FIFA Congress

The FIFA Congress is the supreme decision-making body of world football, convening annually since 1904 and comprising representatives from all 211 FIFA member associations, each carrying one vote regardless of a nation's size or footballing stature. The 76th FIFA Congress will be held in Vancouver, Canada, on 30 April 2026, approximately six weeks before the World Cup begins. FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced the Vancouver venue at the 75th Congress in Paraguay in May 2025. The 2026 Congress takes place at an inflection point for world football governance.

The Congress has authority over FIFA's statutes, regulations and financial matters, including the election of the FIFA president. It approves the budget, ratifies the host nations for future tournaments and can amend the organisation's governance structure. The Vancouver session will be the first Congress held in the context of the expanded 48-team World Cup format, and will likely address questions around Iran's participation dispute, US immigration enforcement concerns affecting player access, and the tournament's broader political environment.

The one-member-one-vote structure of the Congress concentrates political leverage in smaller footballing nations, which collectively form a large majority. This gives Caribbean, Pacific, African and Central American federations disproportionate influence in FIFA's governance processes relative to their footballing profile. Presidential candidates and governance reform proposals are typically brokered through these blocs in the months preceding each Congress. The Vancouver meeting's proximity to the tournament's opening creates an unusual dual context: governance decisions will be taken under the immediate pressure of a live, politically charged tournament.