FIFA: "Recent events have made silence impossible" (Mikaël Silvestre and other players)

"We share the exact same concerns as the millions of fans around the world. Like them, we have watched the game we love drift away from its core values under FIFA’s current leadership. Change is necessary. Power has blurred the current leadership’s ability to distinguish between its own interests and what is best for football. Recent events have made silence impossible," several international footballers, including former France defender Mikaël Silvestre, wrote on social media on 24 August 2026.

French former internationals Emmanuel Petit, Robert Pirès, Bixente Lizarazu and Olivier Dacourt, as well as Didier Drogba (CIV), Emmanuel Adebayor (TOG), Juan Sebastian Veron (ARG), Claudio Pizarro (PER), Lucy Bronze (ENG) and Briana Scurry (USA), shared the same message in response to the…