FIFA has strengthened anti-racism proceedings in the new Disciplinary Code

The next 15th of July, after a long wait of 15 years and a process that involved the six Confederations but also big interested stakeholders, will go into effect the new FIFA Disciplinary Code, just announced on the official website of the world's top football governing body. A reform that was absolutely necessary and will give the opportunity to focus on some topical macro-issues on which attention had to be paid in a different and in-depth way. The new regulation, much more reduced (72 articles against 147 of the current one) but at the same time clearer and more concise (5 large paragraphs and only 8 chapters) has two key points: simplified approach and innovation spirit, so as to be able to ensure that the fire of football passion is fully exploited in full respect of values such as fair play and transparency and of all the players involved in the football movement (clubs, football players, professionals, supporters and the simple enthusiasts), in full harmony with the FIFA 2.0 vision pursued since 2016 by the president Gianni Infantino.

The first point that has been decidedly refreshed in the direction already undertaken in recent months is that relating to the fight against racism, for which FIFA (in partnership with FARE) intends to continue the hard line against discrimination of all kinds, absolutely not more tolerated on soccer world. For this reason it has been established that a match in which such incidents will occur, on the pitch or in the stands (discrimination due to race, skin color, ethnic, national or social origin, gender, disability, sexual orientation, language, religion, political opinion, wealth, birth or any other status or any other reason) will be automatically suspended and forfeited if the referee decides to stop it after applying the three-step procedure. As a sign of solidarity and support for the victims of racist attitudes, they will be also guaranteed by the FIFA disciplinary committee to be able to make a statement, allowing the latter to participate in the process.

Another hot topic: the battle against the manipulation of matches has also been simplified and the Disciplinary Committee is now the only body competent to discuss questions relating to the handling of matches at FIFA level. The role of the Disciplinary Committee (the body that currently has a chairman, a vice-chairman and 17 members from all over the world) has therefore been considerably strengthened.

FIFA has decided to use its predominant position to settle all kinds of legal problems in the field of financial equity and, if necessary, exercise its role as a governing body for world football. In the case in question, increasing coordination with the decisions taken by the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), making them their own. FIFA will continue to use as a weapon the ban on operating on the market to clubs that do not pay outstanding amounts until they have paid all their debts: this means has proved to be the most effective one for this purpose. In addition, FIFA will continue to pursue debtor successors, thus avoiding the very common practice in recent years that has seen an infinite discharge of responsibility between different subjects, deciding to act thoroughly to prevent some unpleasant situations from happening again.

Among the news regarding the legal sector, moreover, it has been foreseen that for the first time, some types of disciplinary processes concerning doping cases and match-fixing will be open to the public if the parties request it. A dedicated FIFA website (legal.fifa.com) will soon be launched, containing the main decisions made by the FIFA judicial bodies and other useful legal resources in order to guarantee the maximum possible transparency.