UEFA AND CONCACAF URGE FIFA TO PAY $2.1BN TO MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS

UEFA and CONCACAF have called on FIFA President Gianni Infantino to release around $2.1 billion from the governing body's reserves for distribution among its 211 member associations. In a letter sent on Friday, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani said each member association should receive at least $10 million over the 2027-30 cycle, at a combined cost of roughly $2.1 billion. Reuters reported it had seen the letter, while AFP said it had obtained a copy. The proposed payout would come in addition to existing development funding, which the letter said has risen to $8 million per country over a four-year cycle under Infantino.

The letter follows the collapse of a separate plan, referred to in one report as the FIFA Forward Enterprise, under which FIFA would have sold a stake in its competitions to outside investors to raise money for football development. That proposal was shelved after opposition from European football, including a threat by UEFA to boycott FIFA competitions, according to the reports. Ceferin and Montagliani said their analysis of FIFA's published financial statements raised questions over whether the investment sale had been necessary. They said FIFA is on course to end the 2023-26 cycle with reserves of about $6 billion, described in one report as the largest in the organisation's history. The letter argued FIFA already has the capacity to distribute substantially more money to national associations from its own balance sheet without outside investment or seeking anything from the associations in return.

Ceferin and Montagliani also called for an independent review of FIFA's financial reserves, according to one report. Infantino is still expected to seek another term as FIFA president, with a vote due in March 2027, and his opponents are reported to be struggling to find a challenger. Neither report cited a response from Infantino or FIFA to the letter.