FIFA Statutes practice questions

Five sample questions from the May 2024 edition, with the answers and explanations shown. The quiz bank holds all 135 questions on this document.

These five questions show how the quiz bank tests the FIFA Statutes. The quiz bank holds all 135 questions on this document, with scoring, timed papers and the exam simulator. Every article in this regulation is listed on the article index.

1. Saltmarsh Rovers FC, an English club, is compiling a list of the people it must treat as officials under the FIFA Statutes. The list includes Imogen Tarrant, its physiotherapist; Tobias Kerrigan, its captain; Declan Fairweather, a licensed football agent who handles the club’s transfer negotiations under a written agreement; and Rosalind Nwosu-Hale, who sits on the licensing committee of the league in which the club plays. Which of the following statements are correct?

  1. Tobias Kerrigan is an official, because definition 13 of the FIFA Statutes covers every person obliged to comply with the FIFA Statutes, which includes a club’s captain.
  2. Imogen Tarrant is an official, because definition 13 of the FIFA Statutes covers any person responsible for medical matters in a confederation, an association, a league or a club. (Definition 13) Correct
  3. Declan Fairweather is an official, because definition 13 of the FIFA Statutes covers any person responsible for administrative matters in a club, such as its transfer negotiations.
  4. Rosalind Nwosu-Hale is an official, because definition 13 of the FIFA Statutes covers committee members, and it applies to people in a league as well as in a club. (Definition 13) Correct

Definition 13 of the FIFA Statutes makes an official any board member, committee member, referee, coach, trainer and any other person responsible for technical, medical and administrative matters in FIFA, a confederation, a member association, a league or a club, but expressly excludes players, football agents and match agents. The physiotherapist handles medical matters in a club and the member of the league’s licensing committee is a committee member of a league, so both are officials. The captain is a player and the agent is a football agent; both fall within the express exclusion, whatever duties they carry out for the club, so the statements treating them as officials are wrong.

2. Vesna Radić, a Croatian national, is sporting director of HNK Mirna Dolina, a Croatian second-division club. A betting-monitoring service alerts her that unusually large sums were staked on her club conceding a penalty in each of its last two matches, although neither match has been shown to have been manipulated. The club’s owner tells her the matter concerns only the national gambling regulator. Which of the following statements is correct?

  1. The betting is not a FIFA matter, because article 2(g) of the FIFA Statutes lists corruption, doping and match manipulation as the practices FIFA seeks to prevent and does not mention betting.
  2. The betting is not a FIFA matter, because article 16(2) of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes prohibits doping and racism and makes only them subject to sanctions.
  3. The betting is a FIFA matter, because article 16(2) of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes prohibits irregular betting activities and makes them subject to sanctions. (Article 2 and RGAS article 16(2), study pack p. 12) Correct
  4. The betting becomes a FIFA matter only once a match is shown to have been fixed, because article 2(g) of the FIFA Statutes is aimed at practices that have actually harmed the integrity of a match.

Article 2(g) of the FIFA Statutes sets FIFA the objective of preventing all methods or practices, such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardise the integrity of matches; the list is illustrative, and the practices need only be capable of jeopardising integrity. Article 16(2) of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA Statutes, with reference to article 2(g), requires FIFA to act especially, but not exclusively, against irregular betting activities, doping and racism, and declares these activities prohibited and subject to sanctions. The betting pattern is therefore a FIFA matter without proof that a match was fixed; it does not fall to the national regulator alone, and FIFA’s action is not confined to doping and racism.

3. Three weeks before a parliamentary election, the president of a member association in south-eastern Europe proposes that the association publicly endorse the governing party, which has promised public money for new stadiums. He argues that the neutrality rule in the FIFA Statutes binds FIFA, not national associations, and that stadium funding is a matter of public interest. Which of the following statements is correct?

  1. The endorsement is not permitted, because article 15(a) of the FIFA Statutes requires the association’s statutes to provide for neutrality in matters of politics, as FIFA itself is neutral under article 4(2). (Articles 4(2) and 15, study pack pp. 13-15) Correct
  2. The endorsement is permitted, because article 15(a) of the FIFA Statutes requires the association’s statutes to provide for neutrality only in matters of religion, whereas FIFA itself is neutral in politics under article 4(2).
  3. The endorsement is permitted, because article 4(2) of the FIFA Statutes allows exceptions to neutrality for any matter of public interest, such as public funding for stadiums.
  4. The endorsement is not permitted, because article 4(1) of the FIFA Statutes treats any statement of political opinion by a football body as discrimination punishable by suspension.

Article 4(2) of the FIFA Statutes keeps FIFA neutral in matters of politics and religion, with exceptions only for matters affected by FIFA’s statutory objectives, and article 15(a) requires member associations’ statutes to contain, at a minimum, a provision to be neutral in matters of politics and religion. The association may therefore not endorse a party. The neutrality duty is not confined to FIFA, and the exception in article 4(2) concerns matters affected by FIFA’s statutory objectives, not any matter of public interest. Article 4(1) prohibits discrimination on account of political opinion; it does not turn a political statement into discrimination, so the reason given in that statement is wrong.

4. The football association of a South-East Asian country wants to trial kick-ins instead of throw-ins in its second division next season. It also wants its national futsal league to play two halves of 15 minutes to fit a television slot. Suda Wongsawat, a Thai coach educator advising the association, is asked what the FIFA Statutes allow. Which of the following statements are correct?

  1. The association may not introduce kick-ins on its own authority, because article 7(1) of the FIFA Statutes provides that only The IFAB may lay down and alter the Laws of the Game. (Articles 7(1), 7(2), 7(4) and 7(5), study pack p. 13) Correct
  2. The association may introduce kick-ins if the FIFA Council approves the trial, because article 7(4) of the FIFA Statutes gives the Council authority over the Laws of the Game.
  3. The futsal league must keep to the Futsal Laws of the Game issued by the FIFA Council, because article 7(4) of the FIFA Statutes requires each member association to play futsal in accordance with them. (Articles 7(1), 7(2), 7(4) and 7(5), study pack p. 13) Correct
  4. The association may introduce kick-ins once it joins The IFAB, because article 7(2) of the FIFA Statutes opens membership of The IFAB to any member association that applies.

Article 7(1) of the FIFA Statutes obliges each member association to play association football in compliance with the Laws of the Game issued by The IFAB, and only The IFAB may lay down and alter them, so the association cannot trial kick-ins on its own authority. Article 7(4) requires futsal to be played in accordance with the Futsal Laws of the Game as issued by the Council, and article 7(5) does the same for beach soccer, so the association cannot shorten the futsal halves itself. The Council’s power under article 7(4) covers futsal, not the Laws of the Game for association football, and article 7(2) makes FIFA and the four British associations the members of The IFAB, so membership is not open to any association that applies.

5. CD Arenal Norte, a Chilean club, and Atlético Quebrada Honda, a Uruguayan club, are in a dispute before FIFA over the meaning of a FIFA regulation. The Spanish version of the provision is worded differently from the English version, and on the Spanish wording the Uruguayan club’s claim would fail. The Chilean club argues that the Spanish text should govern, since Spanish is an official FIFA language and the language of both clubs. Which of the following statements is correct?

  1. The Spanish text governs, because article 9(1) of the FIFA Statutes publishes FIFA’s regulations in Spanish and treats each published version as equally binding.
  2. The Chilean association’s own translation governs, because article 9(1) of the FIFA Statutes makes member associations responsible for translations into the languages of their country.
  3. The version more favourable to the respondent governs, because article 9(1) of the FIFA Statutes resolves divergences between language versions in favour of the party facing the claim.
  4. The English text governs, because article 9(1) of the FIFA Statutes makes the English text authoritative whenever the wording of the language versions diverges. (Article 9(1), study pack p. 13) Correct

Article 9(1) of the FIFA Statutes publishes regulations in English, French and Spanish, and in Arabic, German, Russian or Portuguese when deemed necessary, and provides that if there is any divergence in the wording the English text shall be authoritative. The English version therefore governs, whatever the language of the parties. Publication in Spanish does not make that version equally binding, and the rule does not favour the respondent. Member associations are responsible for translations into their country’s languages, but such a translation cannot displace the authoritative English text.

Answers are taken from the official FIFA study materials. Where a question names an article, you can check it against FIFA's own text: the study materials page links every document.