Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has announced a financial relief plan to support its members amidst the global pandemic of the COVI9-19.
In a statement released by the World football governing body on Friday, all the 211 national football federations/Associations will receive operational funding and relief totalling to USD 150 million in the fight against the pandemic.
“FIFA will release all operational funding due to member associations for the years 2019 and 2020 in the coming days as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure will mean that a total of around USD 150 million will be distributed among the 211 national football governing bodies around the world,” a statement from FIFA reads.
“The pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for the entire football community and, as the world governing body, it is FIFA’s duty to be there and support the ones that are facing acute needs,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “
This starts by providing immediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress. This is the first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community. Together with our stakeholders, we are we assessing the losses and we are working on the most appropriate and effective tools to implement the other stages of this relief plan.”
The statement also stresses that all Member Associations will receive all the remaining operational costs for 2019 and 2020 in full. It should be noted that the second installment of operational costs was supposed to be released in July
“As part of the measure, all remaining entitlements of member associations to operational costs under the Forward 2.0 Programme will be released in full for the years 2019 and 2020. In particular, the release of the second instalment of operational costs for 2020, which was originally due in July, will be paid immediately.”
Usually, FIFA releases the final installment after Member Associations fulfilling some criteria but because of the crisis the world is facing, the money will be wired without looking into that.
This therefore means that FIFA will release USD 500,000 to each member association in the coming days as well as any remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020.