Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters has called for a new candidate to challenge FIFA President Gianni Infantino and urged the world football governing body to undertake governance reforms.
Masters made the remarks on Wednesday amid growing criticism of Infantino’s leadership following FIFA’s decision to abandon a controversial plan to sell a stake in the commercial rights of future World Cups.
Speaking ahead of the new Premier League season, Masters said another candidate should emerge before the deadline for FIFA’s presidential election and offer a programme capable of bringing the sport’s six confederations together.
“I think that what obviously needs to happen now is another candidate needs to emerge within the deadline, with a new offer, a different offer that can hopefully unify the confederations,” Masters told reporters.
He added that governance reform should form part of the challenger’s programme.
“And I do think that part of that offer should be to look at reform, governance reform,” he said.
Masters said recent events had created a need to examine FIFA’s existing power structures, including the authority of its president.
“That’s not to say that people from Europe should dictate to other parts of the world about what should be reformed and how things should be decided,” he said.
“But it’d be right, at this juncture, given what’s happened, to look at those governance structures and also the role of the president and what power that president actually has,” Masters added.
His comments came a day after he criticised Infantino’s abandoned proposal to attract private investment into the commercial rights of the World Cup, describing the move as effectively pushing FIFA’s “self-destruct button”.
Masters Rejects Private Investment Model
Masters also said the Premier League had never considered selling an outside stake in its commercial rights, even during the financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even during COVID, when people had a big problem in front of them, we didn’t go near looking at a solution like that,” he said.
Masters argued that the Premier League’s existing commercial model remained strong because of its successful media rights business.
“The Premier League model works extremely well. We’re very successful in the media rights business; we’ve got a fantastic market share. There’s no necessity for us to look at an outside investment in that sense,” he said.
Premier League Faces New Era
Masters also said the upcoming Premier League season would usher in a period of change following the departure of several established figures.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has left the league, while nine new managers are set to take charge of clubs. Several high-profile players, including Rodri and Mohamed Salah, have also departed.
Masters said the changes could provide an opportunity for new stars and personalities to emerge.
“Whilst we’ve got a few sort of big names leaving the stage, new stars, new stardust will emerge,” he said.
He added that the changes meant the Premier League could look different this season, although it remained unclear which players and managers would become the competition’s next major personalities.
