Professional football leagues agree to form new association
Tuesday 1 December 2015 19:41, UK
A group of professional football leagues from around the world have agreed to create a 'World Association of Leagues' following a meeting in Paris.
The English, French and Spanish leagues will be joined by 20 others from around the world with the intention of working alongside scandal-tainted world football governing body FIFA.
The new association will come into effect in January but French Professional Football League (LFP) president Frederic Thiriez announced the move on Tuesday.
"The professional leagues from the whole world want to participate in the rebuilding of FIFA and football institutions," said Thiriez.
He added that the key was to ensure the professional leagues were "involved in the decision-making processes".
The decision came following a meeting at the World Leagues Forum in Paris on Tuesday, which was attended by four of the five candidates in the running to take over the FIFA presidency from suspended incumbent Sepp Blatter.
"Football is not dead but its international institutions are very sick," added Thiriez.
"We believe that with the experience we have in managing football daily in our countries, we can bring our experience to help rebuild FIFA."
Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan, ex-French diplomat Jerome Champagne, South African business tycoon Tokyo Sexwale and Asia's football chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa were the four FIFA presidency candidates present in Paris.
