The Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga have called for fundamental governance reforms at FIFA, amid President Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election in 2027.
The four leading European leagues issued a joint statement on Friday, expressing concerns over the way football’s global governing body is being run and accusing its president of having “actively promoted exploitative ideas.”
The statement comes amid longstanding disagreements between the leagues and FIFA over the international football calendar.
Infantino has also faced criticism over a proposal to sell a 20 per cent stake in FIFA’s commercial rights, including those of the World Cup, to private investors.
“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,” the statement read.
The leagues also referred to the withdrawn FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme, arguing that although football stakeholders succeeded in forcing its withdrawal, “the conditions that led to FFE remain.”
They said Infantino’s recognition of the need for reform was insufficient and called for “fundamental governance reform” to “restore clear constitutional boundaries within FIFA, including confidence that individual disciplinary matters remain demonstrably insulated from political interference.”
Although the leagues did not call directly for Infantino to resign, they questioned the concentration of authority within the FIFA presidency.
“FIFA’s governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual,” the leagues said.
“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.”
The statement ended by referring to previous reform efforts following criminal proceedings involving senior football officials, saying, “Once again, football has suffered one of the biggest abuses of power in FIFA’s history.”
According to Sky Sports, the latest development follows a legal complaint filed almost two years ago by the European Leagues Association with the European Union over FIFA’s handling of the International Match Calendar.
Infantino reportedly wrote to football leaders earlier this week indicating that he was open to discussions on reforming FIFA.
