Sept 14 (Reuters) – European soccer players’ union FIFPRO Europe demanded reforms to FIFA’s decision-making structures on Monday, arguing that the world body’s now-abandoned investment proposal exposed dangerous flaws in how global football is governed.
The union released a study claiming FIFA’s shelved Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative would have converted the game’s flagship competitions into assets for private capital without proper consultation with key stakeholders.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino unveiled the FFE proposal earlier this year before withdrawing it amid widespread opposition. FIFPRO Europe said the governance shortcomings that enabled its development remain unresolved.
“FFE was an attempt to convert the game’s core competitions into an investable, tradeable and undervalued financial asset for private capital,” the report stated, produced with Player IQ and Football Benchmark.
The study comes amid a wider debate over the balance of power in the global game. In court filings related to challenges from European soccer body UEFA, FIFA argued that opposition to its proposals is driven by efforts to preserve Europe’s dominant position in the sport.
The union said it supported efforts to increase development funding for smaller federations, but argued that any solidarity mechanism should be shaped jointly by stakeholders across the game.
“Any future proposal to grow solidarity funding should be built together, through trusted governance, not advanced unilaterally,” it said.
According to the report, European clubs employed 856 players at the expanded 2026 World Cup and released players worth about 16.9 billion euros ($19.8 billion), representing 94% of the tournament’s total player value.
It added that all 20 individual award winners across the last five World Cup editions were employed by European clubs.
FIFPRO Europe said the findings underscored the need to protect what it described as football’s “critical infrastructure” and called for an independent review of FIFA Council executive decision making to ensure major changes could not be advanced by a single office acting alone.
The report noted that the share of World Cup revenue distributed as prize money to participating countries had fallen to about 7.7% in 2026 from 10.5% in 2006, despite strong growth in tournament revenue.
“Players receive only a fraction of that return, while participating federations rely on it as FIFA’s only performance-based revenue stream,” the report said.
The union also urged the formal inclusion of players, clubs and leagues in football governance alongside national associations.
Reuters has contacted FIFA for comment on the report’s findings.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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