NYON, SWITZERLAND – In a significant escalation of long-running tensions between European soccer governing bodies and global soccer leader FIFA, the umbrella organization representing most of the continent’s top domestic leagues has submitted an expanded complaint to the European Commission, accusing FIFA of abusive conduct in its oversight of the international women’s soccer match calendar.
This new legal intervention from European Leagues comes on the heels of a 2024 complaint the group filed challenging FIFA’s pattern of decision-making, which has already resulted in expanded, match-heavy formats for the men’s FIFA World Cup and the expanded Club World Cup. To date, the original 2024 complaint has seen little to no forward movement through the European Union’s layered bureaucratic approval process.
In its formal statement accompanying the expanded filing, European Leagues warned that FIFA’s current approach puts the long-term growth and financial stability of women’s professional domestic leagues across Europe at direct risk, while also endangering the physical health and overall wellbeing of female players. Notably, the organization did not name specific recent FIFA policy decisions targeted in the new complaint.
The group specifically called out a failed initiative from FIFA President Gianni Infantino that would have sold minority stakes in top FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cup. That controversial plan was ultimately scrapped before it could be implemented, but European Leagues argues the aborted proposal lays bare deep structural flaws in FIFA’s governance.
“As is already the case in men’s football, FIFA consistently leverages its regulatory authority to prioritize its own commercial and competitive interests, at the expense of both women’s football development and the domestic European national leagues that form the backbone of the sport,” the statement read. “The recent controversy surrounding the scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative has further exposed this structural conflict of interest, and makes clear how profit-first motivations corrupt FIFA’s regulatory choices and internal decision-making processes.”
European Leagues represents a broad cross-section of European women’s and men’s soccer. Eight full member women’s competitions include major top-flight leagues in England and Spain, while top women’s leagues in France, Germany, and Italy hold associate membership status. On the men’s side, the organization counts 35 member leagues, including nearly every major top-tier domestic competition across the continent.
The original 2024 complaint against FIFA was filed jointly with FIFPRO Europe, the regional branch of the global players’ union. However, FIFPRO Europe has since withdrawn from all legal action against the governing body. In comments to the Associated Press on Tuesday, the union confirmed it exited the formal Brussels complaint as part of a broader cooperation agreement signed with FIFA this past June. The deal included a commitment from both sides to open formal negotiations over future adjustments to the international match calendar. Prior to the cooperation agreement, FIFA had spent a full year holding closed-door talks with an unofficial group of former officials with past ties to FIFPRO, a move that strained relations between the two organizations.