FIFA may offer $6.35 billion for football development — Asharq Al-Awsat

FIFA, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, may offer its members a $6.35 billion fund for football development in the next four-year cycle. The initiative provides for increasing payments to each national association to $25 million, Asharq Al-Awsat reports, citing Associated Press sources and a letter reviewed by the agency.

Payments to associations and confederations

The plan is to cover FIFA’s 211 member associations, continental confederations and other participants in the football system. Previously, each national association was expected to receive $10 million over four years.

According to two AP sources, FIFA plans to allocate more than $3.5 billion from its financial reserves to the programme. The proposal also provides $99 million for each of the six continental confederations.

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Consideration within FIFA

FIFA President Gianni Infantino sent a letter outlining the plan to the heads of the six confederations on September 28. The proposal is expected to be finalized at the next meeting of the FIFA Council and submitted to the organization’s Congress for approval in March.

In the letter, Infantino said that the submissions from the confederations demonstrated broad agreement that FIFA’s financial success should benefit football and all 211 member associations. FIFA estimates that the organization’s revenue in the 2022–2026 cycle will amount to around $15 billion, including thanks to the men’s World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, intends to run for re-election next year. The proposal comes as European football officials seek a candidate who could try to remove him from the position of FIFA president.