Cross-Border Participation in Football: The (limited) FIFA Regulatory Landscape

This short paper briefly examines the governance of international football, the manner through which FIFA and the confederations regulate ‘cross-border’ participation in official and non-official matches and competitions and concludes by recommending that FIFA adopt regulations to supplement the FIFA Statutes

Introduction^[1]

On 15 March 2019, the FIFA Council approved the request of the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) for Al Muharraq, the most successful club in Bahrain football history, to participate in the professional leagues affiliated to the Saudi Arabian Football Federation commencing from the 2019-20 sporting season.^[2] That approval followed the 27 November 2018 decision of the AFC Executive Committee to also approve the request of the BFA.^[3]

There is a long history of clubs participating in official competitions affiliated to a football association which is not the football association that governs the territory where they...

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