Item 9 of the agenda for the FIFA Congress next Thursday in Doha, Qatar, eight months before the World Cup (November 21-December 18, 2022), reads as follows: “Voting on the proposed amendments to the articles of association” organisation. According to our information, one of these proposals relates to the introduction of new official languages in the body.
Current laws provide for the use of three languages for documentation and communication with member associations: English, Spanish and French. A fourth language, German, also has the status of an official language for legal reasons, and the headquarters of FIFA in German-speaking Switzerland is located in Zurich.
In order to set priorities “approach […] More representative of the languages used in member associations around the worldThe FIFA administration is proposing to add three new languages to this list: Arabic, Portuguese and Russian.
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According to the text that we were able to consult, the use of these languages, which today only have the right of citizenship in the FIFA congresses, will be extended but not systematically either, only when “Management considers it necessary”.
Having been excluded from FIFA competitions since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia on the other hand must be satisfied with such a proposal, which must have the approval of Congress. It oscillates between some of the “stakeholders” in football. It is said that this moment was poorly chosen for presenting this “gift” to Russia.
