The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, is poised to bow to demands from Uefa and Concacaf to distribute more money from Fifa’s $6bn cash reserves to member associations, after indicating a willingness to increase funding.
In a letter sent on Monday to all six confederation presidents and copied to members of the Fifa council, Infantino said he would support the greatest level of additional funding, but he did not commit to the $10m-per-member payout that has been proposed. Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and Concacaf president Victor Montagliani had called for an additional payout for all 211 Fifa members of at least $10m during the 2027-2030 commercial cycle in a joint letter earlier this month. Their demand was subsequently endorsed in a separate letter from Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
Infantino said the proposals will be considered by the Fifa council at its next meeting on 15 October, after secretary general Mattias Grafström consolidates the submissions. He declined to prejudge the amount, writing: “I will not prejudge the amount. I will support the greatest level of additional funding that can responsibly be delivered through Fifa’s proper governance process, applied fairly and supported by transparent and auditable arrangements. The ambition is welcome. The financial evidence, governance and implementation must now support it.” He added that a single figure can begin the discussion but cannot complete a global policy, and said he had instructed the secretary general to consolidate all submissions into one integrated assessment for the council.
The letter also contained a fresh defence of Infantino’s abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme. Under the proposed terms of the FFE, member associations would have received an additional $20m during the next four-year cycle, plus a further payment of $20m had they signed up before a 53-day deadline that would have expired last week. Infantino said the commercial proposal, now withdrawn, was intended to enable Fifa to invest more in football rather than replace support that could responsibly be provided from existing resources. “I welcome the constructive intent reflected in each of your letters,” he wrote. “We may differ on the best route forward, but I have no doubt that each of us wants what is best for Fifa, its member associations and football.”