European Leagues Expand FIFA Legal Complaint to Include Women’s Football

The legal battle between Europe's top leagues, global players' union FIFPRO, and FIFA has just gotten bigger, with the complaint now covering what's being called FIFA's "abusive conduct" toward women's football.

European Leagues, the group representing 53 professional divisions (including the Premier League) and 1,328 clubs across 34 countries, originally filed a complaint with the European Commission back in October 2024 to protect men's players. That complaint accused FIFA of abusing its dominant position under European competition law by leaving national leagues and player unions out of decisions around the new men's international calendar announced in 2023.

Now, in a statement released Tuesday, the group confirmed it is broadening that complaint to include FIFA's handling of the women's international calendar and other regulatory decisions affecting women's football.

"FIFA's conduct threatens the growth and financial sustainability of women's professional leagues, and risks player health and wellbeing," European Leagues said.

"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 statement continued. 

"The submission details the same pattern of conduct identified in the original complaint. FIFA holds conflicting roles as governing body and competition organiser, which gives rise to a conflict of interest. As in men's football, FIFA 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 move comes just months after European Leagues brought 14 women's divisions into its membership in June, including the Women's Super League and the Scottish Women's Premier League. Its broader membership already includes the Premier League, English Football League, Scottish Professional Football League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga.

FIFA has been approached for comment but hasn't responded yet.

This latest move comes at a rocky time for FIFA. The organisation faced heavy criticism over the summer after president Gianni Infantino pushed a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors. 

The backlash was fierce, with UEFA even threatening to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the World Cup itself. UEFA eventually backed off that threat after getting assurances the plan wouldn't move forward.

Despite the pressure from multiple confederations over the scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, Infantino is still planning to run for re-election as FIFA president in March. The 56-year-old, who first took charge back in 2016, is now chasing a third term that would run through to 2031.

Tensions between the two governing bodies have spilled into public view too. Just last week, FIFA accused UEFA of running a "smear campaign against it and its leadership" in response to legal action tied to Infantino's investment plan. 

UEFA had previously filed legal papers in the US seeking disclosure of documents and evidence from FIFA, and warned it could go as far as filing a criminal complaint in Switzerland.