The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) is set to offer financial aid of $150 million to member nations across the globe.
In all 211 member nations are expected to benefit from the package to mitigate the dire financial impact the coronavirus is having on them.
A statement from FIFA said, “concretely, this means that FIFA will release US$500,000 to each member association in the coming days as well as any remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020.
“This immediate financial assistance should be used to mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19 on football in member associations, namely to meet financial or operational obligations that they may have towards staff and other third parties,” FIFA stated.
However, FIFA has stated that the standard obligations and responsibilities in relation to the use of these funds as outlined in the forward 2.0 Regulations remain fully applicable and will be subject to the standard audit and reporting process.
This financial relief plan is possible thanks to the strong financial position that FIFA has been able to consolidate over the past four years.
The statement said, “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.
“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 added.
