The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is the body that determines the Laws of the Game of association football (soccer).
The board was formed in 1882 after a meeting in Manchester of The Football Association (England), the Scottish Football Association, the Football Association of Wales, and the Irish Football Association. The meeting was convened to allow common rules to be applied to the game in all countries and created the first international competition, the British Home Championship.
Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) - the international organising body for the sport - formed in Paris in 1904 and declared that they would adhere to the rules laid down by the IFAB. The growing popularity of the game internationally led to the admittance of FIFA representatives to the IFAB in 1913. Today the IFAB is made up of four representatives from FIFA and one representative from each of the four United Kingdom (so called Home Nation) associations.