European Leagues broadens FIFA legal complaint to include 'abusive conduct' towards women's football

European Leagues has widened its formal legal complaint against FIFA to the European Commission, accusing the governing body of “abusive conduct” towards women’s football in Europe and warning that its actions threaten the financial sustainability of women’s professional leagues.

The original complaint was lodged in October 2024 and focused on FIFA’s handling of the 2023 men’s international match calendar, arguing the governing body abused a dominant position under EU competition law by failing to consult properly with leagues. Having added 14 women’s leagues to its membership in June — including England’s Women’s Super League and the Scottish Women’s Premier League — European Leagues has now extended the action to encompass the women’s international calendar and related regulatory decisions.

“FIFA’s conduct threatens the growth and financial sustainability of women’s professional leagues, and risks player health and well-being,” European Leagues said in a statement on Tuesday. “The European Commission must now act to ensure that EU law is respected and that the future of women’s professional football is not determined unilaterally by FIFA.”

The complaint alleges a structural conflict of interest at the heart of FIFA’s governance, arguing the body “consistently uses its regulatory power to favour its own competition and commercial interests to the detriment of women’s football and of European national leagues” — the same pattern identified in the original men’s football case.

The escalation arrives at a turbulent moment for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is already facing criticism from three continental confederations over a now-abandoned plan to allow private investment in a company set up to run World Cup events. The proposal would have seen FIFA Forward Enterprise established with 20 per cent owned by private investors. European Leagues said that controversy “further exposed this structural conflict and vividly illustrates how profit-driven motives taint FIFA’s regulatory decisions and decision-making processes”.

FIFA has previously maintained that its 2023 calendar was developed through extensive stakeholder consultation and that it retains full rights to set parameters for its own events within agreed schedules. The governing body was approached for comment on the latest development.

Separately, rights group FairSquare has submitted a new complaint about Infantino to the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee, backed by more than 100,000 supporters.