The Football Association Of Wales: Fill & Download for Free

Technically the premise of the question is incorrect, as the USA actually has 5 different teams. Each of the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have their own teams, despite not being independent countries.Having said that, I think that this question is more to do with why the UK, a single country, is allowed to have 4 national teams.Both of these situations are covered in the FIFA Statutes which state:Any Association which is responsible for organising and supervising football in its country may become a Member of FIFA. In this context, the expression “country” shall refer to an independent state recognised by the international community. Subject to par. 5 and par. 6 below, only one Association shall be recognised in each country.The “par. 5 and par. 6 below” refer to the two exceptions to the above rule about members being “an independent state recognised by the international community.” Paragraph 5 states:5 Each of the four British Associations is recognised as a separate Member of FIFA.Paragraph 6, incidentally, seems to cover the situation of the US territories mentioned above:6 An Association in a region which has not yet gained independence may, with the authorisation of the Association in the country on which it is dependent, also apply for admission to FIFA.So how did this strangely specific paragraph 5 make it into the FIFA statutes?To understand this anomaly of international football, it is important to understand the history of the sport.In 1857, Sheffield Football Club, now recognised as the world’s oldest football club, was set by the members of the Sheffield Cricket Club. The club drafted a new set of rules known as the Sheffield Rules. Other clubs were subsequently set up, but the different clubs, as well as university and school teams from around England used various sets of rules. The rules created at Cambridge University were particularly popular in the south of England.In 1863 there was a meeting in London of 12 football clubs, of which 11 decided to form the Football Association. One reason for this was to standardise the rules. The new rules or ‘Laws of the Game’ were a combination of the Cambridge and Sheffield rules. This represented the first codification of the rules of modern football. With this, the FA became the first governing body of football, over 40 years before the formation of FIFA.In 1867, the first football club in Scotland was formed (Queen’s Park FC in Glasgow). Others quickly followed. This led to the first games being played between representatives of England and Scotland in London. These games took place between 1870 and 1872, but because they were being played in London and because the game was in its infancy in Scotland, many of the players were Scots who were based in England.The minutes of an FA meeting in 1872 state that “in order to further the interests of the Association in Scotland, it was decided that during the current season, a team should be sent to Glasgow to play a match v Scotland.”The subsequent match on the 30th of November 1872, is now recognised as the first official international football match. In 1873, the Scottish Football Association (SFA) was set up.The Football Association of Wales (FAW) was set up in 1876, and the Irish Football Association (IFA) was set up in 1880. At the time, all of Ireland was part of the UK, so the Irish Football Association represented the entire island. It was only in 1921, after the formation of the Irish Free State (the precursor to the Republic of Ireland) that the competing Football Association of Ireland (FAI) was set up.By the early 1880s the four ‘Home Nations’, as they were commonly known, were playing each other regularly. Football history was repeating itself to a certain extent though, as each had a slightly different set of rules. The four associations met in Manchester in 1882 to remedy this. They agreed on a common set of rules, set up the first international tournament, the British Home Championship and proposed the establishment of a permanent board to regulate the laws of the game. The British Home Championship was first played in the 1883–84 season. Its last season was a hundred years later, in 1983–84.In 1886, the International Football Association Board was set up. The IFAB still governs the Laws of the Game to this day. Its four members (the Football Association (England), the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales and the Irish Football Association) each had one vote at the time.In 1904, after the growth of the sport around Europe, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris. Seven countries were represented at the founding of FIFA. These countries were Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Germany joined by telegram later that day.By the time FIFA was founded, the independence of the FA, SFA, FAW and IFA (as well as their national teams) was already well established. They initially declined to join FIFA before joining and withdrawing multiple times over the next few decades.In 1909 South Africa (the first non-European member) joined. Argentina and Chile followed in 1912. The United States and Canada both became members just before World War I in 1913.In 1913 the IFAB admitted representatives from FIFA. The initially had the same voting rights as each of the 4 associations of the UK. This was changed in 1958. FIFA now have 4 votes on the board while the FA, SFA, FAW and IFA have 1 each. 6 of 8 votes are required to change the Laws of the Game, meaning that the rules cannot change without FIFA’s approval, but FIFA also cannot change the rules unilaterally.It seems clear to me that had the UK’s 4 associations and national teams not existed for decades before FIFA was set up and controlled the Laws of the Game through the IFAB, they would have been forced (or at least heavily encouraged) to set up 1 association and therefore 1 national team. That is why I thought it was necessary to include as much of the historical context as I have done.Sources/further reading:FIFA statutes FIFA.comHistory of football in England - WikipediaHistory of football in Scotland - WikipediaFootball Association of Wales - WikipediaIrish Football Association - WikipediaBritish Home Championship - WikipediaInternational Football Association Board - Wikipedia

Because the World Cup is not for countries, but for Football Associations.United Kingdom is not a member of FIFA, but the football associations of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are.

Actually, NO, FIFA really doesn't listen to the fans for suggestions.FIFA listens to ~209 national soccer football associations, which are FIFA's members. Their representatives select the President and the Secretary General of FIFA.FIFA pays attention to the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which established and now maintains the Laws of the Game. The IFAB's members are:England's Football Association (FA), the Scottish Football Association (SFA),the Football Association of Wales (FAW), andNorthern Ireland's Irish Football Association (IFA), each with one vote, andFIFA, with four votes.If you have a suggestion, and some credibility to go with it, then mobilize a large number of your friends who are active and influential in your national soccer football association, and get your national association solidly behind your idea. You'll need your national association to lobby FIFA and its members, and the four UK members, to line up six votes for your proposal, in either the IFAB's February-March Annual General Meeting or its September-October Annual Business Meeting.Oh, yeah -- the question: Why has FIFA continued to use penalty kicks for tie breakers ...?FIFA and the IFAB have tried (as in run season-long experiments on) pretty much everything to settle ties. Lengthening the playing time or adding overtime periods can leave players over-exhausted, dehydrated and injured by the heat, injured by tired-out opponents, or even injured on their own because they're too tired. Teams and players hate sudden death overtime play that ends a game on any fluke. Both players and goalkeepers have a role in kicks-from-the-penalty-mark.