European leagues demand FIFA reform
The joint letter was signed by Bundesliga CEO Marc Lenz, LALIGA President Javier Tebas, Lega Calcio Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo and Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters.
The leagues said football’s foundations had been threatened by a governance problem in which FIFA’s president had promoted “exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them.”
Their statement followed the withdrawal of the FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme, which proposed attracting private investment through a commercial entity responsible for organising FIFA tournaments. However, the leagues argued that abandoning the initiative had not addressed the structural issues behind it.
“Fundamental governance reform is essential to restore clear constitutional boundaries within FIFA,” the letter said. The signatories also called for disciplinary decisions to remain protected from political interference.
The leagues proposed three main reforms: giving affected stakeholders a meaningful role in decision-making, requiring independent evidence and impact assessments for major proposals, and separating FIFA’s regulatory responsibilities from its commercial operations.
They criticised FIFA’s unilateral expansion of the international match calendar, saying leagues, clubs and players were not meaningfully involved in decisions affecting domestic competitions.
“A FIFA governance that concentrates unchecked regulatory, commercial and political power in a single office... is not fit for purpose,” the letter said.
The leagues urged all candidates in the 2027 FIFA presidential election to publish reform programmes and support an independently chaired Governance Convention within the next presidential mandate’s first 100 days. However, they stopped short of calling for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s resignation.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that FIFA President Gianni Infantino had proposed an independent review of the organisation’s governance and consultations on possible reforms to its decision-making procedures.
