Supporters across Europe are outraged by FIFA’s proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup and other football competitions to Trump-aligned private investors. The plan put forward by Gianni Infantino is the latest step in FIFA’s continuous descent into an autocratic governance and personality cult, with its President pushing the limits of his mandate on a daily basis.
This proposal was developed in remarkable secrecy and presented as though the football world should simply fall into line. Key decisions affecting the football ecosystem are being transferred away from football stakeholders to external corporate interests with insufficient scrutiny and accountability. Supporters, clubs, players, leagues, confederations, associations, FIFA itself and football generally deserve far better.
This is about handing a stake in football’s greatest competitions to investors whose only duty is to maximise financial returns. Once that happens, football changes. Forever.
For FSE, this is the moment the game we love is put on the auction block. Football stops being something to enjoy, cherish and protect, and starts becoming something to simply exploit for profit.
Supporters already know where this road leads: more expensive tickets, more commercial breaks, more paywalls, more expensive TV subscriptions, more unreal half-time shows… And a World Cup that becomes so big, so money-driven, that it can be organised only by a handful of countries.
The World Cup is part of our shared football heritage. It should never become another investment vehicle whose success is measured by shareholders returns rather than the joy it brings to supporters and the benefits it delivers to football.
Football is more than an economic activity. It is a public good, an essential part of our shared cultural heritage, and a source of identity for millions of people across the globe. It belongs to communities – not financial markets. Its governance should never be driven by the sportswashing aspirations of sovereign wealth funds or private interests linked to the US President’s entourage.
It is now time for the European institutions to intervene by not only examining whether FIFA’s proposal is compatible with EU competition law, but also by considering the development of a regulatory framework that will ensure that FIFA operates according to minimum standards of transparency, financial solidarity, stakeholder consultation, human rights, and accountability.
Supporters across Europe are steadfast in their opposition to this proposal. We defeated the so-called “Super League”. We forced a retreat. We can do it again.
Together with the European football community, we will fight it with all the means at our disposal. We urge FIFA to immediately put its proposal to rest. We call upon the FIFA Council and all member associations to reject it before irreversible damage is done.
Football’s future should be decided by the football community, not the highest bidder.
#DontSellOurGame.
