The 75th FIFA Congress met in Asunción, the first time FIFA’s supreme legislative body has gathered in Paraguay, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino outlining the groundbreaking impact the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will have on football across the world. The new FIFA Club World Cup kicks off on Saturday, 14 June in Miami and includes a prize pot of USD 1 billion for the 32 participating clubs. There is also a USD 250 million solidarity fund for non-participating clubs, which means the tournament’s legacy will be felt long after the final on Sunday, 13 July in New York New Jersey with FIFA keeping no revenue produced. “Everything will go back into football: prize money to the clubs, and solidarity funds for club football all over the world,” said President Infantino in his speech to the Congress. “My thanks goes to everyone who has participated in this success: the confederations, associations, the leagues, the clubs, the players, the European Club Association, its chairman – everyone who shared our vision of the need for the world to have a global club competition because we have to make sure that clubs, not just national teams, but also clubs, can shine on a global stage, can invest, and can become better and bigger all over the world.”

He added: “We have more countries represented in the (FIFA) Club World Cup, the first edition of the (FIFA) Club World Cup, than in 100 years of (the FIFA) World Cup. Because these clubs today – the top clubs in the world – they are multinationals. They have good players from every country in the world. So, we have 90 [or so] of you who will directly be involved. Paraguay is a great example: no club from Paraguay is there but players from Paraguay are there. And the whole of Paraguay will be proud to see their players competing and maybe winning a (FIFA Club) World Cup, because the (FIFA) Club World Cup is definitely a (FIFA) World Cup. It is history, it is the first. It will be a huge, huge success.” The FIFA Club World Cup will play a key role in ensuring FIFA returns a record-breaking USD 13 billion for the 2023-2026 cycle as reflected in the detailed budget for 2026 and the revised cycle budget for 2023-2026, which were approved by the FIFA Congress along with FIFA’s financial statements for 2024.

“The world is welcome in America,” Mr Infantino concluded. “Of course, the players, of course everyone involved, all of us, but definitely also, all the fans, and let’s be clear about that: this doesn’t come from me, this comes from the American government.”

Mr Infantino earlier welcomed the FIFA Member Associations present in Asunción and extended his gratitude to Paraguay’s Head of State Santiago Peña, Paraguayan Football Association President Robert Harrison and FIFA Vice-President and CONMEBOL President Alejandro Domínguez, who each also addressed the Congress.

“Paraguay took part in the first FIFA World Cup ever in Uruguay in 1930, and for the first time Paraguay is going to [play their part in hosting] the FIFA World Cup 2030: the FIFA World Cup to celebrate the centenary of the FIFA World Cup and, as we have seen over the course of this FIFA Congress, we’re going to have a fantastic time here in Paraguay in 2030 together with Uruguay and Argentina,” said the FIFA President, referencing the celebrations that form part of the wider tournament that is being staged in Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

“I would like to say to the whole of Paraguay, to President Santiago Peña, to everyone, how grateful we are for you having opened your hearts to bring the world here to Asunción. Everyone is happy. We feel at home. Of course, it’s not my first time in Asunción and each time I feel like I’m at home.”

The FIFA Congress was also updated on the implementation of the Global Stand Against Racism, which was unanimously approved last year by the 74th FIFA Congress.

“My thanks go to the FIFA Council here present for having approved the new FIFA Disciplinary Code, which gives us the tools to fight efficiently against racism and will be implemented all over the world as well. We have created – and I would like to thank all the (FIFA) Legends for being part of it – the Players’ Voice Panel, because the voice of the players, of the protagonists, of the (FIFA) Legends is absolutely crucial in this respect,” Mr Infantino explained.

“And we are working, obviously, on education by including racism, discrimination, (in) our (FIFA) Football for Schools Programme. And finally, let’s be very clear about that, racism is not just a problem that we have to tackle and win in football. It is, of course, a problem in society and racism is simply a crime. A crime. And that’s why we are working as well with different governments around the world, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to make sure the fight against racism is enshrined in criminal legislation in every country in the world.”

The FIFA Congress equally included a presentation by the Palestine Football Association, which FIFA is addressing through the relevant independent committees as per the FIFA Council decision from October 2024.

In line with the FIFA Statutes, the FIFA Congress also voted on the election or re-election of the chairpersons and deputy chairpersons of the independent committees, each of whom who will serve a four-year term:

Disciplinary Committee Chairperson: Mohammad Al-Kamali (United Arab Emirates) Deputy Chairperson: Jorge Palacio (Colombia) Investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee Chairperson: Martin Ngoga (Rwanda) Deputy Chairperson: Bruno De Vita (Canada) Deputy Chairperson: Parusuraman Subramanian (Malaysia) Adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee Chairperson: María Claudia Rojas (Colombia) Deputy Chairperson: Fiti Sunia (American Samoa) Deputy Chairperson: Anin Yeboah (Ghana)

Appeal Committee Chairperson: Neil Eggleston (USA) Deputy Chairperson: Thomas Bodström (Sweden)

Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee Chairperson: Bruno Chiomento (Switzerland) Deputy Chairperson: Chris Mihm (USA)

The FIFA President confirmed that the 76th FIFA Congress will take place on 30 April 2026 in Vancouver, Canada.