WUFO was conceived from the need to change the way world football is governed today.
It was not created to erase what already exists or to begin football history from zero. Many of its institutions, competitions and structures have survived for generations because they function and are part of the identity of the game. WUFO seeks to preserve what deserves to continue while also creating room to do differently what can be made more representative, transparent, accessible and fair.
One of the convictions behind WUFO is that the governance structure of the body that currently directs world football makes profound transformation extraordinarily difficult. From this perspective, it appears to have become more effective at protecting its own interests than at allowing real change. Trying to reform it from within ends up creating confrontation, alliances and competing interests that, paradoxically, reinforce the very structure one is trying to change. WUFO begins from an idea: instead of fighting to take possession of that structure, build another one.
From its origin, WUFO also begins with a simple principle: football cannot have an owner or be governed by the will of a single person. The organisation does not belong to its founder, a president, a Confederation, its members or those who may one day work for it. Its offices exist to administer temporarily an institution that must be able to continue when the staff changes. WUFO and football belong to everyone and to no one at the same time.
WUFO does not propose one single grand reform. Its system is built through many decisions, large and small: how communities are represented, who makes decisions, how votes are cast, how money is distributed, how competitions are organised, and what limits must exist even for those who govern the organisation itself.
WUFO begins without funds, but that is also where its greatest strength lies: it will depend on itself, without owing favours or answering to outside interests. For this reason, during its embryonic phase, WUFO will depend enormously on its volunteers. A change of this magnitude cannot be carried out alone.