Current FIFA Affiliated Confederations
There are currently 209 men's national football teams affiliated to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world's football governing body, through their national football associations. They are eligible to enter the FIFA World Cup and matches between them are recognized as official international matches. Based on their match results over the previous four-year period, the FIFA World Rankings, published monthly by FIFA, compare the relative strengths of the national teams.
Each of these national teams is also affiliated to one of the six confederations, according to their continental zones:
- Asia – Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
- Africa – Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF)
- North and Central America and the Caribbean – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF)
- South America – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL)
- Oceania – Oceania Football Confederation (OFC)
- Europe – Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
- Additionally 22 nations in Africa and Asia belong to the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) in addition to their respective regional confederations.
Below is a list of the national football teams by their confederations. Some national teams are members (full or associate) of their confederation, but do not have membership of FIFA; these are listed with a note explaining this. There are also notes of teams who have left one confederation to join another.
FIFA runs the World Cup as a tournament for national teams to find the world champion. Each confederation also runs its own championship to find the best team from among its members:
- AFC* – Asian Cup
- CAF – Africa Cup of Nations
- CONCACAF – CONCACAF Gold Cup
- CONMEBOL – Copa América
- OFC – OFC Nations Cup
- UEFA – European Championship
The current holders of the World Cup are marked by a ♠. The current holders of each confederation's championship are marked by a ♣.
Read more about this topic: List Of Men's National Association Football Teams
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