The Editor's Post: FIFA vs Bohemian FC – competing visions of football for good

“Football unites the world” is the slogan FIFA has been loudly trumpeting throughout the World Cup this summer. But there have been points where the only thing FIFA appeared to be uniting the world in is condemnation of how it is running the tournament. 

Want examples? Take your pick from the following: a global backlash against the price of tickets escalated by FIFA’s dynamic pricing; the Donald Trump-influenced decision to waive a two-match suspension for US striker Folarin Balogun; FIFA president Gianni Infantino's private jet clocking up 31,144 miles of travel in just the first two weeks of the tournament; or the introduction of “hydration breaks” to matches, which have conveniently enabled FIFA’s broadcast partners to sell more adverts. 

So, as everyone takes a deep breath before Spain and Argentina face off in the final on Sunday, allow us to share with you an alternative vision of the impact professional football can make on the world. 

This week I reported on Bohemian FC, a member-owned club in Dublin which, by publishing a community wealth building strategy, has positioned itself as a leading influence in an international economic systems change movement. 

Community wealth building is an economic development model that prioritises communities having direct ownership and control of their assets. Earlier this year we covered Scotland becoming the first country in the world to legislate for the implementation of community wealth building at a national, regional and local level. 

Bohemian FC aims to push forward an economic transformation in Dublin and will create a new legal entity, Bohemian Cooperatives, to carry out the work, as well as two new enterprises, a catering business and an insurance mutual.

While it is extremely unusual for a professional football club to take the lead on economic systems change, Seán McCabe, climate justice and sustainability officer at Bohemian FC and the architect of its community wealth building strategy, believes sport clubs can deliver economic and climate justice practices in a way other organisations cannot. 

He told me: “Football matters to people, and if you treat it with respect you can access transformative capacity. Football clubs can be this beating heart of cultural organising.”

We don’t have time to build new institutions which then need to gain people’s trust, he explained. Football clubs are already here and, in Bohemian FC’s case, ready to take up the challenge.

The strategy has the endorsement of Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN high commissioner for human rights, who commended Bohemian FC for “its willingness to think beyond the conventions of modern football” as well as imagining  “what becomes possible when communities are trusted as builders of their own future”.

So if FIFA’s self-aggrandising and self-righteousness has been too much for you this summer, perhaps the Bohemian FC story will offer hope that football can genuinely provide solutions to social and economic problems, having a real impact on the communities outside their stadiums’ walls. And if you know of an organisation in professional sports truly changing the game for the community it serves, we’d love to hear its story.

This week's top stories:

Bohemian FC: the game-changing football club introducing a new economic vision to Dublin

Will you be able to mission-lock your company under the new ‘EU Inc.’ regime?

‘When public climate finance shrinks, community-led solutions pay the price’

The Impact World this Week: 17 July 2026

Top image courtesy of Bohemian FC