Gianni Infantino has underlined the importance of FIFA’s “comprehensive compliance programme” to global football development at the 2025 FIFA Compliance Summit, as the second edition of the FIFA Compliance Handbook is published.

First made available to all of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations (MAs) at the FIFA Compliance Summit in 2022 in Costa Rica, the FIFA Compliance Handbook provides clear and practical guidance with the goal of creating a culture of compliance in each MA’s day-to-day operations.

Speaking to delegates at the fifth FIFA Compliance Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mr Infantino noted that the “countless inaugurations of training centres, pitches and football facilities all over the world” he has attended since taking office in 2016 are the fruit of FIFA’s stringent compliance policy.

“They are only possible because we have ensured that FIFA's revenues are going where they are intended. That is why FIFA has a comprehensive compliance programme to help build transparency, foster ethical behaviour, identify risks and define procedures,” he explained in a video message to the summit, which was held on 9-10 April.

“Compliance and governance are essential for the integrity and success of football worldwide. And, like football itself, compliance is a team sport - every individual within our organisations has a crucial role to play in maintaining the integrity of the world’s greatest game, both on and off the pitch.”

The FIFA President described the second edition of the FIFA Compliance Handbook as a “user-friendly new version (that) offers straightforward advice that can be easily integrated into daily operations.”

It reinforces the learnings of the FIFA Compliance Summit, which invites representatives responsible for compliance from every MA and the six confederations to come together to discuss best practices and explore the latest trends.

"We are here to share knowledge and network,” said FIFA's Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, Emilio García, to explain the fundamental purpose of the summit. “Every two years, we organise the Compliance Summit to exchange experiences. This event is not just about sharing insights from FIFA, but also about fostering dialogue among all participants. We encourage you to share your concerns and challenges with us, as we aim to learn from each other about compliance matters."

“The summit is so important because it underlines FIFA’s commitment to promote good governance in the global football community,” added Anja Zumkeller, FIFA Director Compliance, Audit, Risk & Advisory.

“This new edition of our FIFA Compliance Handbook for our 211 Member Associations, is really a milestone, because we have created clear and practical guidance which can be easily integrated into the day-to-day activities.”

The scope of this year’s summit was broader than previous editions with the aim of providing ever more effective support to MAs. Delegates covered a wide range of key compliance areas, including compliance programme development, governance, risk management and internal audit practices.

“Compliance brings assurance in governance. It’s the future of football that is at stake, so this is a very important event, a very relevant event, and I’m happy and honoured to be here taking part, and I congratulate FIFA on this very important initiative,” said Mauro Silva, Vice President of the São Paulo Football Federation, and a FIFA World Cup™ winner with Brazil in 1994, before underscoring the importance of the FIFA Compliance Handbook as a reference tool.

“I think it shows FIFA’s leadership, its commitment to excellence in managing the organisations. I think that FIFA is taking an important step towards showing the way it wants the football governing bodies to use it [compliance] in their day-to-day operations. We have to congratulate [FIFA] on the initiative.”

His thoughts were echoed by Faisal Al-Ghamdi, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation delegate: “It is a very effective tool that can be embedded within any MA to look at the establishment of the Compliance Handbook within the MAs, monitor the application of the handbook when it comes to rules (and) regulations, and following a lot of things related to the [laws] of the game. So this is great, and for sure we will apply this in our federation.”