International Council of Football Associations

The council is represented by the founders of football: the football associations of England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland - and FIFA , an international football organization. On the board, each British Football Association has 1 vote, and FIFA has 4 votes. IFAB decisions must be approved by three quarters of the vote; this means that a decision requires a minimum of six votes. Thus, 2 FIFA votes are required for any IFAB ruling, but FIFA alone cannot change the rules of the game; they must be agreed upon by at least two members of any British association. There is also a quorum rule that at least four of the five member associations, one of which must be from FIFA, must be present at the meeting for the meeting to take place. The Council meets twice a year: once to decide on possible changes to the rules governing football games, and once to discuss its internal affairs. The first meeting is called the annual general meeting , and the second is the annual business meeting . Four weeks before the meeting, members of the association must send their proposals in writing to the secretary of the host association. Then FIFA displays a list of proposals that apply to all other associations for examination. The annual general meeting of shareholders is held in February or March, and the annual business meeting is held from September to October ^[2] . If necessary, the Council may meet in a special meeting, irrespective of annual meetings. At a press conference following a special meeting organized by FIFA in Zurich on July 5, 2012, the Council announced the approval of a video goal system to accurately determine the goal in difficult situations ^[3] . A similar system was tested at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil .

Decisions of the annual general meeting on amendments to the rules of the game are binding on the confederations and member associations starting July 1. But the confederations, the current season of which has not yet ended before July 1, may delay the introduction of the adopted changes in the rules of the game until the beginning of their next season ^[4] .

Although football rules were largely standardized in the early 1880s, four British football associations applied slightly different versions of the rules. This created problems in the organization of international matches, as the matches were edited by the host rules. In a sense, this was acceptable, but often unfair. To fix this, the British associations met on December 6, 1882 in Manchester , in order to adopt a common set of rules that can be applied to matches between teams of British football associations. The conference created the first international tournament - the UK Home Championship - and proposed the creation of a permanent body to regulate the rules of the game.

The first IFAB meeting was held at the FA office in Holborn Viaduct in London on Wednesday June 2, 1886 ^{[5] [6]} . Each British association had equal voting rights.

FIFA , the organization that governs all world football, is the organ of an international organization for sports, was established in Paris in 1904. FIFA said they will adhere to the rules established by the IFAB. The growing popularity of the game internationally led to the admission of FIFA representatives to the IFAB in 1913. Initially, they had only two votes and could not change the decisions taken by the British associations. In 1958, the Council decided on its current voting system, according to which each of the British associations has 1 vote, and FIFA has 4 votes; now, a decision requires at least 6 votes out of 8 of any council members. After the division of Ireland in 1921, the IFA name was assigned to Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom, and was retained by the Council. The FAI Football Organization of the Independent Republic of Ireland does not have the voice of a British association.

• History of IFAB, including minutes of the meetings Soccer South Bay Referee Association
• FIFA / IFAB paper on the role of the IFAB FIFA