FIFA’s plan to sell stakes in its flagship competitions to private investors represent a “dereliction of duty”, according to a leading regulatory lawyer.
Gianni Infantino, president of world football’s governing body, wants to create a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including future World Cups, with external investors being able to buy stakes in them.
UEFA, which governs European football, has said it will boycott the World Cup if the plan proceeds and now two more continental football federations, representing Asia and North, Central and South America, have also rejected the idea.
While this means the FIFA plan is now unlikely to be approved by its members if put to a vote, leading regulatory lawyer Tim Williamson says the idea is unlikely to go away in the medium and long term.
“FIFA is legally structured as a private association governed by Swiss law. Its governing ‘constitution’ operates under the significant regulatory autonomy granted by Switzerland to non-commercial, private entities,” says Tim Williamson, regulatory and sport partner at national law firm Clarke Willmott.
“But that doesn’t tell the whole story of course. FIFA’s decision maker(s) are in their privileged positions to conserve and enhance the global game. The same is true of all federations and rights holders for sports across the world. They are regulators who maintain standards across the sport.
“Most importantly they conserve and protect everything that is good about the game so that it can be enjoyed by the next generation even more than the last.
“The tournaments FIFA organises are there for participants: players and supporters the world over. FIFA is entrusted with the responsibility of organising these extraordinary spectacles precisely because of its position as the global governing body.
“This does not mean that football itself belongs to FIFA, any more than FIFA does not belong to any one person.
“Football entrusts FIFA with responsibilities to organise events to sustain the sport. This plainly does not extend to authorising these events to be sold to and controlled by the highest bidder, creating great wealth for the decision makers in the process. That must be a dereliction of duty.”
Tim Williamson believes that selling shares in FIFA’s signature event could actually compromise its long-term sustainability
“Yes, football must be sustainable and to achieve this it needs to capture the heart, the imagination and inevitably, the wallet,” he says.
“Smaller football associations should be supported to provide a game that inspires their own populations but you don’t need a separate legal vehicle to raise revenue and distribute stakes in the main event to do that.
“Everything has a tipping point, even football. FIFA’s plan risks creating distrust, cynicism and a lack of engagement with the beautiful game – the game will not be sustained if people turn away.
“But if football’s various continental governing bodies continue to stand shoulder to shoulder in opposition, this momentum might make all the difference when we look back in years to come.”
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If you would like to explore the issued covered in this article further, please contact Tim Williamson, regulatory partner in our sport sector.
