International Football
VEGA, INFANTINO’S LIKELY CHALLENGERS, SAYS FIFA LACKS TRANSPARENCY
BY PAUL NICHOLSON
Ramon Vega, the former player and businessman who is challenging for the FIFA presidency, has said that lack of financial transparency would be unacceptable in any corporate boardroom anywhere in the world.
Expressing concern that FIFA’s federations have been ‘numbed’ into acceptance of being kept in the dark, he said that FIFA cannot continue to bully members into silence and that they should not be afraid to stand up and ask for accountability.
Referring specifically to the issues surrounding the $25 billion sell-off of FIFA’s international competition calendar, he said: “One of the biggest issues we have to face as a football family is the issue of financial transparency. We have a proposal before the FIFA Council for what increasingly looks like the sell-off of the international to a third-party rights holder, the identity of whom we do not know.
“When the FIFA president was challenged about the identity of the investor – potentially the future owner of the bulk of the income of international football in the way that deal was presented – he refused to say who it was. He said he signed confidentiality agreements. Then he said there was a time limit on the deal and they had to sign off,” he continued.
Having set a time limit, which wasn’t me, the idea didn’t die but came back with a task Force that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is chairing. “This is a very clear and dangerous conflict of interest. We then hear that his top lawyers had advised him that this deal could not be done. Now his head of legal has been fired. What is going on here?” said Vega.
“This is not his personal money or rights that he can choose to do what he wants with. These belong to the federation members, it is their lifeblood. Secrecy breeds distrust and that is what has happened. In the financial world this would be totally unacceptable. The board would have to stand the CEO down as they just have not been kept informed and then, when they asked, they have been refused information. It breaks every corporate governance law pretty on much every country on earth.”
If the figure is really $25 billion you would just not be able come to a deal in a serious organisation without full disclosure to the board. It is incredible that there has not been full disclosure. In any significant operation a deal the size of $25 billion is a major agreement and takes months of contractual negotiation. Just three or four months on such a big transaction is not believable. Not only is there no transparency on where the money is coming from but there is no reference to these valuations and whether they are fair or accepted valuations.”
FIFA’s Council is expected to rule on the proposal at its Miami meeting in March. Sources tell Insideworldfootball that to date while the task force has spent time working on what the new calendar would look like, there has been no discussion of the finance, its commercial valuation or transparency on the third party offer.
“The FIFA president’s responsibility is to each and every one of his members. We need to know who he is working for on this. He says he is working for FIFA, so he must work FIFA and put FIFA first – not just now but for the future,” said Vega.
Vega points out that there is key issue surrounding the ownership of football’s commercial asset as this is a handing over of ownership, not a licensing of rights deal. “This is a totally different situation. It is putting FIFA up for sale,” he said.
“There are many issues of transparency and governance that have to be discussed. The old FIFA needed to become more transparent. The new FIFA is less transparent than the old FIFA and too many members live in fear of the governing body who control their incomes.”
Talking about the election, Vega said: “The members every four years have the right to vote for a new president. It is a responsibility that must be taken seriously as it actually impacts on the lives of millions of football people worldwide. They have to be brave. FIFA is not for one person and his close associates. FIFA is for the world, we are all invested in FIFA – every single one of us. There was an opportunity to make this the case when there were the changes following the corruption scandals, but it hasn’t been taken. We need to make sure that we do not lose this opportunity.”
“We have seen a FIFA deconstructed with the power seized by a few across the whole of the organisation. We have lost too much for the wrong reasons. We must balance this and give FIFA and football back to the world properly and transparently.”
- Insideworldfootball
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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