Four of Europe’s leading football leagues called for “fundamental” reform of FIFA on Friday, accusing world football’s governing body of concentrating excessive regulatory, commercial, and political power in its presidency.

The English Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s La Liga, and Italy’s Serie A said in a joint statement that FIFA’s current governance structure is “not fit for purpose” and called for greater involvement of leagues, clubs, players, and national associations in decision-making.

“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 leagues said, referring to Gianni Infantino.

They cited this summer’s withdrawn FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project, saying that while football stakeholders succeeded in stopping the controversial proposal, “the conditions that led to FFE remain.”

Infantino faced intense pushback over the now-abandoned FFE proposal, which would have involved selling up to a 20% stake in a company controlling commercial rights to the World Cup and other FIFA competitions.

'Strength must be matched by accounability'

The leagues also called for safeguards to protect individual disciplinary matters from political interference, saying “surface-level” changes following the FFE controversy would not be sufficient.

The push for safeguards follows another controversy this summer over FIFA’s decision to suspend a US player’s World Cup ban after US President Donald Trump asked Infantino to review his red card.

Under the European leagues’ proposals, FIFA would establish a permanent body representing national associations, leagues, clubs and players from men’s and women’s football, giving affected stakeholders a meaningful role in major decisions.

They also called for major FIFA proposals to undergo independent assessment and for safeguards separating FIFA’s regulatory role from its commercial activities.

“Football needs FIFA to be a strong institution. But strength must be matched by accountability,” the statement said.

Infantino is set to seek reelection as FIFA president at the FIFA Congress next March in Rabat, Morocco. (AA)