Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Bundesliga demand urgent FIFA reforms
The four top European leagues published an open letter on 26 September 2026 accusing FIFA leadership of power concentration and calling for constitutional changes.
On 26 September 2026 the chiefs of the four most powerful European football leagues issued a joint public challenge to FIFA's current leadership.
In an open letter signed by Richard Masters (Premier League), Marc Lenz (Bundesliga), Javier Tebas (La Liga) and Luigi De Siervo (Serie A), the leagues accused FIFA of concentrating power and making unilateral decisions that threaten the foundations of the sport.
What the leagues say
The letter says the sport faces what the leagues call a "problem with fundamental governance" and that some controversial schemes — including FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) — have only been paused under outside pressure while the structural conditions that fostered them remain intact. The leagues demand deep, not cosmetic, changes to restore clear constitutional limits within FIFA and to protect disciplinary matters from political interference.
“The future of FIFA is of the utmost importance to everyone who loves football, because our sport cannot grow globally if its foundations are undermined,” the statement reads.
Beyond criticizing specific programmes, the leagues raised a broader constitutional question: whether the FIFA president should simultaneously hold so much regulatory, commercial and political power without effective checks and balances. The letter calls for urgent reforms to rebalance authority and ensure transparent governance.
The joint intervention marks a rare coordinated move by Europe's top domestic competitions and sets the stage for intensified debate over FIFA's direction and governance in the months ahead.
Photo: press material from the event
