FIFA welcomes the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on the role of European Union (EU) policies in strengthening the European Sport Model, following a process led by rapporteur Bogdan Zdrojewski, a Member of the European Parliament and Poland’s former Minister of Culture and National Heritage.

The report tackles key topics, including the important role played by international sports bodies in ensuring a transparent and fair transfer system. This strongly aligns with FIFA’s ongoing open and inclusive process in reviewing its Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, following the Court of Justice of the EU’s decision in the Lassana Diarra case. The resolution also calls for a strong emphasis on safeguarding the rights of athletes across all sports, with particular attention to minors.

FIFA strongly sides with the resolution’s declaration of support for the European Sport Model, focused on a pyramidal system based on financial solidarity between grassroots and elite levels, sporting merit, open competitions, inclusiveness, integrity and fairness. Likewise, FIFA fully endorses players’ right to represent their countries in national-team football and the mandatory release of players to their national teams, as underlined in the resolution.

FIFA also welcomes the European Parliament’s emphasis on good governance, transparency, integrity and accountability in sport – standards that are rightly expected of sports governing bodies and stakeholder representative organisations alike.

Having been part of the consultations underpinning the resolution, FIFA looks forward to continuing to cooperate with football stakeholders and EU institutions in an inclusive process that further promotes the values of the European Sport Model, as well as legal certainty in relation to the application of EU law to the sports sector.