European Leagues have accused FIFA of "abusive conduct" — and they're putting it in writing to the European Commission. The body, which represents the English, Spanish, French, German and Italian women's leagues among others, has filed an expanded complaint in Brussels claiming FIFA consistently rigs its own regulatory decisions to benefit its commercial interests at the cost of women's club football.
That's a pointed charge, and it lands with some weight. European Leagues isn't pulling its punches: "FIFA's conduct threatens the growth and financial sustainability of women's professional leagues, and risks player health and wellbeing." That's not a procedural grumble — that's an existential accusation about how the sport is being run at the top.
What this is really about
The complaint builds on an earlier one filed in 2024 that challenged the decision-making behind expanded formats for the men's World Cup and Club World Cup. That original filing went largely nowhere in the EU system, which is slow by design. The new women's-specific intervention suggests European Leagues isn't waiting around for Brussels to catch up — it's stacking the record.
They also took a shot at Gianni Infantino's now-abandoned attempt to sell stakes in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup itself. The collapse of that so-called FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative, European Leagues argues, exposed exactly how profit-driven motives distort FIFA's governance. Hard to disagree when the regulatory body is also the competition organiser and the commercial rights holder all at once.
The conflict of interest problem in football governance isn't new. But having it documented formally in EU legal proceedings is a different kind of pressure.
FIFPRO's quiet exit
There's a notable absence in this latest action. FIFPRO Europe, which co-signed the original 2024 complaint, has since withdrawn from the legal proceedings entirely. The players' union struck a cooperation deal with FIFA in June — part of which included an offer to negotiate on the calendar. Whether that's pragmatism or capitulation depends on how the negotiations actually go.
FIFA had spent the year prior talking with a non-recognised group of former FIFPRO-linked officials, which tells you something about how the organisation handles those it considers inconvenient. Now that FIFPRO is back at the table, European Leagues is the one left carrying the complaint alone — and the EU's track record on these matters suggests nobody should expect a swift resolution.
