Back to All Questions28 July 2026

What do you think the future is for FIFA? Will enough members loose enough faith to challenge the status quo?

Nick Wright

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I have no idea on the future of FIFA, I just know they are corrupt. Money talks in a world that incentivises greed over morals. They were corrupt under Blatter and they are corrupt under Infantino. I'm not naive - I know there is always going to be corruption. Else we wouldn't need a corruption world index. However when corruption is so brazen, and carried out in plain sight without impunity, you know something has gone seriously wrong. Honestly, I think most people can deal with a bit of rule bending as long as it doesn't affect them too much. But FIFA has crossed that threshold, they're ruining the game. Others are equally culpable. UEFA are no saints. They were very quick to (falsely) blame Liverpool fans for the scenes outside the CL final in Paris. And the whole Super League group format of the Champions League is a bit daft if you ask me, and fuelled by money. It was forced on them if I recall, because of clubs such as Liverpool - we're not blameless here - trying to build a consortium of clubs to form their own Super League. An idea which was pretty soundly rejected by most football fans, something we could all unite over. But money talks in a world incentivised by greed over morals, and that's why we have the (flawed, in my opinion) Super League group stage format now. This, by the way, despite the protestations of the players and managers who have continually argued that the fixture schedule was already way too busy. People will say, well they are paid handsomely for it and they'd be right - but wealth isn't as important as family and health, and if you put it to a vote I bet the results would be quite surprising. Will come back to this later, need to go pick up my daughter. Update 29/07: interestingly enough after I submitted yesterdays answer UEFA, followed by Andy Burnham, both condemned FIFA for trying to sell off bits of the World Cup to private equity firms. Coincidence you might say? There are too many coincidences happening for us to be able to put this down to yet another coincidence. This is a pattern, this is evidence, and it's important that people start believing me. But actually, what UEFA has done here is admirable. They might not have been accountable for their mistakes yet, perhaps that will come with time, but what they've started here is what I've been encouraging everyone to do - they've punched upwards. They've shown resistance. And when the integrity of the game is at stake, it's the right thing to do. It's the only thing to do really, if we want to protect the game we love. We have issues domestically too, let's not let the FA and PGMOL (or Pro Ref as per this summer's rebrand) off the hook. Has VAR actually materially improved the game? Check complete, great process. I'd argue not. But if there has been any external influence at all they need to call it out and they need to punch upwards. I don't think the Premier League have done much wrong, but the commercialisation of footie all started when the Premier League was founded in 1992, so they're not entirely blameless here. That said, commercialisation has definitely brought a load of benefits along with it. It's a better game for the influx of cash, but this only works as long as it is sustainable. At some point it just became all about the money and less about integrity. And the game has suffered because of it. So I would encourage all FIFA members to push back on decisions they're unhappy with, and to publicly call out bad behaviour. And I'd say the same of UEFA members and Premier League members - have a voice. The same goes for players and managers, and fans - call out bad behaviour at club level. We've seen that people power still works, let's use it. Speak out. Punch upwards. I know we've sold our souls to the highest bidder in terms of club ownership (financial fair play and club ownership hardly seem worth the paper they're written on, I've got 115 reasons to think that). But if nothing else, we still have a voice. And collectively we can challenge the status quo. If we don't, well the status quo remains unchanged. Bad behaviour persists. And the game we love continues to be bastardised by those with more money than sense. Remember - football without money is still a good game of football. We can do without footie being at the whim and fancy of the greedy. We can allow them to be part of the game, but without compromise of the rules. Else, what's the point?

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