The event was opened by FIFA President Gianni Infantino
It was the first in-person summit since the start of the pandemic
During the two days, topics such as protecting football from corruption, digital privacy, and building trust, among others, were discussed
The 4th FIFA Compliance Summit was successfully held on September 26 and 27 in Costa Rica, opened from Zurich by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, more than 200 representatives from FIFA’s Member Associations, as well as governance and compliance experts from the world of football gathered - the majority in person - to expand on the issues discussed at the previous summit held in 2020.
As President Infantino said in his opening address, the aim of the 2022 summit was to encourage Member Associations to “go beyond good practice and approach compliance in a different way”, citing the transformation that FIFA has been executing on compliance since 2016, based on “credibility, transparency and accountability”.
Collaborating on the event was the president of the Costa Rican Football Federation, Rodolfo Villalobos, who echoed the words of President Infantino by reaffirming the attendees that in order to fulfil that objective “it is why FIFA invited you here, to help you, prepare you, and give you the necessary tools.”
With the FIFA Director of Compliance, Patrick Trépanier, in attendance, FIFA's Director of Legal Affairs and Compliance, Emilio García Silvero, opened the general session, anticipating some of the subjects to be discussed during the summit, such as protecting football from corruption, building privacy and trust, conflicts of interest, and digital privacy, in addition to the work sessions. This was all led by experts such as Ronan O’Laoire, Christopher Boening, Trevor Hughes, Gabriela Mueller Mendoza, and Kara Ramsay, among others.
FIFA Deputy Secretary General (Administration), Alasdair Bell, and Chris Mihm, Chairperson of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Working Group closed the summit. Alasdair Bell said: “We have seen the commitment of our member associations to continuous growth and improvement in the sphere of Compliance. A commitment, not only to establish and maintain 'good' compliance programmes but take those programmes above and beyond best practice.”