FIFA president Gianni Infantino has opened the door to distributing more money to member associations from the governing body’s $6billion reserves.
In a letter sent on Monday, seen by The Athletic, and sent to all six confederation presidents, who are also FIFA vice-presidents, and copied to members of the FIFA Council, Infantino responded to calls from Aleksander Ceferin, the UEFA president, Concacaf’s Victor Montagliani and Shaikh Salman, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), to do so.
Infantino said the presidents’ proposals will be considered by the FIFA Council during its meeting on October 15, after secretary general Mattias Grafstrom has consolidated the suggestions.
“I will not prejudge the amount,” he said in the letter. “I will support the greatest level of additional funding that can responsibly be delivered through FIFA’s proper governance process, applied fairly and supported by transparent and auditable arrangements. The ambition is welcome. The financial evidence, governance and implementation must now support it.
“A single figure can begin the discussion, but it cannot complete a global policy. I have therefore instructed the Secretary General to consolidate all submissions into one integrated assessment for consideration by the FIFA Council on 15 October 2026.”
“I welcome the constructive intent reflected in each of your letters,” Infantino added. “We may differ on the best route forward, but I have no doubt that each of us wants what is best for FIFA, its Member Associations and football.”
This will be the first FIFA Council meeting since the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal led to Infantino coming under intense scrutiny.
The FIFA president addressed those plans in his letter too. “The recent commercial proposal, now withdrawn, was intended to enable FIFA to invest more in football — not to replace support that could responsibly be provided from existing resources,” he said.
The president of world soccer’s governing body proceeded to ask Montagliani, Shaikh Salman and Ceferin to send “financial models, assumptions and supporting information” for verification ahead of the discussions.
According to Infantino, the submission from the UEFA and Concacaf chiefs proposed a “direct allocation” of funds, while the AFC president emphasised the need for a supported decision or short completion timescale. FIFA vice-president Lambert Maltock highlighted the structural costs faced by developing Confederations, Infantino added.
This letter follows one, seen by The Athletic, which Montagliani and Ceferin sent to Shaikh Salman and FIFA vice presidents Alejandro Dominguez, Lambert Maltock and Patrice Montsepe where they outlined a proposal to review the money which each member association could receive following the success of the men’s World Cup.
The proposal for adjusted funding, via a one-off release of reserves and a request for at least $10million made available to each member association over the 2027-30 cycle, was then sent via a letter to Infantino.
Last week The Athletic reported that Infantino had outlined he is open to dialogue over reform at world soccer’s governing body, via a letter send to FIFA Council members and the presidents of all 211 member associations, following the abandoned FFE proposal.
The Swiss-Italian remains the sole candidate for next year’s FIFA presidency election, with a November 18 deadline for other candidates to put their name forward.
