Premier League and Top Leagues Demand FIFA Reform

The Premier League, Bundesliga, LaLiga and Serie A have united to call for major reforms to FIFA's governance structure.

The four leagues published a joint statement on Friday titled “To Unify the Game, FIFA Must Reform”, arguing that football's global governing body needs greater transparency, accountability and stakeholder involvement.

The statement comes after the controversy surrounding FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a proposed commercial scheme that was ultimately withdrawn following opposition from football stakeholders.

The leagues said FIFA's president has promoted what they described as “exploitative ideas” and argued that the conditions that led to the FFE proposal still exist.

They also called for confidence that individual disciplinary matters are protected from political interference.

At the centre of their demands are three major reforms.

First, the leagues want affected stakeholders — including national associations, leagues, clubs and players — to have a permanent and meaningful role in FIFA's decision-making.

Second, they want major FIFA proposals to be supported by evidence and independent assessments before decisions are made, with the final reasoning published publicly.

Third, they want FIFA's regulatory responsibilities separated more clearly from its commercial functions. The leagues specifically called for FIFA's ethics, financial oversight and electoral bodies to have genuinely independent appointments, budgets and powers.

The leagues also called on candidates for the next FIFA presidential election to publish their own reform programmes and urged FIFA's resources to remain neutral during the electoral process.

The statement was signed by Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, Bundesliga CEO Marc Lenz, LaLiga president Javier Tebas and Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo.

The joint intervention represents a coordinated push from four of Europe's leading domestic competitions for changes to how world football's governing body makes major decisions.