FIFA Plans Huge New Emergency Fund

According to its latest annual report published last year, FIFA had cash reserves of $2.74 billion. The organization is considering putting some of those reserves to use in the effort to prop up the ailing soccer economy and is also willing to borrow against its future television and sponsorship income to raise money for what is being described internally as a “football relief fund.”

The fund would require the approval of the FIFA Council, a 36-member group made up of soccer officials from the sport’s six regional confederations, before the plans can move forward.

The fund would be managed differently than FIFA’s current development structure in which the organization’s administration is responsible for delivering $6 million across a four-year cycle to each of its 211 member associations whatever of their size, whatever their needs.

Officials at Zurich-based FIFA are currently making an assessment of the short and medium term impact of coronavirus on global soccer in order to work out how it can help the member associations, and who it will be likely to ask to act as a clearing house for requests for assistance in their countries. The fund could provide short term bridging loans and even emergency grants. There are concerns over whether the money will be directed to the most in need and not be misused, but the urgency of the situation has made that concern a secondary issue, according to one of the people.

The relief fund, according to the plan, would be managed independently from FIFA’s leadership to avoid the risk of being contaminated by sports political issues that have long roiled the soccer world. Relations between FIFA and some regional soccer leaders have soured as its president, Gianni Infantino, has moved to grow its influence beyond national team soccer and development and into club soccer.

The crisis, though, has soothed some of those tensions for now, with stakeholder groups coming together to hash out ideas for coping with the impact of the soccer shutdown. Last week, representatives of global leagues, clubs, regional federations and player unions joined FIFA to discuss setting up guidelines to deal with the most pressing issues.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/sports/fifa-soccer-emergency-fund.html