FIFA proposes $3.4bn development boost from reserves, pending approval

FIFA is preparing to propose an additional $3.4 billion for football development, drawing on its reserves to expand funding for the 2027-2030 cycle. BBC Sport reported that the proposal would go before the governing body's council on Thursday. The money has not received final approval, with detailed rules still to be settled and a subsequent vote required at FIFA's congress.

Watch the highlights:

According to the report by BBC sports editor Dan Roan, FIFA attributes its ability to release the additional reserves to the commercial performance of this summer's World Cup. The proposed increase would more than double the level of distribution funding previously planned for the cycle. The governing body already has a $2.7 billion distribution budget covering member associations, confederations, regional bodies and certain associations outside FIFA.

The proposed allocations include $25 million for each member association and $99 million for each of the six continental confederations. Each of the 13 zonal or regional associations would receive $8.25 million. A further allocation would provide $1.1 million apiece to 100 member associations for travel and equipment support, according to the BBC's account of the package.

Spending would be divided into three equal portions. One third would support women's and youth football development, another would fund infrastructure with equal access for women's and youth football, and the remaining third would go towards projects. The proposed distribution therefore sets out both the amounts available to different bodies and designated uses for the money, rather than leaving all spending unrestricted.

The initiative follows pressure from UEFA and Concacaf, which wrote to president Gianni Infantino in September seeking payments of at least $10 million from FIFA's reserves for each of its 211 member associations. It also follows criticism of Infantino's abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, under which stakes in the World Cup and other competitions would have been sold to private investors.

The council is due to finalise eligibility rules and the application, approval, payment, oversight and audit arrangements at its December 2026 meeting. The package would then require approval at the 77th FIFA congress in March 2027, when Infantino is also due to stand for re-election. Those stages remain outstanding: the reported funding figures describe a proposal, not money already distributed to associations.