Temporary Rule, Structural Impact: Rethinking FIFA Normalisation Committees

This thesis examines FIFA’s use of normalisation committees as an exceptional intervention tool in the governance of member associations. It analyses the legal basis of these committees under the FIFA Statutes, their role in temporarily replacing elected football executives, and the way they operate in practice when associations face institutional paralysis, governance failures, disputed elections or financial mismanagement. Through doctrinal analysis, CAS jurisprudence and interviews with former normalisation committee members in Namibia, the Maldives and Curaçao, as well as a FIFA governance official, the thesis identifies recurring challenges around mandate clarity, local legitimacy, internal committee organisation, duration, resources, domestic law and FIFA–confederation coordination.

It concludes that normalisation committees are a legitimate and often useful mechanism to restore stable football governance, but that FIFA should refine their practical use through clearer mandates, better preparatory legal analysis, stronger internal governance templates and more structured stakeholder communication.