Four of Europe’s top soccer leagues have publicly called for reform at the sport’s global governing body FIFA after “exploitative ideas” were pushed by president Gianni Infantino as he attempted to sell commercial stakes in major events such as the showpiece World Cup.
The heads of the English Premier League, Spain's LaLiga, Germany's Bundesliga, and the Italian Serie A have written a joint open letter, titled 'To unify the game, FIFA must reform.'
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This summer, Infantino was forced to abandon a plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup, called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), after a backlash which led to UEFA pursuing legal action.
UEFA and its member nations had also threatened to boycott FIFA competitions but dropped this after receiving firm guarantees that the private investor scheme will never rear its head at FIFA again.
Now, chiefs at the top leagues in England, Spain, Germany, and Italy have called for “a new governance structure for our sport's global governing body that is transparent, objective, proportionate, and inclusive.”
The letter is signed by Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, Bundesliga CEO Marc Lenz, LaLiga president Javier Tebas, and Luigi De Siervo, CEO of Serie A.
The leagues have outlined three core commitments they want to see implemented: key stakeholders (national associations, leagues, clubs, and players) involved in FIFA's decision-making processes, evidence-based decisions backed up by published explanations, and a separation between FIFA's commercial functions and its “role as a regulator and guardian of the game.”
The joint statement read: “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.”
Earlier this week, in a letter to FIFA members, Infantino said he was open to an independent external review of the FFE plan and that he should be allowed to continue leading FIFA because his responsibilities are “larger than any individual proposal or disagreement.”
There will be a FIFA presidential election in March 2027, and Infantino still plans to stand for another term leading the organization.
The controversial FIFA president, who has been leading its incessant push to secure more revenue through any means necessary in recent years, is currently running unopposed for a fourth term.
The statement added: “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.
“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.”
The leagues have also called on potential candidates for next year's FIFA presidency election to “publish their own reform programme.”
They added: “Now is the moment to decide not only who will lead FIFA, but also how FIFA should be led. Leagues have a crucial role to play in this process, and we want to ensure that the voice of every league is heard.”
Infantino's FFE plan was revealed in late July shortly after the conclusion of the 2026 World Cup. The proposals would have seen FIFA sell off 21% of FFE – which would have taken the form of a commercial and events-focused subsidiary – to private investors.
Capital holding company Thrive Eternal – led by the brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law – would have likely led the FFE investor group, meanwhile.
The international body's plans would have involved raising $4.2 billion through selling 21% of FFE – assuming a total valuation of $20 billion in the venture.
FIFA said this would go towards creating a new funding mechanism for its 211 member associations, called the FIFA Fast-Forward Programme.
In early August, FIFA's chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, was fired – just weeks after he publicly criticised the ill-fated FFE plans.
Lamour had described the controversial – and now aborted – FFE as “the project of one person”, and said in a letter made public at the start of August: “The time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”
He added FIFA’s own administration was “deceived” about the now abandoned project and said the president “believes he embodies FIFA when he is supposed to be at its service.”
Infantino apologised for “errors” made in the FFE proposal but refused to step down as president after receiving the backing of senior figures within world soccer’s governing body.
