FIFA demands changes to the Football Federation Australia’s Statutes (Constitution) to increase the number of stakeholders with member voting rights

In November 2015, the former chairman Frank Lowy was able to hand the reins of power as the FFA's Board Chairperson to his son Steven Lowy unopposed. This caused considerable concern amongst other football stakeholders in Australia. Consequently, FIFA would have been concerned that some sections of the Australian football community are not properly represented and this issue clearly arose in the recent November 2015 board election. A-League clubs who as an association have lobbied for a bigger role in administering the A-League competition, would likely benefit from the FIFA requirement that the FFA include more stakeholders to its widened membership make-up.

Background

In March 2016, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) officials informed the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) about the Football Federation Australia (FFA) statutes that its Constitution was not complying with FIFA statutes in relation to membership and the voting power of stakeholders.

As a result of the referral from the AFC, FIFA found that the FFA to be in likely breach of the FIFA standards statute, which is the significant FIFA document outlining governance and democratic requirements for the sport’s national federations.

Consequently, “members of the FIFA administration were so concerned with the FFA statutes that they flew out from their Zurich headquarters for two days of meetings, specifically so they could restate their decision and demand the necessary reforms be made”.[1] The reaction from FIFA, was to review itself...

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