The EPL joined 20 leagues around the world to create a "World Association of Leagues," according to David Wood of the London DAILY MAIL. The new organization "will come into effect in January with the intention of working alongside" FIFA. French Professional Football League (LFP) President Frederic Thiriez said, "The professional leagues from the whole world want to participate in the rebuilding of FIFA and football institutions." The decision came following a meeting at the World Leagues Forum in Paris on Tuesday, "which was attended by four of the five candidates in the running to take over the FIFA presidency from suspended incumbent Sepp Blatter." Thiriez: "Football is not dead but its international institutions are very sick" (DAILY MAIL, 12/1). The BBC's Oluwashina Okeleji reported Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa "joined a group of professional leagues to create a World Association of Leagues" along with 20 other leagues, including the English, French and Spanish top flights. Nigeria Professional Football League Chair Shehu Dikko believes that "there are exciting times ahead." Dikko: "The leagues control 90 percent of football, therefore whatever decisions and reforms are going on in world football, the professional leagues want to participate in the rebuilding of FIFA and football institutions" (BBC, 12/2).
