9 | Football Governance

Football Governance includes all expenses related to FIFA’s statutory objective of regulating association football and related matters. It includes Football Governance bodies and third parties that act as regulators of football and define and protect the Laws of the Game. Consequently, it does not include the governance of FIFA itself, which is listed under FIFA Governance & Administration (see Note 10).

The Appeal, Disciplinary and Ethics Committees are FIFA’s judicial bodies and apply the criteria and rules set out in the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the FIFA Code of Ethics, respectively. They are involved in football-related disputes and perform legal and administrative functions. In 2022, their activities resulted in expenses of USD 3.1 million (2021: USD 2.4 million).

Together with the decision-making chambers of the Football Tribunal – the Players’ Status Chamber (PSC) and the Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) – these committees form FIFA’s Football Governance bodies. The Football Tribunal decides claims and disputes relating to the legal rights and obligations of football stakeholders. The PSC monitors compliance with the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players and determines the status of players for various FIFA competitions, while the DRC provides arbitration services based on equal representation of players and clubs. Their combined expenses totalled USD 2.6 million (2021: USD 1.3 million).

The new FIFA Clearing House located in Paris centralises and processes payments related to training rewards between clubs following an international transfer or the initial registration of a professional player. In this way, clubs that sponsor and train players receive appropriate financial compensation for their contribution to player development, after both new and training clubs have passed the appropriate due diligence in compliance with international financial regulations. In 2022, FIFA Clearing House-related expenses amounted to USD 3.1 million (2021: USD 2.8 million).

FIFA’s agreement with Sportradar Integrity Services provides a comprehensive range of monitoring, education and information services, including the fraud detection system, to detect and prevent match-fixing. Spending in this area amounted to USD 1.9 million in 2022 (2021: USD 2.7 million).

FIFA and FIFPRO have established the FIFA Fund for Football Players to provide financial assistance to players who have not received, or are unlikely to receive, the salaries agreed with their clubs. In 2022, expenses amounted to USD 4 million (2021: USD 12 million).

Other expenses included The IFAB of 1.8 million USD (2021: USD 1.5 million) and general professional football and legal services of USD 4.3 million (2021: USD 0.9 million).

Personnel costs in the field of Football Governance relate to the respective judicial committees and FIFA’s corresponding departments, providing advice and support in the field of Football Governance. This includes helping to ensure that FIFA’s activities are in strict compliance with the law and representing FIFA and its stakeholders before the competent courts. For further details, please refer to Note 31 – Personnel expenses.