Gianni Infantino with $2bn headache as FIFA members demand cash

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FT Desk

UEFA and CONCACAF have demanded that FIFA President Gianni Infantino dish out $10 million to every member nation in the world, which means an outlay of over $2 billion.

The presidents of the European and North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football have written to Infantino requesting that each of FIFA's 211 member nations be given a payment from the governing body's $6bn in cash reserves.

The Times reports that this is a preemptive measure from UEFA and CONCACAF so that Infantino cannot take credit himself for any payments that are made further down the line.

The demand comes in the wake of his failed FIFA Forward Enterprise Plan which could have seen member nations around the world each receive a payment of around $40m. However, this money would have came from private equity firms who would have subsequently become shareholders in the World Cup.

These companies would have had a major say in factors like where a World Cup would be held and even how often the tournament would take place.

The reaction to Infantino's proposal was overwhelmingly negative and UEFA accused him of trying to sell the soul of the sport.

The new letter requesting the funds was written by UEFA’s president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani. It is also expected to be supported by the Asian Football Confederation.

It states: “Our analysis indicates that FIFA should make at least $10million available to each of its 211 MAs [member associations] over the 2027-30 cycle for investment in infrastructure and football development — an aggregate of approximately $2.1billion.

“This would be a one-off release of reserves, over and above the approved FIFA Forward Programme, which would continue in full as already committed.

“Releasing part of these reserves would demonstrate that MAs should not have to choose between development and good governance; between investment and integrity; or between financial support and the ability to consider proposals on their merits. Development is an institutional responsibility of FIFA — not a matter of individual discretion.”

UEFA and CONCACAF have been leading the calls for Infantino to resign following the FFE scandal but is refusing to do so and even announced plans to stand for re-election next year. In addition to some confederations, high-profile nations like France and England have formally withdrawn support for his presidency.

Even if the payments were made to member nations, FIFA would still have plenty of money in their reserves, according to the letter, which adds:

“We are writing to propose that our confederations jointly examine a question we believe deserves the attention of the whole football family: how much of FIFA’s accumulated financial reserves could responsibly be released directly to its member associations.

“FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) was presented to the 211 MAs as a proposal under which a ‘share’ of FIFA’s competitions would be sold to outside investors in order to provide far greater resources for football development.

“Our analysis [shows] FIFA already has the capacity to deliver substantially more to its MAs from its own balance sheet — without any sale of interests in its competitions, and without asking anything of the MAs in return.”