The FIFA Council makes important decisions regarding member associations and future competitions

The FIFA Council FIFA makes important decisions regarding FIFA affiliated associations and upcoming FIFA competitions. The conclusions of the independent legal analysis on Israel-Palestine have been adopted; the regulations for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup have been approved, the update of the FIFA strategy for women’s football: 2024-2027 has been approved.

The FIFA Council met on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at FIFA headquarters in Zurich and made important decisions on a range of issues, including FIFA’s affiliated associations and the upcoming men’s and women’s competitions. Regarding the proposal submitted by the Palestine Football Association to the 74th FIFA Congress Israel Football Association The FIFA Council has adopted the following recommendations and conclusions reached in the independent legal analysis commissioned by FIFA.

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee is tasked with opening an investigation into allegations of discrimination made by the Palestine Football Association. The FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee will be tasked with investigating and subsequently recommending to the FIFA Council how to handle the participation of Russian football teams in Israeli competitions that are said to be based in the territory of Palestine.

«The FIFA Council has exercised due diligence in this very sensitive matter and followed the advice of the independent experts based on a thorough assessment»said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. «The ongoing violence in the region confirms that beyond all considerations, as declared at the 74th FIFA Congress, we need peace. As we are extremely shocked by what is happening and our thoughts are with those who are suffering, we call on all parties to immediately restore peace in the region».

FIFA Club World Cup 2025

The FIFA Council has unanimously approved the regulations for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup™, which aim to resolve technical discrepancies and compensate as much as possible for differences in the registration periods and national season calendars of participating clubs, while at the same time affecting FIFA -Flexibility is granted to member associations. According to the regulations FIFA member associations of clubs participating in the FIFA Club World Cup™ will have the opportunity to open an exceptional registration window from June 1 to 10, 2025 (for all its affiliated clubs) before the start of the competition. The decision as to whether or not to open an additional window remains at the sole discretion of the relevant FIFA member association concerned. Following the deadline for submitting team lists, as some player contracts will expire mid-competition, participating clubs will be able to compete in the competition for a limited period, from June 27 to July 3, 2025, within a set limit and subject to specific restrictions, including The fact that a “standard” registration window must be open for the club to replace players at this time.

However, the aim is to motivate the clubs and players with ongoing contracts to find an appropriate solution to facilitate players’ participation. «The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will usher in a new era for club football around the worldwith the best teams competing for the official FIFA Club World Cup title»said President Infantino. «These regulations will ensure the best possible conditions for all 32 participating clubs and the best players in the world to shine at the highest level».

Voting procedures for the 2030 FIFA World Cup and the 2034 FIFA World Cup

The FIFA Council also unanimously approved the voting procedure to determine the host cities of the 2030 FIFA World Cup and the 2034 FIFA World Cup. According to the procedure, if at the end of the ongoing application evaluation process (when FIFA publishes the application evaluation report), an application is able to meet the minimum hospitality requirements according to the results of the technical evaluation, it may be submitted to the FIFA Congress. Since the bidding processes were carried out simultaneously and each process involves a single applicant, the selection of the bidding venues of the competitions will take place during the same FIFA Congress, which will take place virtually on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

As these bidding processes are based on the FIFA Council’s unanimous approval of a consolidated proposal covering the 2030 and 2034 editions, the decision on the venues will also be made en bloc.