Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) will release all operational funding due to Member Associations for 2019/2020 in the coming days as a relief package to assist the football community impacted by the novel coronavirus crisis.
This means that a total of around $150 million will be distributed among the 211 national football governing bodies around the world.
“All operational funding” for 2019 and 2020 would be distributed among all the 211 Member Associations in the next couple of days “as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”, FIFA announced on Friday.
Football around the world has been brought to a halt due to the pandemic, causing significant financial losses for everyone in the footballing world – from executives to players.
Each national governing body will receive $500,000, that FIFA says would normally be delivered “upon fulfilment of specific criteria”, but will release those funds and any “remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020.”
President Gianni Infantino said; “the first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community.
“It is the duty of FIFA to be there and support the ones that are facing acute needs. This starts by providing immediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress.”
These funds come from the Forward 2.0 programme, which was launched in 2016 and providing $1.746 billion in total from 2019 to 2022.