FIFA Statutes revision

Since Gianni Infantino became the first FIFA President to be elected in Africa in March 2023, the organisation has been constantly striving for optimisation of the FIFA Statutes and other regulations in order to ensure football maintains its relevance and global appeal to contemporary society.

At the 74th FIFA Congress in Thailand - the first to be hosted in South-East Asia - the formation of a Task Force on Player Welfare was incorporated into the FIFA Statutes, giving the organisation the structure by which to analyse the latest scientific research trends on both the physical and mental well-being of players and to apply those findings across FIFA’s decision-making bodies. The task force, to be led by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger, brings together stakeholders from across the game after an initial consultation process to make sure that health of football’s main protagonists - the players - is prioritised at all times.

The task force was reinforced by the approval of the introduction of a number of FIFA Committees, established in order to bolster the organisation’s stakeholder engagement structure and invite locally-relevant best practice and knowledge sharing to feed into its legislative bodies. The development only served to reinforce FIFA as the home for debate and discussion, uniting on the future direction of the global game.

Another important measure arose through Suspect and Protect in September 2024, a campaign launched by FIFA in tandem with the World Health Organization (WHO) to highlight risks of concussion and provide educational resources for everyone involved at all levels of football. The programme followed came from discussions at meetings of The International Football Association Board (IFAB), giving participants the tools to understand the signs and symptoms of suspected concussion and inform therm of the long-term risks surrounding traumatic brain injuries.

Such initiatives clearly illustrate the importance of information exchanges between football’s many and ever-evolving global stakeholder groups, which have been facilitated with the publication of a wide range of reports (with topics including Disciplinary and Ethics, Tribunal Report and Integrity) as well as the staging of programmes and workshops such as the FIFA Global Integrity Programme (in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), the FIFA Compliance Summit and the Football Law Annual Review.

The latter held its most recent session in Miami at the end of February 2025, the new home of FIFA’s Legal & Compliance Division after relocating from Zurich in August 2024. The move was not only significant in helping the organisation to be ready for forthcoming global tournaments in the United States but the latest step in FIFA expanding its global footprint also highlighted the commitment across FIFA to implement football’s true globality.

Whilst each of these developments represents significant progress, FIFA is aware that as society evolves, so the goalposts continually move on the requirements of this - as well as certain other goals among these strategic objectives. To remain in line with social change, then FIFA will continue to monitor, analyse, assess and react, continually making the best and most effective use of situations and opportunities that arise as well as resources at global football’s disposal.