of FIFA(held in Zurich on 3 &4 July 1996), FIFA grew to over 197 members with over 200 million active members. It has become the most popular sport organization in the world.

The FIFA President is Dr. Joao Havelange; He was the successor to Sir Stanley Rous in 1974. Some of the accomplishments of Dr. Havelange, have been the increase of teams in the the World Cup from 16 teams to 24 teams, and beginning with France '98, 32 teams will participate in the World Cup. He also prompted the creation of the FIFA World Youth Championships in 1977(for players under 20 years old), the Under-17 Championship in 1985, the development of world competitions for indoor football, and women's football. He also prompted the creation of the today's modern FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, and paved the way for China to reenter the world football movement. Moreover, he also established several development programs for Third World football nations, thus opening a dialogue between north and south dialogue --- The results has been the positive impact of African and Asian teams in past World Cups.

Dr. Havelange has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1963, and he has been successful in establishing soccer as one of the most successful disciplines in the Olympic Games. Also, he prompted women's football to become a medal sport during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, United States. He also holds various medals due to his service; Some of them are: The Cavalier of the Legion d'Honneur(France), The Order of Special Ment in Sports(Brazil), The Commander of the Cavaliers of the Orden Infante Dome Henrique(Portugal), The Cavalier of the Vasa Orden(Sweden), and the Grand Cross of Elizabeth the Catholic(Spain); And, in 1988, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Lastly, at a 1996 FIFA Executive Committee meeting he announced that he would not be seeking re-election at the 1998 FIFA Congress to be held in Paris.