Worldwide football network

UEFA's activities are subject to FIFA's statutes and regulations, and UEFA has various rights and duties, including the organisation of European club and national team competitions, and to take whatever measures it considers necessary and useful for the development of European football at all levels. All UEFA member associations are also FIFA members.

Close contacts 
In its daily contacts with FIFA, UEFA is able to put forward its views to the world body in a variety of ways. For example, the European members of the FIFA Executive Committee attend meetings of UEFA's Executive Committee, thereby establishing close contacts at executive level. They are sometimes asked to submit UEFA's views on matters of mutual interest to FIFA, as well as to seek information from FIFA on topics which may be of concern to Europe. Members of other UEFA expert committees are also members of FIFA committees, and are therefore able to provide a two-way link between the two organisations.

Active dialogue 
UEFA is recognised as a powerful confederation, both financially and in terms of footballing strength. However, UEFA's objective as far as world football is concerned is to use this position of strength to help improve the quality of football across the globe, as it is only in this way that football can continue to develop and maintain its position as the world's most popular sport. UEFA seeks active dialogue with its sister confederations in this respect.

Competition links
UEFA's relations with the rest of the football world are reflected in a number of ways on the field. Together with the other continental confederations, Europe sends representatives to take part in world competitions organised by FIFA. The major event in this respect is obviously world football's blue-riband event, the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA Confederations' Cup features winners of the various confederations' national-team continental championships. The most successful European teams at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-17 level qualify for the Olympic Football Tournament and FIFA Under-20 and Under-17 competitions respectively, while the top European women's teams take part in the FIFA Women's World Cup.

• European/South American Cup
From 1960, UEFA and its South American counterpart CONMEBOL staged the European/South American Cup (now also known as the Toyota Cup), which broughts together the winners of the champion clubs' cup in the two continents. The match was played in Tokyo from 1980 before moving to Yokohama, and was hosted by the Japanese Football Association, a member of the Asian continental confederation AFC. The competition has now come to an end. In its place, from 2005, the FIFA World Club Championship has featured champion clubs from football's continental confederations.

• European/South American Nations Cup
As far as national representative teams are concerned, UEFA and CONMEBOL also staged the European/South American Nations Cup (the Artemio Franchi Cup), played between the winners of the continental championships of Europe and South America.