Forget FIFA, USWNT should spearhead separate football organization

By Coley Gallagher | Jul 21, 2019

LYON, FRANCE - JULY 07: FIFA President Gianni Infantino awards Megan Rapinoe of the USA the Golden Boot after the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup France Final match between The United State of America and The Netherlands at Stade de Lyon on July 07, 2019 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Maddie Meyer - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images) /

USWNT could convince other women’s national teams to walk away from FIFA and start their own thing…

Anyone who follows soccer knows that FIFA is irredeemably corrupt. The US Department of Justice has charged its representatives with decades of vote buying and embezzlement. Bruce Bean, a Michigan State law professor and zealous FIFA critic, reported exhaustively on FIFA members and officers accepting hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes and gifts, and allegations of money laundering and nefarious accounting practices against soccer’s governing institution.

Women who follow soccer understand FIFA, and many of its member federations, don’t care about women’s soccer. FIFA and its members do and say insulting things and don’t value or invest in the women’s game at the levels it needs or deserves.

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There were improvements in conditions and pay for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup squads, but only after the USWNT and other well-known players shamed FIFA into making them. The organization did not reassess its view of the women’s game. It won’t. Not fundamentally, or fast enough.

With the world still riding high from the excitement and unity of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, this would be the opportune time for women to walk away from FIFA.

Women could create a separate, more transparent women’s football organization. For now, let’s call it the Women’s International Football Organization, WIFO. Unlike FIFA, WIFO could conform to widely accepted board and corporate governance practices. WIFO need not be exclusively female. People involved need only commit to seeing the women’s game grow and female players prosper.

MSU’s Bruce Bean estimated that FIFA earns 70% of its revenue from producing the World Cup, so, really, it is little more than a shady, glorified event planning company. Who plans events better than women?

WIFO would run women’s tournaments, including any World Cup-esque tournament, which it could rename. It could also develop and support regional tournaments to raise the visibility of women’s soccer and female players around the globe.

And then there’s how women buy stuff. Lots of it. Like FIFA, WIFO would make money through corporate sponsorship, marketing and broadcast rights and merchandise sales. Since it would be a credible nonprofit representing an underserved population, WIFO could pursue foundation and major donor support.

For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation might donate to WIFO programs in poor urban areas or developing nations, since girls who play sports go further in school and are less likely to use drugs or become pregnant.

Next. Women’s World Cup has been all about shattering records. dark

Despite its transgressions, divorcing FIFA and starting a women-centric football body might be unpopular. It would require a fleet of lawyers and a megaton of work. There may or may not be more money in the endeavor, however, with committed leadership, WIFO could make bank. Either way, WIFO could bring dignity, equity and endless good to football and the women who play it.