FIFA

🔎 31.2m posts/comments monitored and analysed ❌ 6.4m comments hidden ❗️ 35.5k instances of abusive content reported Taking a closer look at the FIFA Social Media Protection Service on the #InternationalDayOfTolerance. Launched ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, FIFA’s Social Media Protection Service has supported players, coaches, officials and teams in keeping their social media feeds free from online abuse, helping them to enjoy taking part in FIFA’s events. This is an on-going service which FIFA invests in to achieve the widest possible coverage. Earlier this year, FIFA extended access to the Social Media Protection Service to all 211 of its member associations, ensuring protective measure are offered to teams regardless of whether they will qualify for FIFA tournaments or not.

Empowering local football clubs across Africa! FIFA partnered with Member Associations to hold three FIFA Club Professionalisation and Management workshops in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The workshops, part of FIFA’s Club Professionalisation and Management Programme, featured highly experienced experts who led sessions covering essential aspects of club professionalisation and aimed to equip local clubs with skills in strategic planning, governance, and financial management, including FIFA’s Senior Professional Football Manager Marcos Picalló Aguilar and Solomon Mudege, Head of Development Programmes. The sessions addressed current trends in club operations, stadium management, finance, marketing and communications, sporting strategy, youth academies, governance and legal issues, as well as leadership and negotiation skills. “By strengthening African clubs together with the federations that endorsed the project FIFA aims to create a globally competitive football landscape where clubs from all regions have the chance to compete at the highest levels both on and off the pitch and for that we need to organize them properly from an administration perspective”, added Gelson Fernandes, FIFA Deputy Chief Member Associations Officer and Regional Director for Africa. “FIFA’s Club Professionalisation and Management Programme is designed to help clubs thrive by fostering innovation, sustainability, and excellence in club management—essential elements for nurturing football talent and enhancing the sport globally”, said Ornella Bellia, FIFA’s Director of Professional Football Relations & Development.

Making football accessible for all 🌍 FIFA Diversity & Accessibility Manager Laure Gruffat presented the FIFA Accessibility Programme at the Accessiball Summit in Madrid. The presentation outlined FIFA’s process to ensure accessibility of infrastructure with a legacy objective, the different services that are put in place to support accessibility during FIFA World Cups and the importance of raising awareness and celebrating the inclusiveness of the tournaments, to encourage disabled people to attend. The Accessiball International Summit is a unique event in the football calendar, bringing together key stakeholders from across the sports and disability sectors to share good practices and solutions. Speaking after the event, Laure Gruffat said: “A fantastic opportunity to share ideas with other experts in the disability sector, and collaborate to reach excellent accessibility of football in the future.”

Applications for the 26th edition of the highly-commended FIFA Master are now open! 🎓 For a record twelfth time, the 2024 SportBusiness Postgraduate course rankings named the FIFA Master International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport as Europe’s leading postgraduate sport management course. The FIFA Master provides students with a unique learning experience, organised by CIES - International Centre for Sports Studies in partnership with De Montfort University, SDA Bocconi and Université de Neuchâtel, the course develops all-round managers who can cope with the increasingly complex world of sport. The deadline to apply for the 2025-26 edition of the FIFA Master is 12pm CET on Friday 10 January 2025. Find out more and apply now: https://lnkd.in/dq_dDPkN

A symbol of the future, inspired by the past 🏆 Meet the FIFA Club World Cup™️ trophy that will be lifted for the first time at next year’s tournament 🙌

Ensuring football development around the world with good financial governance. 🤝 Representatives from 11 Asian member associations came together in Sri Lanka to participate in a Financial Governance Workshop. Organised under the new FIFA Campus umbrella, the session emphasised the importance of accountability, transparency and responsible financial management within the context of the FIFA Forward programme. General Secretary of All India Football Federation Anilkumar Prabhakaran said: “Attending the FIFA Financial Governance Workshop has been an invaluable experience. The insights shared on transparency, accountability and best preaches in financial management are essential for strengthening our governance framework. “This workshop has equipped us with the tools and knowledge to uphold the tightest standards, fostering trust and integrity within our football community.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/edpb8DZN

🗣️ “I woke up in the clinic without knowing what had happened” Meet Junior Fajardo – an #U17WWC volunteer who used his role at the latest FIFA tournament in Dominican Republic to help recover from a recent stroke. Inspiring tales on and off the pitch 🙌

Looking ahead to 2025 with FIFA’s Member Associations! 🤝   Last week, all Member Association Directors met for the first time since Elkhan Mammadov became Chief Member Associations Officer. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour were also present as the Directors attended a meeting at FIFA’s office in Paris to reflect on 2024 and plan for next year.   New initiatives, FIFA Forward projects and cross divisional activities were discussed, as a collective desire to continue making football truly global remained at the forefront of discussions.   Elkhan Mammadov, Chief Member Associations Officer said: “My thanks go to Secretary General Mattias Grafström, Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour and the Member Associations Division Directors, whose insightful contributions made it a hugely productive day.”   “After looking at the achievements and takeaways of 2024, we established clear lines of sight for the coming year. The FIFA Forward Development Programme will again be a cornerstone of our work in 2025 as we continue to help FIFA’s 211 Member Associations develop football around the world. We also laid out the framework for the cross divisional collaboration within FIFA that will facilitate what the whole organisation does to make football truly global.”

Save the date for the FIFA Club World Cup draw! 📆 The draw for the inaugural 32-club FIFA Club World Cup™ will take place on Thursday 5 December in Miami! The draw will kick of at 13:00 local time (19:00 CET) and will be streamed around the globe via FIFA+ and supporting channels.

FIFA Legal continues to drive change in the field of sports arbitration. The annual FIFA Executive Programme in Sports Arbitration (FEPSA) continued in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this week. Module 2 – ‘Fundamental Aspects of Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) Proceedings’ – looked closely at specific processes, including initiation of procedure, costs involved and the burden of proof. Now in its fourth edition, FEPSA creates a bridge between theory and practice, providing an opportunity for participants to benefit from direct exchanges. Special thanks to the Argentinian Football Association for hosting part of the event 🙌