The Swiss Football Association (, , , ) is the governing body of

football in Switzerland Association football, Football is the most popular sport in Switzerland. The Swiss Football Association was formed in 1895 and was a founder member of the sport's international governing body FIFA in 1904. The Swiss cities of Zürich and Nyon ...

. It organizes the football league, the Swiss Football League and the

Switzerland national football team The Switzerland national football team (, , , , ) represents Switzerland in men's international Association football, football. The national team is controlled by the Swiss Football Association. Switzerland's best performances at the FIFA Worl ...

. It is based in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

. It was formed in 1895, was a founder member of FIFA in 1904 and joined UEFA during its foundation year, 1954.

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

is based in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Also

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

is based in the Swiss city of

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

. ASF-SFV is the abbreviation of the associations name in three of the national languages of

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. ASF stands for both French (''Association Suisse de Football'') and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

(''Associazione Svizzera di Football''), while SFV is the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

(''Schweizerischer Fussballverband'').- Romansh - It is abbreviated as ASB (''Associaziun Svizra da Ballape'').

Origins

Switzerland was the first country in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

to adhere to football, which was introduced in the 1860s by Anglo-Saxon students and teachers from Swiss private schools in the French-speaking part of the country around

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, forming teams that initially played a mixture of rugby and football. There is documentation from Geneva that football was played at the Château de Lancy and La Châtelaine institutes in the 1860s. Another club founded by English students was the Lausanne Football and Cricket Club, which was established in 1860, thus being the first football club in Continental Europe, being only three years younger than

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

; however, it is likely that Lausanne initially played cricket and only began to practice football in the 1870s. The oldest Swiss club still in existence, FC St. Gallen, was founded in 1879, by locals from the embroidery industry in German-speaking Switzerland, who had learned about the game from English students; it was followed in 1886 by the Grasshopper Club Zurich. In 1895, Lausanne FCC, St. Gallen, and the Grasshopper Zurich clubs, were among the founding members of the Swiss Football Association. The SFV was one of the seven national associations that founded the world football association FIFA in 1904.

Presidents

References

External links

*
Switzerland
at FIFA site (archived 18 June 2007)
Swiss Association of Football Players
(Association of football players) {{Authority control 1895 establishments in Switzerland

Football in Switzerland Futsal in Switzerland

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Organisations based in Bern Sports organizations established in 1895 Sport in Bern Association football governing bodies in Europe