January 13 — The World Leagues Association (WLA) has come out in support of Italy’s Serie A and its member leagues following statements by web security platform Cloudflare after it was fined €14.2 million by Italy’s communications regulator for failing to block access to pirate streaming sites.

Cloudfare co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince said Italy’s Piracy Shield policy was “a scheme to censor the Internet,” arguing it operates with “no judicial oversight. No due process. No appeal. No transparency.” He said that Italy was demanding global censorship, not just domestic blocking.

The WLA has responded saying that professional leagues “rely on legally protected broadcasting rights to fund clubs, competitions, employment, and long-term investment in grassroots and youth sport.

“Claims that lawful anti-piracy enforcement constitutes ‘internet censorship’ misrepresent both the facts and the applicable frameworks,” said the WLA, arguing that the legal issue is the enforcement of copyright law, based on statutory authority that can enforce action against organised criminal activity unlawfully stealing football’s financial lifeblood.

“These actions do not restrict lawful speech, journalism, political expression, or access to legitimate information. They are mechanisms already implemented by hundreds of internet service providers and DNS resolution services,” said the WLA.

AGCOM is a legal authority operating within the framework of the Italian Constitution, European Union law, and the Digital Services Act (DSA), and not the ‘quasi-judicial’ or illegitimate body it has been described as.

Even so, the fine levied amounts to 1% of Cloudfare’s revenues which prompted Prince’s furious reaction.

Prince said Cloudflare is considering withdrawing free cybersecurity services for Italy, including support planned for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, removing servers from Italian cities and halting future investment. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes,” he wrote.

Cloudflare argued that filtering roughly 200 billion daily DNS requests would increase latency and risk disrupting legitimate websites, a claim the Italian regulator dismissed as it levied its fine.

A September 2025 research report found “hundreds of legitimate websites unknowingly affected by blocking,” service disruption for unrelated operators, and illegal streamers continuing to evade enforcement by shifting addresses. The argument being that keeping Serie A slightly safer at the levels the Italians are demanding has a significantly greater impact on other businesses using Cloudfare.

The question being is whether professional football is now using regulators to protect itself but ignoring the impact of its actions on web business that trade solely on the internet. So who is the bad global citizen here when the highly monied bubble-world of football interests and impacts the wider world of business, jobs, investment and livelihoods?

The WLA concludes its support of Serie A and the Italian regulator saying that “technology intermediaries play a vital role in the digital ecosystem. With that role comes responsibility. Companies running business must abide by local laws, in the present case Italian and European laws, and comply with lawful orders issued by competent authorities.”

However, the WLA did call on “all technology providers to engage constructively with regulators, rights holders, and courts in good faith. Effective collaboration — not distortion or escalation — is the only sustainable path forward in combating organized piracy while protecting fundamental rights.

“We remain committed to defending intellectual property, the rule of law, and the long-term health of sport and culture worldwide.”

Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1768266928labto1768266928ofdlr1768266928owedi1768266928sni@n1768266928osloh1768266928cin.l1768266928uap1768266928