AFC, Concacaf and UEFA have published a joint open letter addressed to the global football community, calling for greater accountability, transparency and collective responsibility in the way the game is governed.
Dear Football Family,
Football remains one of the world’s strongest shared passions. It does not belong to one person, one organisation or one institution.
The game belongs equally to players, supporters, clubs, Member Associations and every body given responsibility for protecting its future.
As Confederations representing our respective members, we are speaking together because we believe that responsibility must remain collective.
Football has experienced genuine growth during the past decade. However, those achievements cannot be credited to one individual. They came through the combined work of FIFA, the Confederations, Member Associations and the many thousands of people who have devoted their professional lives to the sport.
The expansion of major competitions, the decisions regarding the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups and the distribution of financial resources to national associations were all collective outcomes. They were discussed together, approved together and delivered through shared effort.
Confederations insist the dispute is about trust, not money
This position is not driven by financial considerations.
The Confederations have already supported the responsible use of FIFA’s substantial existing reserves to increase investment in the development of Member Associations around the world.
Nor is this dispute about removing financial support that national associations have earned. Suggestions that members could lose that backing only create unnecessary concern. It is also not an attempt to reopen decisions concerning expanded competitions, World Cup allocations or other matters that were previously agreed collectively.
Those decisions were reached through a shared process and should remain in place.
The central issue is more basic. It concerns the integrity of football itself and the integrity expected from those elected to lead it.
Leadership within the game cannot be treated as personal ownership. Holding office should never mean demanding control for its own sake. Those entrusted with authority have a duty to serve the football community that placed its confidence in them.
When that confidence is damaged by misleading conduct, or when one person places personal authority above the collective institutions that granted it, the responsibility attached to leadership has been neglected.
FIFA recently wrote to its Vice Presidents and all 211 Member Associations acknowledging that mistakes had occurred during the process in question. In our view, the problem cannot be reduced to poor communication. What took place represented a much deeper failure of judgement.
A proposal was developed under an unusually compressed timetable, without sufficient consultation, and moved towards a deadline before Member Associations had been given a proper opportunity to examine its terms. That cannot reasonably be viewed as a simple administrative error. The process itself restricted the level of scrutiny that such a proposal required.
Joint letter criticises proposal involving the FIFA World Cup
The response also failed to address what we regard as the underlying problem with the proposal itself.
There has still been no proper recognition that seeking to sell an interest connected to the FIFA World Cup represented a serious error of judgement. The concern goes beyond procedure. In the view of the Confederations, it amounted to a breach of the trust between FIFA and the institutions it exists to represent and support.
FIFA has stated that it intends to submit a complete report on the matter to the FIFA Council. That approach does not resolve the governance concerns raised by these events.
Given the seriousness of the questions involved, any review should be conducted by a genuinely independent third party. It should not be led by FIFA, its employees or any organisation or individual with a direct interest in football governance.
The FIFA administration should therefore have no role in conducting the investigation itself.
As stated in earlier correspondence, all relevant records, documents and communications must also be preserved in line with UEFA’s previous instruction concerning document retention.
FIFA’s own correspondence confirms another issue. Only one elected official attended the leadership meeting held in Morocco.
No FIFA Council members or representatives of Member Associations were invited to participate. Attendance was limited to the management committee, which consists of senior members of FIFA’s employed administration.
Morocco meeting adds to concerns over decision making
The circumstances surrounding the latest meeting have only increased those concerns.
A selected group from the FIFA management committee, rather than the entire committee, was called to a meeting outside Switzerland. At the same time, the leadership did not return to Zurich to directly address FIFA’s headquarters and its staff.
For the three Confederations, this reflects the same pattern of conduct that led to the current dispute.
Football requires leadership that acts as a guardian of the sport rather than behaving as though the sport itself must answer to one person.
At a moment when accountability is needed, there has instead been silence. At a time when greater transparency is required, there has been greater distance.
Those are not the standards that football should expect from its leadership.
Our position has therefore not been adopted casually. It is also not the position of one Confederation acting alone. AFC, Concacaf and UEFA have reached this view together because we believe it is part of our responsibility to the game and to the members we represent.
Football has always drawn much of its strength from unity. That unity now needs to be respected and protected.
We are calling for leadership that serves football collectively, respects the institutions of the game and accepts proper accountability rather than seeking greater personal control.
Yours sincerely,
SALMAN BIN IBRAHIM AL KHALIFA
AFC President
VICTOR MONTAGLIANI
Concacaf President
ALEKSANDER ČEFERIN
UEFA President
DATUK SERI WINDSOR JOHN
AFC General Secretary
PHILIPPE MOGGIO
Concacaf General Secretary
THEODORE THEODORIDIS
UEFA General Secretary
