FIFA and UEFA react to Sports Act amendments

The common communication was signed by FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino.

Dear President,

We refer to the matter of the reference and acknowledge receipt of your correspondence dated 2 March 2015 the content of which received our full attention.

In this regard, we would like to remind you that all FIFA and UEFA member associations have to manage their affairs independently and without influence of any third parties as clearly stipulated in articles 13 part 1 (i) and 17 of FIFA Statutes as well as the article 7bis(2) of the UEFA Statutes.

In particular, we have noted that according to the information provided by you, the proposed amendments of the Sports Act in Croatia would have a direct influence on essential matters such as the composition of the general assembly of the Croatian Football Federation (CFF), as well as the composition of the general assemblies of the CFF Members. Therefore, any implementation of the proposed amendments would be considered as the state interference of the football affairs which would be unacceptable for both FIFA and UEFA.

In this connection, we would like to add the following considerations:

(i) the CFF should be consulted beforehand in any process aimed at amending provisions of the Sports Act as applicable in Croatia.

(ii) the CFF must remain at any time remain entirely free to decide the number or percentage of representatives from the different pre-defined stakeholders (such as clubs, leagues or players) who are entitled to attend the CFF general assembly.

Under these circumstances, FIFA and UEFA urgently request that the CFF communicate this common position to the relevant authorities so that aforementioned amendments of the Sports Act are not adopted in the Croatian Parliament.

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