Former internationals Emmanuel Petit and Mikaël Silvestre have joined a group of leading football figures demanding urgent reform at FIFA, arguing that the game’s players and supporters must gain a direct role in decisions shaping its future.
Headline: Former Internationals Call for FIFA Reform Ahead of World Cup Cycle
SEO Title: Former Players Demand FIFA Reform and Fan Representation
SEO Description: Emmanuel Petit, Mikaël Silvestre and a group of former international stars have called for structural change at FIFA, demanding a stronger voice for players and supporters.
A growing challenge to FIFA leadership
Criticism of FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino has intensified among figures from across football, with the latest intervention describing the situation as increasingly serious in both sporting and political terms.
Petit and Silvestre called for an immediate response, declaring: “Enough is enough.” Their position was backed by an international group that includes French World Cup winners Bixente Lizarazu and Robert Pirès, alongside Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor, Juan Sebastián Verón, Claudio Pizarro, Lucy Bronze and Briana Scurry.
- The group wants structural reform within FIFA without further delay.
- Its central demand is for players and supporters to have a genuine, direct say in how football is governed.
- The appeal reaches from grassroots football to the elite game, including the national-team competitions that define the World Cup calendar.
Players and supporters at the centre of the appeal
The former players said football’s direction should not be decided without the people who play it and those who fill stadiums. They argued that fans’ commitment is the foundation of the sport and that players’ experiences at the highest level should carry greater weight in governing decisions.
“We are asking everyone in football to step forward and help shape the next chapter of our sport,” the group said. “There are good people within FIFA who want to restore trust, but a different era needs structural reform.”
They added that those on the pitch and in the stands should be able to help redefine football’s future together, rather than being excluded from major decisions.
Call ends a period of silence
The statement said the football community had remained quiet for too long. Its signatories stressed that they would no longer do so, citing the interests of supporters, players and the wider game.
- The group said football had given them their careers and that they had devoted their lives to it.
- They noted that they had represented their national teams with pride and played on football’s biggest stages.
- They said none of those achievements would have been possible without supporters.
- They argued that FIFA’s current leadership has moved the sport away from its core values.
- They said important choices have repeatedly been made without proper consultation with players or consideration for fans.
The former internationals concluded that power had prevented the present leadership from separating its own interests from what is best for football. Recent developments, they said, had made continued silence impossible.
