Former Manchester United and France defender Mikael Silvestre used X on Monday to say "Enough is Enough!" as current and former footballers lined up against Fifa president Gianni Infantino and his plan to sell stakes in competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors. The statement, shared by England defender Lucy Bronze, France's 1998 World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit and former England goalkeeper David James, says the people who actually play the game have watched it drift away from its core values under Fifa's current leadership.
Power Without Consent
Silvestre sits on Fifa's Players' Voice Panel, a 16-strong body the governing body itself created to monitor and advise on tackling racism in football. Even from inside the machine, the message is blunt. The statement says players "share the exact same concerns as the millions of fans around the world" and complains that "major decisions" have been taken "without players being consulted or considered, and without any regard for the fans who sustain the sport." That is the modern sports order in miniature: decisions at the top, consequences at the bottom, and a lot of branding in between.
The statement goes further. It says, "Change is necessary. Power has blurred the current leadership's ability to distinguish between its own interests and what is best for football." It adds that "recent events have made silence impossible" and calls for unity from "grassroots to the top of the game" in support of "structural change" at Fifa, with players and fans getting a "real, direct say" in how the sport is run. The language is careful, but the target is obvious. A game built by workers and watched by millions is being treated like an asset class.
Boycott Threats and Boardroom Politics
Infantino has faced sustained pressure in recent weeks, with backlash from several confederations over the Fifa Forward Enterprise controversy. Uefa has threatened to boycott all Fifa competitions, and its president Aleksander Ceferin said he expects Infantino to resign or face a challenge in an election next March. Numerous national governing bodies, including the football associations of England, Wales and Scotland, have withdrawn support. The hierarchy is wobbling, but only because other parts of the hierarchy want a different arrangement at the top.
That is the electoral circus in its cleanest form. One bloc threatens to walk. Another waits for a vote. The structure stays intact unless the people who actually make the sport possible are given more than a symbolic seat and a press release.
Who Gets to Speak for Football
Silvestre's intervention matters because it comes from within Fifa's own advisory setup, not from outside it. The Players' Voice Panel was formed by the governing body, yet one of its members has now helped lead a public challenge to the president's direction. The statement says players and fans should have a "real, direct say" in how football is run. That demand cuts through the usual ceremony around governance, where the language of consultation often means nothing more than being informed after the deal is done.
Infantino, meanwhile, has found support from former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, president of the Cameroonian Football Association. Eto'o told CNN on Monday that he doesn't believe the Fifa leader has "done anything wrong". He said, "I remain convinced that for us as Africans, this project was something that could have been incredible," and argued it would have "reset the balance of power in football" so that talent doesn't "disappear and end up playing for other nations." He added that Infantino has "changed football," given opportunities to nations that didn't have them before, and helped smaller nations get seats at World Cup competitions.
The split is plain. One side talks about investment, access and balance of power. The other talks about consultation, control and who gets to decide what football is for. In the middle sits a global governing body that keeps discovering, under pressure, that the people who fill the stadiums and play the matches don't like being treated as extras in someone else's business plan.