Without any consultation, FIFA announced earlier this week a project to establish a commercial subsidiary to operate its competitions and sell equity interests to private investors.
The FIFA World Cup value, and more generally of national team football, is the result of a collective effort across the entire football pyramid. National team football is built upon the release of players by their clubs. While around one per cent of the world's professional players participate in the FIFA World Cup, the other 130,000 professional footballers and all their clubs stop competing as national league competitions come to a halt.
Therefore, FIFA’s responsibilities extend beyond the commercial success of its own competitions. As the global governing body of football, FIFA has a responsibility to safeguard the balance between national, continental and world competitions and to consider the interests of the game globally.
The FIFA Forward Enterprise project further highlights the conflict of interest between FIFA’s role as the regulator of world football and as the commercial organiser of major international competitions.
The World Leagues Association asks FIFA to withdraw its project and reiterates the need for a fundamental change in FIFA’s decision-making processes, ensuring that decisions affecting the entire football pyramid are taken through transparent and inclusive process involving all stakeholders that contribute to the game.
