The Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A have issued a joint statement calling for greater transparency in football's global governing body, FIFA.
The four major European leagues have demanded a new FIFA governance structure that is transparent, objective, proportionate and inclusive, built around three core commitments. They are calling on FIFA to give affected stakeholders a real role in decision-making, ensure evidence-based decision-making and protect FIFA’s regulatory role from its commercial function.
Joint Statement from Four Leagues
A joint statement from the four European leagues reads: "The World Cup may be the pinnacle of our sport, but the foundations of football are sustained week in and week out, in packed stadiums and local communities, by dedicated players, fans, clubs and leagues around the world. Football’s longstanding foundations have, in recent years, been threatened by a fundamental governance problem, whereby FIFA’s president has actively promoted exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them. And while football’s stakeholders ultimately forced the withdrawal of the FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme, the conditions that led to FFE remain."
"The FIFA President has now acknowledged the need for reform, but it is not enough for surface-level, process changes to be explored in the aftermath of FFE – fundamental governance reform is essential to restore clear constitutional boundaries within FIFA, including confidence that individual disciplinary matters remain demonstrably insulated from political interference."
Concerns Over FIFA's Power
The statement continues: "The future of FIFA matters to everyone who cares about football, because our sport cannot grow globally if its foundations are undermined. FIFA’s governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual. The wider question is whether FIFA’s president should simultaneously wield such regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks and balances, including the agreement of affected stakeholders."
"More than a decade ago, following criminal proceedings involving senior football officials, FIFA’s own reform process sought to address these issues – yet, once again, football has suffered one of the biggest abuses of power in FIFA’s history. We are speaking up together, as founding members of European Leagues and the World Leagues Association, because we understand how FIFA’s relentless expansionism affects everyone. Each of us is a steward of a professional system that connects the grassroots of our sport with elite domestic and international competitions. By bringing millions of people together, domestic football leagues around the world have a major social and economic impact: supporting industries, creating jobs and investing in grassroots development, while also contributing significant tax revenues to our communities."
Call for Fundamental Reform
"Around one per cent of the world's professional players take part in the FIFA World Cup, while the remaining players and their clubs stop competing when domestic leagues come to a halt. Yet when FIFA takes major unilateral decisions directly affecting us – for example, by expanding the International Match Calendar (IMC) and extending the periods in which domestic competitions must pause – the stakeholders most affected are not meaningfully involved in the decision-making process. A FIFA governance that concentrates unchecked regulatory, commercial and political power in a single office, while relegating affected stakeholders to mere advisory status, is not fit for purpose."
"In recent years, international jurisprudence has consistently underscored the same point: sport’s governing bodies may regulate our game, but their power is not infinite. Where FIFA seeks to organise competitions, it must also neutralise an inherent conflict of interest via rules and criteria that are transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and proportionate, adopted inclusively and subject to effective independent review. The IMC complaint brought by leagues to the European Commission in October 2024 is a consequence of a flawed governance framework in which FIFA can use its regulatory authority to advance its own commercial objectives without accounting for the impact on the economic and social sustainability of national competitions that affect all stakeholders. This must change now for the sake of football."
