International Football Association Board

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football. IFAB was founded in 1886 to agree standardised Laws for international competition, and has since acted as the "guardian" of the internationally used Laws. Since its establishment in 1904, FIFA, the sport's top governing body, has recognised IFAB's jurisdiction over the Laws.^[1] IFAB is known to take a highly conservative attitude regarding changes to the Laws of the Game.^[2]

The International
Football Association Board

Formation	2 June 1886; 136 years ago (1886-06-02)
Purpose	Management of the Laws of the Game
Headquarters	Zurich, Switzerland
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	FIFA The Football Association Scottish Football Association Football Association of Wales Irish Football Association
Secretary	Lukas Brud
Website	www.theifab.com

It is a separate body from FIFA, though FIFA is represented on the board and holds 50% of the voting power. As a legacy of association football's origins in the United Kingdom, the other organisations represented are the governing bodies of the game in the four nations of the UK. Amendments to the Laws require a three-quarter supermajority vote, meaning that FIFA's support is necessary but not sufficient for a motion to pass.

Operations

IFAB is made up of representatives from each of the United Kingdom's pioneering football associations—England's Football Association (The FA), the Scottish Football Association (SFA), the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and Northern Ireland's Irish Football Association (IFA)—and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA, the International Association Football Federation), the international governing body for football. Each British association has one vote and FIFA has four. IFAB deliberations must be approved by three-quarters of the vote, or at least six of the eight votes.^[3] Thus, FIFA's approval is necessary for any IFAB decision, but FIFA alone cannot change the Laws of the Game—they need to be agreed by at least two of the UK members. As of 2016, all members must be present for a binding vote to proceed.^[3]

The Board meets twice a year, once to decide on possible changes to the rules governing the game of Football (the Annual General Meeting (AGM)) and once to deliberate on its internal affairs (the Annual Business Meeting (ABM)). In FIFA World Cup years, the AGM is held at FIFA's offices; otherwise, it rotates between Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland in that order.^[3] Four weeks before the AGM, the member associations must send their written proposals to the secretary of the host association. FIFA then prints a list of suggestions that are distributed to all other associations for examination. The AGM is held either in February or March and the ABM is held between September and October.^[4] In cases of necessity, the Board can meet in a Special Meeting in addition to the two ordinary annual meetings. As of December 2012, the last Special Meeting was hosted by FIFA in Zurich on 5 July 2012.^[5]

The decisions of each year's Annual General Meeting of the Board regarding changes to the Laws of the Game enter into force from 1 July (and are binding on FIFA and on the other members of the Board, and, given that FIFA's Statutes establish that FIFA and its member associations and affiliates adhere to the Laws of the Game laid down by IFAB, those changes bind also FIFA's other member associations, FIFA's continental confederations of member associations, and the subnational entities of the national associations) but confederations, member associations and other bodies whose current season has not ended by 1 July may delay the introduction of the adopted alterations to the Laws of the Game in their competitions until the beginning of their next season.^[6] As well as permanent changes to the Laws, IFAB also authorises trials of potential amendments.^[7]

History

 

The Laws of the Game in 1903

Though the rules of football had largely been standardised by the early 1880s, the UK's four football associations still each had slightly different rules. When international matches were played, the rules of the home team's national association were used. While this solution was workable, it was hardly ideal. To remedy this, the then football associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland met at the International Football Conference on 6 December 1882 in Manchester, in order to set forth a common set of rules that could be applied to matches between the UK football associations' national teams.

In the summer of 1885, the English FA legalised professionalism. The Scottish FA responded that it would refuse to allow professionals in its own national team, and would refuse to play international matches against an England team containing professionals.^[8] The Irish FA attempted to mediate by proposing that "an international conference should be held each year, say, in August, to be called in turn by each national association to deal with the laws of the game, and discuss other matters of interest to Association football, and at which international disputes could be adjusted".^[9]

The first meeting of IFAB took place at the FA's offices at Holborn Viaduct in London on Wednesday 2 June 1886.^[10][11] The FA, SFA, FAW and IFA each had equal voting rights.

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international organising body for the sport, was formed in Paris in 1904 and declared that, regarding the Laws of the Game itself, they would enforce the rules laid down by IFAB. In 1912, FIFA requested that its representatives be included in IFAB. At a special meeting held in January 1913 in Wrexham, IFAB agreed to FIFA's request. The first regular IFAB meeting to include FIFA occurred in June 1913. Each association (including FIFA) was entitled to send two representatives, with a four-fifths majority required to change the laws (thus the UK associations could still change the laws against FIFA's wishes if they all voted together). One more meeting of IFAB was held, in Paris in 1914, before regular meetings were curtailed by the First World War.

For the first four post-war IFAB meetings (1920, 1921, 1922, and 1923), FIFA was once again excluded, on account of a dispute between FIFA and the home nations. From 1924, once the dispute had been resolved, FIFA once again attended IFAB meetings. In 1958, the Board agreed on its current voting system.

Since Irish partition in 1921, the IFA has evolved to become the organising body for football in Northern Ireland, with football in the Republic of Ireland being organised by the FAI. A request for the FAI to become a member of IFAB was denied at the 1923 annual general meeting.^[12]

List of IFAB Annual General Meetings

Year	Date	Host	Location	Venue	Votes						Notes / references^[13]
					FA	SFA	FAW	IFA	FIFA	Required to amend laws
1886	1 June	FA	London	Football Association Offices, 51 Holborn Viaduct	2	2	2	2	0	100%	First meeting
1887	1 June	SFA	Glasgow	Scottish Football Association Offices, 6 Carlton Place							First meeting to amend the Laws of the Game
1888	25 June	FAW	Wrexham	Wynnstay Arms Hotel							^[14]
1889	1 June	IFA	Belfast	Commercial Hotel							^[15]
1890	2 June	FA	London	Anderton's Hotel							^[16]
1891	2 June	SFA	Glasgow	Alexandra Hotel
1892	13 June	FAW	Llandudno	Prince of Wales Hotel
1893	10 June	IFA	Belfast	Hotel Shaftesbury							Date of subsequent meetings fixed to be the third Monday in June.
1894	18 June	FA	Windermere	Ferry Hotel
1895	17 June	SFA	Glasgow	Alexandra Hotel
1896	15 June	FAW	Aberystwyth	White Horse Hotel
1897	14 June	IFA	Rostrevor, Newry	Mourne Hotel
1898	20 June	FA	London	Football Association Offices, 61 Chancery Lane
1899	19 June	SFA	Glasgow	St. Enoch's Station Hotel
1900	18 June	FAW	Llangollen	Royal Hotel
1901	17 June	IFA	Giant's Causeway, Bushmills	tejas hotel also
1902	16 June	FA	Scarborough	Grand Hotel
1903	15 June	SFA	Ayr	Station Hotel							Date of subsequent meetings moved to the second Saturday in June.
1904	11 June	FAW	Bangor	British Hotel							^[17]
1905	17 June	IFA	Killarney	Lake Hotel							First meeting to be held outside today's United Kingdom.
1906	9 June	FA	Bowness-on-Windermere	Royal Hotel
1907	8 June	SFA	Oban	Alexandra Hotel
1908	19-20 June	FAW	Llandrindod Wells	Rock Hotel
1909	12 June	IFA	Bundoran	Great Northern Hotel
1910	11 June	FA	Brighton	Royal York Hotel
1911	11 June	SFA	Turnberry, Ayrshire	Station Hotel
1912	8 June	FAW	Aberystwyth	Queen's Hotel
1913	14 June	IFA	Portrush	Northern Counties Hotel	2	2	2	2	2	80%	First meeting to include FIFA
1914	13 June	FIFA	Paris	Hotel Palais D'Orsay							First meeting held outside Britain and Ireland. Last meeting before the First World War.
1920	12-14 June	FA	Torquay	Torbay Hotel	2	2	2	2	0	100%	First meeting after the First World War. FIFA again excluded.
1921	11 June	SFA	Portpatrick	Portpatrick Hotel
1922	10 June	FAW	Llandudno	Imperial Hotel
1923	9 June	IFA	Giant's Causeway, Bushmills	Causeway Hotel							Last meeting to exclude FIFA
1924	14 June	FA	London	Football Association Offices, 42 Russell Square	2	2	2	2	2	80%
1925	13 June	FIFA	Paris	11 Rue de Londres
1926	12 June	SFA	St Andrews	Grand Hotel
1927	11 June	FAW	Llandudno	Grand Hotel
1928	9 June	IFA	Newcastle	Slieve Donard Hotel
1929	8 June	FIFA	Paris	Fédération Française de Football Association Offices, 22 Rue de Londres
1930	14 June	FA	Bournemouth	Royal Exeter Hotel
1931	13 June	SFA	Auchterarder	Gleneagles Hotel
1932	11 June	FAW	Llandudno	Imperial Hotel
1933	10 June	IFA	Portrush	Northern Counties Hotel							Rules amended to allow FIFA-hosted meetings to take place in "the territory of a Continental National Association", rather than being restricted to Paris.
1934	9 June	FIFA	Cannes	Hôtel des Anglais
1935	8 June	FA	Shanklin	Daish's Hotel
1936	13 June	SFA	Troon	Marine Hotel
1937	12 June	FAW	Llandudno	Imperial Hotel
1938	11 & 13 June	IFA	Portrush	Northern Counties Hotel
1939	10 June	FIFA	Nice	Hotel Negresco							Last meeting held before World War II. A meeting was scheduled for London in 1940, but was abandoned when FIFA and IFA delegates were unable to attend.
1947	14 June	FA	Torquay	Imperial Hotel							First meeting held after World War II.
1948	12 June	FIFA	Montreux	Palace Hotel							First meeting held outside Britain, Ireland and France. Meeting would have regularly been hosted by the SFA, but it was unanimously agreed to accept an invitation from FIFA to host this meeting.
1949	11 June	SFA	Pitlochry	Hydro Hotel
1950	10 June	FAW	Beaumaris	Bulkeley Arms Hotel
1951	9 June	IFA	Portrush	Northern Counties Hotel
1952	14 June	FIFA	Capri	Morgano-Tiberio Hotel							Date of future meetings moved to third Saturday in June.
1953	20 June	FA	Eastbourne	Cavendish Hotel
1954	19 June	FIFA	Bern	Schweizerhof Hotel							The SFA agreed to forego its regularly scheduled hosting duties in order to allow FIFA to host the meeting at its 50th anniversary celebrations preceding the 1954 World Cup.
1955	18 June	SFA	North Berwick	Marine Hotel
1956	16 June	FAW	Llandudno	Imperial Hotel
1957	15 June	IFA	Portrush	Northern Counties Hotel
1958	7 June	FIFA	Stockholm	Hotel Foresta	1	1	1	1	4	75%	Meeting held on the day before the opening of the 1958 World Cup. New rules adopted, with greater voting weight given to FIFA "on behalf of all other National Associations in membership with it". Hosting rules changed to provide that "when the FIFA Congress and the World Cup coincide", FIFA should host the meeting at the World Cup venue, if practicable. Date of meeting may be any time in June.
1959	20 June	FA	St. Helier, Jersey	Pomme d'Or Hotel							First of four consecutive meetings hosted by the FA outside England in the Channel Islands
1960	18 June	SFA	St Andrews	Rusack's Marine Hotel
1961	17 June	FAW	Porthcawl	Seabank Hotel
1962	23 June	IFA	Newcastle	Slieve Donard Hotel
1963	15 June	FIFA	Venice	Palazzo della Camera di Commercio
1964	20 June	FA	St. Helier, Jersey	Grand Hotel
1965	19 June	SFA	Edinburgh	Caledonian Hotel
1966	11 June	FAW	Llandudno	Marine Hotel
1967	17 June	IFA	Newcastle	Slieve Donard Hotel							Last meeting hosted by the IFA for 13 years. The IFA withdrew from its regular hosting schedule during the 1970s owing to the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland.
1968	15 June	FIFA	Dubrovnik	Hotel Excelsior
1969	21 June	FA	St. Helier, Jersey	Grand Hotel
1970	27 June	SFA	Inverness	Caledonian Hotel
1971	19 June	FAW	Swansea	Dragon Hotel
1972	10 June	FIFA	Vienna	Parkhotel Schönbrunn							FIFA stepped in to replace the IFA.
1973	23 June	FA	St Peter Port, Guernsey	Duke of Richmond Hotel
1974	9 July	FIFA	Rottach-Egern	Hotel Bachmair							Meeting held two days after the final of the 1974 World Cup in nearby Munich. First meeting not held in June.
1975	21 June	SFA	Auchterarder	Gleneagles Hotel
1976	18 June	FAW	Porthcawl	Seabank Hotel
1977	19 June	FA	London	Royal Garden Hotel							The IFA withdrew from hosting this meeting.
1978	1 June	FIFA	Buenos Aires	Hotel Sheraton							First meeting outside Europe. Held on the opening day of the 1978 World Cup.
1979	16 June	SFA	Auchterarder	Gleneagles Hotel
1980	7 June	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel
1981	13 June	FAW	Ruthin	Ruthin Castle							IFAB had accepted an invitation by FIFA President João Havelange to host this meeting in Brazil, but the invitation was subsequently withdrawn, with Havelange missing this meeting for personal reasons.
1982	6 July	FIFA	Madrid	Palacio de Congresos							Meeting held the day after the final of the 1982 World Cup
1983	9 July	FA	New Milton	Chewton Glen Hotel
1984	2 June	SFA	Turnberry, Ayrshire	Turnberry Hotel
1985	15 June	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel
1986	30 May	FIFA	Mexico City	Camino Real Hotel							First (and, as of 2020, only) meeting in North America. Originally scheduled to be held in Zurich, but moved to Mexico in connection with the 1986 World Cup.
1987	13 June	FAW	Llandudno	Bodysgallen Hall
1988	4 June	FA	London	Royal Lancaster Hotel
1989	7 June	SFA	Edinburgh	Caledonian Hotel
1990	28 June	FIFA	Rome	Hilton Cavalieri Hotel							Held during the 1990 World Cup
1991	8 June	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel
1992	30 May	FAW	Usk Valley, Newport	Celtic Manor Hotel							New rules adopted by IFAB: in future years there will be two annual meetings: the Annual General Meeting, held in February / March, and the Annual Business Meeting in September / October.
1993	27 February	FA	Thundridge, Hertfordshire	Hanbury Manor
1994	5 March	FIFA	Zurich	FIFA House
1995	4 March	SFA	Turnberry, Ayrshire	Turnberry Hotel
1996	9 March	FIFA	Rio de Janeiro	Copacabana Palace Hotel							Last meeting held outside Europe (as of 2020). Originally scheduled to be hosted by the IFA in Northern Ireland, but moved to Brazil at the instigation of outgoing FIFA President João Havelange.
1997	1 March	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel
1998	6 March	FIFA	Paris	Hôtel Plaza Athénée
1999	20 February	FAW	Groesfaen, Vale of Glamorgan	Miskin Manor Hotel
2000	19 February	FA	Taplow, Berkshire	Cliveden
2001	10 March	SFA	Edinburgh	Balmoral Hotel
2002	16 March	FIFA	Zermatt	Hôtel Mont Cervin
2003	15 March	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel
2004	28 February	FIFA	London	Claridge's Hotel							Hosted in London by FIFA as part of its centenary celebrations, to celebrate the role of the four Home Associations in the development of the game.^[18]^[19]
2005	26 February	FAW	Groesfaen, Vale of Glamorgan	Miskin Manor Hotel							^[20]
2006	4 March	FIFA	Lucerne	Palace Hotel							120th anniversary.^[21]
2007	3 March	FA	Manchester	Lowry Hotel
2008	8 March	SFA	Auchterarder	Gleneagles Hotel
2009	28 February	IFA	Newcastle	Slieve Donard Hotel
2010	6 March	FIFA	Zurich	FIFA headquarters							^[22]
2011	5 March	FAW	Usk Valley, Newport	Celtic Manor Hotel							^[21]
2012	3 March	FA	Bagshot, Surrey	Pennyhill Park Hotel							^[23]
2013	2 March	SFA	Edinburgh	Balmoral Hotel							^[24]
2014	1 March	FIFA	Zurich	FIFA headquarters							^[25]
2015	27 February–1 March	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel							^[26]^[27]
2016	5 March	FAW	Cardiff	St. David's Hotel and Spa							130th Anniversary.^[28]^[29]
2017	3 March	FA	Wembley, London	Wembley Stadium							^[30]^[31]
2018	3 March	FIFA	Zurich	FIFA headquarters							^[32]^[33]
2019	2 March	SFA	Aberdeen	Marcliffe Hotel							^[34]
2020	29 February	IFA	Craigavad, Holywood, near Belfast	Culloden Hotel							^[35]
2021	5 March	FAW	Meeting held by videoconference^[36]	N/A							^[37]
2022	25 March^[38]	FIFA	Meeting held by videoconference^[39]	N/A	^[40]^[41]
2023 [scheduled]	FA	London		^[42]

References

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4. FIFA - FIFA paper on the role of the IFAB
6. FIFA
7. Gibson, Owen (5 March 2016). "Football's lawmakers approve live trials for video technology to aid referees". The Observer. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
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9. "Scottish Football Association". Cricket and Football Field: 12. 13 February 1886.
10. The First Meeting of the International Football Association Board 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine Soccer South Bay Referee Association
11. TheFA.com - History of The FA 19 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine Football Association
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25. "Agenda: 128th Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board" (PDF). 1 March 2014. (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
26. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
27. "Irish Football Association: Activity Report 2014-2015" (PDF). p. 20. (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
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31. "Minutes: 131st Annual General Meeting of The International Football Association Board" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
32. "132nd IFAB Annual General Meeting Agenda" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
33. "Minutes of the 132nd Annual General Meeting of The International Football Association Board" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
34. "SFA top brass will attend IFAB meeting to discuss rule changes". from the original on 2 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
35. "Lawmakers discuss football rule changes at meeting in Holywood". 2 March 2020. from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
36. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, delegates did not meet in person
37. "135th IFAB Annual General Meeting Agenda". 5 March 2021. from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
38. Postponed from previously scheduled date of 3 March -- see "136th IFAB Annual General Meeting postponed". 2 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
39. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, delegates did not meet in person
40. "136th Annual General Meeting of The International Football Association Board: Amendments to the Laws of the Game 2022/23". 25 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
41. "IFAB 136th Annual General Meeting". Retrieved 26 February 2022.
42. "IFAB 137th Annual General Meeting". Retrieved 1 March 2023.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to International Football Association Board.

• Official website
• History of IFAB, including minutes of the meetings Soccer South Bay Referee Association
• FIFA