World Leagues Forum: toward the creation of a World Association of Leagues in mid-January 2016

"The Leagues decided to create a worldwide association to work formally with FIFA on the issues of professional football," announced the 23 professional football leagues that met in Paris (FRA) for the second edition of the World Leagues Forum on 01/12/2015.

A working group of the leaders of five Leagues, chaired by Frédéric Thiriez, president of both the LFP and the EPFL, has been set up to "define the statutes of the international association". From mid-December "all the World Leagues' should receive these statutes for approval, said Frederic Thiriez, adding that the association will be established in mid-January 2016.

The members of this working group are:
• Enrique Bonilla president of the Liga MX (Mexico)
• Don Garber, commissioner of MLS (USA-CAN)
• Mitsuri Murai, president of the J League (Japan)
• Christian Seifert, CEO of the DFL (Germany)
• Frédéric Thiriez (chair), president of the LFP (France), president of the EPFL

"Nationally, it has been a long time that professional leagues have had their say. In France, for example, professional football counts for 37% of the vote in…