Football leagues in four countries call for reform of FIFA governance

Brief retelling from RIA II

Football leagues in England, Germany, Italy and Spain have called for governance reform at FIFA.

UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF criticized FIFA and President Gianni Infantino for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, after which Infantino announced the abandonment of the plan to sell part of the commercial rights.

La Liga's statement calls for fundamental reform of FIFA's governance and the creation of a new governance structure based on three principles: giving stakeholders a real role in decision-making, ensuring evidence-based decision-making, and protecting FIFA's regulatory role from its commercial function.

MOSCOW, September 25 - RIA Novosti. Football leagues in England, Germany, Italy and Spain have issued a joint call for governance reform at the International Football Federation (FIFA).

Earlier, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) criticized FIFA and the organization's president Gianni Infantino for proposing a commercial project, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). Following UEFA's threat to boycott FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, Infantino said the federation had abandoned its plan to sell part of the commercial rights. Later, a number of European associations called on Infantino to resign.

"The FIFA President has recognized the need for reform, but it is not enough to look at superficial, procedural changes in the wake of the FFE scandal - fundamental governance reform is needed to restore clear constitutional boundaries within FIFA, including ensuring that individual disciplinary matters remain clearly immune from political interference. We jointly call for a new governance structure for our sport's global governing body that is transparent, objective, proportionate and inclusive, based on three core principles. We call on FIFA to: give stakeholders a real role in decision-making; ensure decisions are based on evidence; protect FIFA's regulatory role from its commercial function," La Liga said in a statement on social media.