Infantino backs extra FIFA funding as members seek cash from reserves

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has indicated that more money could be distributed to member associations from the governing body's estimated £4.4 billion cash reserves, BBC Sport reported. In a letter sent to the six continental confederations on Monday, he supported additional funding but stopped short of committing to a specific sum.

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The intervention follows a demand from UEFA and Concacaf for FIFA to pay $10 million, equivalent to £7.5 million, to each of its 211 members. The FIFA Council is due to consider that proposal on 15 October. Infantino said the amount should remain open for discussion rather than be settled in advance.

His position comes after the withdrawal of FIFA Forward Enterprise, a commercial proposal that would have involved private investment in the World Cup and other competitions. In the latest letter, seen by BBC Sport, Infantino again defended the abandoned initiative as an attempt to increase the money available for football.

The proposed structure would have placed commercial and ticketing rights for all FIFA competitions in a new company, with a 21% stake sold to a private investment company. That arrangement was part of the withdrawn plan, not an agreed change to the ownership or management of those rights.

In its earlier reporting on 21 September, BBC Sport said Infantino had proposed an external review of FIFA's operations alongside a consultation on its decision-making. The suggested consultation would cover the president's role and ways to improve transparency, participation and accountability in major initiatives, involving confederations, national associations and other relevant stakeholders.

Infantino also maintained in that earlier letter that FIFA's sporting authority would have remained intact under the commercial proposal. He said information had become public before the planned institutional process was completed and before the proposal could be fully presented to the Council and member associations, creating concern about whether decisions had already been made.

Separately, Football Association chair and FIFA vice-president Debbie Hewitt has called for the release of documents concerning the commercial plan and an independent review of it. Infantino is due to seek election for a fourth time in March 2027; opponents have until 18 November to identify an alternative candidate.