Comparison of IOC, FIFA, and ISO 3166 country codes facts for kids

Have you ever noticed that countries often have short, three-letter codes? These codes are like nicknames for countries. They help different organizations quickly identify countries around the world.

Three big groups that use these codes are the IOC, FIFA, and ISO 3166. Each group has its own reasons for using these codes, and sometimes their codes for the same country are a little different!

• The IOC uses codes for countries that compete in the Olympics.
• FIFA uses codes for countries that play in international football (soccer) matches.
• ISO 3166 is a worldwide standard that gives unique codes to countries and their parts. It's used for many things, like shipping and data.

This table shows how these codes compare for different countries. You'll see that many codes are the same, but some are unique to each organization.

Flag	Country	IOC	FIFA	ISO
	Afghanistan	AFG	AFG	AFG
	Åland Islands			ALA
	Albania	ALB	ALB	ALB
	Algeria	ALG	ALG	DZA
	American Samoa	ASA	ASA	ASM
	Andorra	AND	AND	AND
	Angola	ANG	ANG	AGO
	Anguilla		AIA	AIA
	Antarctica			ATA
	Antigua and Barbuda	ANT	ATG	ATG
	Argentina	ARG	ARG	ARG
	Armenia	ARM	ARM	ARM
	Aruba	ARU	ARU	ABW
	Australia	AUS	AUS	AUS
	Austria	AUT	AUT	AUT
	Azerbaijan	AZE	AZE	AZE
	The Bahamas	BAH	BAH	BHS
	Bahrain	BRN	BHR	BHR
	Bangladesh	BAN	BAN	BGD
	Barbados	BAR	BRB	BRB
	Belarus	BLR	BLR	BLR
	Belgium	BEL	BEL	BEL
	Belize	BIZ	BLZ	BLZ
	Benin	BEN	BEN	BEN
	Bermuda	BER	BER	BMU
	Bhutan	BHU	BHU	BTN
	Bolivia	BOL	BOL	BOL
	Caribbean Netherlands	AHO		BES
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	BIH	BIH	BIH
	Botswana	BOT	BOT	BWA
	Bouvet Island			BVT
	Brazil	BRA	BRA	BRA
	British Indian Ocean Territory			IOT
	British Virgin Islands	IVB	VGB	VGB
	Brunei	BRU	BRU	BRN
	Bulgaria	BUL	BUL	BGR
	Burkina Faso	BUR	BFA	BFA
	Burundi	BDI	BDI	BDI
	Cambodia	CAM	CAM	KHM
	Cameroon	CMR	CMR	CMR
	Canada	CAN	CAN	CAN
	Cape Verde	CPV	CPV	CPV
	Cayman Islands	CAY	CAY	CYM
	Central African Republic	CAF	CTA	CAF
	Chad	CHA	CHA	TCD
	Chile	CHI	CHI	CHL
	China, People's Republic of	CHN	CHN	CHN
	Christmas Island			CXR
	Cocos (Keeling) Islands			CCK
	Colombia	COL	COL	COL
	Comoros	COM	COM	COM
	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	COD	COD	COD
	Congo, Republic of	CGO	CGO	COG
	Cook Islands	COK	COK	COK
	Costa Rica	CRC	CRC	CRI
	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV	CIV	CIV
	Croatia	CRO	CRO	HRV
	Cuba	CUB	CUB	CUB
	Curaçao			CUW
	Cyprus	CYP	CYP	CYP
	Czech Republic	CZE	CZE	CZE
	Denmark	DEN	DEN	DNK
	Djibouti	DJI	DJI	DJI
	Dominica	DMA	DMA	DMA
	Dominican Republic	DOM	DOM	DOM
	Ecuador	ECU	ECU	ECU
	Egypt	EGY	EGY	EGY
	El Salvador	ESA	SLV	SLV
	England		ENG
	Equatorial Guinea	GEQ	EQG	GNQ
	Eritrea	ERI	ERI	ERI
	Estonia	EST	EST	EST
	Ethiopia	ETH	ETH	ETH
	Falkland Islands			FLK
	Faroe Islands		FRO	FRO
	Fiji	FIJ	FIJ	FJI
	Finland	FIN	FIN	FIN
	France	FRA	FRA	FRA
	French Guiana			GUF
	French Polynesia		TAH	PYF
	French Southern and Antarctic Lands			ATF
	Gabon	GAB	GAB	GAB
	The Gambia	GAM	GAM	GMB
	Georgia	GEO	GEO	GEO
	Germany	GER	GER	DEU
	Ghana	GHA	GHA	GHA
	Gibraltar		GIB	GIB
	Greece	GRE	GRE	GRC
	Greenland			GRL
	Grenada	GRN	GRN	GRD
	Guadeloupe			GLP
	Guam	GUM	GUM	GUM
	Guatemala	GUA	GUA	GTM
	Guernsey			GGY
	Guinea	GUI	GUI	GIN
	Guinea-Bissau	GBS	GNB	GNB
	Guyana	GUY	GUY	GUY
	Haiti	HAI	HAI	HTI
	Heard Island and McDonald Islands			HMD
	Honduras	HON	HON	HND
	Hong Kong	HKG	HKG	HKG
	Hungary	HUN	HUN	HUN
	Iceland	ISL	ISL	ISL
	India	IND	IND	IND
	Indonesia	INA	IDN	IDN
	Iran	IRI	IRN	IRN
	Iraq	IRQ	IRQ	IRQ
	Ireland	IRL	IRL	IRL
	Isle of Man			IMN
	Israel	ISR	ISR	ISR
	Italy	ITA	ITA	ITA
	Jamaica	JAM	JAM	JAM
	Japan	JPN	JPN	JPN
	Jersey			JEY
	Jordan	JOR	JOR	JOR
	Kazakhstan	KAZ	KAZ	KAZ
	Kenya	KEN	KEN	KEN
	Kiribati	KIR		KIR
	Korea, Democratic People's Rep. (North)	PRK	PRK	PRK
	Korea, Republic of (South)	KOR	KOR	KOR
	Kuwait	KUW	KUW	KWT
	Kyrgyzstan	KGZ	KGZ	KGZ
	Laos	LAO	LAO	LAO
	Latvia	LAT	LVA	LVA
	Lebanon	LIB	LBN	LBN
	Lesotho	LES	LES	LSO
	Liberia	LBR	LBR	LBR
	Libya	LBA	LBY	LBY
	Liechtenstein	LIE	LIE	LIE
	Lithuania	LTU	LTU	LTU
	Luxembourg	LUX	LUX	LUX
	Macau		MAC	MAC
	North Macedonia	MKD	MKD	MKD
	Madagascar	MAD	MAD	MDG
	Malawi	MAW	MWI	MWI
	Malaysia	MAS	MAS	MYS
	Maldives	MDV	MDV	MDV
	Mali	MLI	MLI	MLI
	Malta	MLT	MLT	MLT
	Marshall Islands	MHL		MHL
	Martinique			MTQ
	Mauritania	MTN	MTN	MRT
	Mauritius	MRI	MRI	MUS
	Mayotte			MYT
	Mexico	MEX	MEX	MEX
	Micronesia, Federated States of	FSM		FSM
	Moldova	MDA	MDA	MDA
	Monaco	MON		MCO
	Mongolia	MGL	MNG	MNG
	Montenegro	MNE	MNE	MNE
	Montserrat		MSR	MSR
	Morocco	MAR	MAR	MAR
	Mozambique	MOZ	MOZ	MOZ
	Myanmar	MYA	MYA	MMR
	Namibia	NAM	NAM	NAM
	Nauru	NRU		NRU
	Nepal	NEP	NEP	NPL
	Netherlands	NED	NED	NLD
	New Caledonia		NCL	NCL
	New Zealand	NZL	NZL	NZL
	Nicaragua	NCA	NCA	NIC
	Niger	NIG	NIG	NER
	Nigeria	NGR	NGA	NGA
	Niue			NIU
	Norfolk Island			NFK
	Northern Ireland		NIR
	Northern Mariana Islands			MNP
	Norway	NOR	NOR	NOR
	Oman	OMA	OMA	OMN
	Pakistan	PAK	PAK	PAK
	Palau	PLW		PLW
	Palestinian Authority	PLE	PLE	PSE
	Panama	PAN	PAN	PAN
	Papua New Guinea	PNG	PNG	PNG
	Paraguay	PAR	PAR	PRY
	Peru	PER	PER	PER
	Philippines	PHI	PHI	PHL
	Pitcairn Islands			PCN
	Poland	POL	POL	POL
	Portugal	POR	POR	PRT
	Puerto Rico	PUR	PUR	PRI
	Qatar	QAT	QAT	QAT
	Réunion			REU
	Romania	ROU	ROU	ROU
	Russia	RUS	RUS	RUS
	Rwanda	RWA	RWA	RWA
	Saint Barthélemy			BLM
	Saint Helena			SHN
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	SKN	SKN	KNA
	Saint Lucia	LCA	LCA	LCA
	Saint Martin (French part)			MAF
	Saint Pierre and Miquelon			SPM
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	VIN	VIN	VCT
	Samoa	SAM	SAM	WSM
	San Marino	SMR	SMR	SMR
	São Tomé and Príncipe	STP	STP	STP
	Saudi Arabia	KSA	KSA	SAU
	Scotland		SCO
	Senegal	SEN	SEN	SEN
	Serbia	SRB	SRB	SRB
	Seychelles	SEY	SEY	SYC
	Sierra Leone	SLE	SLE	SLE
	Singapore	SGP	SIN	SGP
	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)			SXM
	Slovakia	SVK	SVK	SVK
	Slovenia	SLO	SVN	SVN
	Solomon Islands	SOL	SOL	SLB
	Somalia	SOM	SOM	SOM
	South Africa	RSA	RSA	ZAF
	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands			SGS
	Spain	ESP	ESP	ESP
	Sri Lanka	SRI	SRI	LKA
	Sudan	SUD	SDN	SDN
	Suriname	SUR	SUR	SUR
	Svalbard and Jan Mayen			SJM
	Eswatini	SWZ	SWZ	SWZ
	Sweden	SWE	SWE	SWE
	Switzerland	SUI	SUI	CHE
	Syria	SYR	SYR	SYR
	Republic of China (Taiwan)	TPE	TPE	TWN
	Tajikistan	TJK	TJK	TJK
	Tanzania	TAN	TAN	TZA
	Thailand	THA	THA	THA
	Timor-Leste	TLS	TLS	TLS
	Togo	TOG	TOG	TGO
	Tokelau			TKL
	Tonga	TGA	TGA	TON
	Trinidad and Tobago	TTO	TRI	TTO
	Tunisia	TUN	TUN	TUN
	Turkey	TUR	TUR	TUR
	Turkmenistan	TKM	TKM	TKM
	Turks and Caicos Islands		TCA	TCA
	Tuvalu	TUV		TUV
	Uganda	UGA	UGA	UGA
	Ukraine	UKR	UKR	UKR
	United Arab Emirates	UAE	UAE	ARE
	United Kingdom	GBR		GBR
	United States	USA	USA	USA
	United States Minor Outlying Islands			UMI
	United States Virgin Islands	ISV	VIR	VIR
	Uruguay	URU	URU	URY
	Uzbekistan	UZB	UZB	UZB
	Vanuatu	VAN	VAN	VUT
	Vatican City State			VAT
	Venezuela	VEN	VEN	VEN
	Vietnam	VIE	VIE	VNM
	Wales		WAL
	Wallis and Futuna			WLF
	Western Sahara			ESH
	Yemen	YEM	YEM	YEM
	Zambia	ZAM	ZAM	ZMB
	Zimbabwe	ZIM	ZIM	ZWE

What About Old Country Names?

Sometimes, countries change their names or split into new countries. When this happens, their old codes are no longer used. This section shows some of those older names and the codes they used to have, along with the last year those codes were active.

Flag	Country	IOC	FIFA	ISO
	British Honduras	HBR 1972	BHO
	Burma	BIR 1988	BUR 1989	BUR 1989
	Ceylon	CEY 1972	CEY 1972
	Dahomey	DAH 1972	DAH 1975	DHY 1977
	Czechoslovakia	TCH 1992	TCH 1993	CSK 1993
	East Germany	GDR 1988	DDR 1989	DDR 1989
	Khmer Republic	KHM 1976	? 1975
	Malaya	MAL 1960	? 1963
	Netherlands Antilles	AHO active	ANT active	ANT 2010
	North Borneo	NBO 1956	NBO 1963
	North Yemen	YAR 1988	NYE 1990	YEM 1990
	Northern Rhodesia	NRH 1964	NRH 1964
	Rhodesia	RHO 1972	RHO 1980	RHO 1980
	Serbia and Montenegro	SCG 2006	SCG 2006	SCG 2006
	South Yemen	YMD 1988	SYE 1990	YMD 1990
	Soviet Union	URS 1988	URS 1991	SUN 1992
	Upper Volta	VOL 1984	UPV 1984	HVO 1984
	Viet-Nam, Democratic Republic of		VNO 1975	VDR 1977
	Viet Nam, Republic of	VNM 1976	VSO 1975	VNM 1977
	West Germany	FRG 1988	FRG 1989	DEU 1989
	Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of	YUG 2002	YUG 2003	YUG 2003
	Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of	YUG 1992	YUG 1992	YUG 1992
	Zaire	ZAI 1996	ZAI 1997	ZAR 1997

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Comparación de los códigos del COI, la FIFA y la ISO 3166 para niños