FIFA must be reformed for the good of football – Europe’s big leagues demand changes in football’s governance

Europe’s major football leagues are calling for changes at FIFA. La Liga, the Premier League, the Bundesliga and Serie A have issued a joint press statement demanding a deep reform of world football’s governance.

“The World Cup may be our sport’s biggest competition, but the foundation of football is built week after week, in packed stadiums and local communities, thanks to the dedication of players, fans, clubs and leagues across the world,” the statement from the continent’s leading leagues begins.

The statement then casts doubt on FIFA’s current management, also referencing the FIFA Forward Enterprise project. “In recent years, football’s historic foundations have been seen as threatened by a fundamental governance problem; the FIFA president has actively promoted abusive initiatives instead of protecting players from them. And although football’s stakeholders managed to have the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project thrown out, the conditions that brought about its emergence remain in force,” the statement continues.

Four of the five biggest leagues in the world are in no doubt that the time has come to demand a change in the governance of world football. “The FIFA president has acknowledged the need for reform, but it is not enough to simply study superficial changes to the process following the FFE episode; what is needed is a deep governance reform that sets clear constitutional limits within FIFA and guarantees, among other things, that individual disciplinary matters are protected forever from any political interference,” the statement stresses.

In that last passage, the leagues were clearly referring to the Balogun case, whose suspension at this summer’s World Cup was lifted following an intervention by US President Donald Trump.

“FIFA’s governance problem goes beyond the role of a single person. The core question is whether the president should simultaneously hold so much regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks, including the approval of affected stakeholders. More than a decade ago, after criminal proceedings involving senior football officials, FIFA’s reform process aimed to address precisely these issues. Yet once again, the football world has been confronted with what is considered one of the most serious cases of abuse of power in FIFA’s history,” the leagues add.

The leagues also recalled the complaints filed over the international match calendar with the European Commission in October 2024, stressing that …