ZURICH: FIFA, the apex governing body of world football, announced a number of crucial decisions taken for the development of the game globally, following its eighth council meeting in Rwanda on Friday.
Primarily, it focused on women’s football and keeping in mind the World Cup 2019 in France, FIFA confirmed that it will be doubling the prize money for the competition from $15 million in the 2015 edition to $30 million in 2019.
Additionally, it will also contribute $20 million for the tournament as it will divide this portion of money for the first time in history into – a) preparation money worth $11.52 million which will support the qualified teams in organising preparatory matches before the competition and b) launching the Club Benefits Programme worth $8.48 million which will compensate clubs around the world for releasing players for the competition.
FIFA also approved the women’s international match calendar, which is now based on a four-year cycle: 2020-2023. The approved calendar includes six international windows per year, with a detailed breakdown of the different types of windows and the conditions that apply to them. The full calendar will be published on its official website, FIFA.com over the course of the next few days.
The FIFA Council ratified the Football Stakeholders Committee’s decision to establish a Task Force for women’s football, whose objective will be to identify clear goals for the women’s game and the mechanisms to reach them. The administration is now assigned with setting up the task force and determining a work plan and a timeline for its activities.
When it comes to each of its 211 member associations, FIFA has decided to grant development funds up to $6 million during the period of 2019-2022, an amount which is a whopping six times greater than the previous four-year cycle. This sum is broken down into – a) $1 million per year for operational/running costs, of which USD 500,000 is subject to the fulfilment of ten specific activities, including organising men’s, women’s and youth competitions, having active men’s and women’s national teams, running men’s and women’s refereeing programs, etc. and b) Up to $2 million over the four-year cycle for specific projects based on the contract of agreed objectives, with a strong focus on those related to football infrastructure.
As part of its Forward program, FIFA has called for making the accountability of these funds stronger with even stricter auditing and reporting measures. For example, each member association or confederation will have to engage the services of a statutory auditor and will be subject to a central audit review undertaken by an independent, high-profile, international auditing company.
For its ‘Football for Schools’ global grassroots program, FIFA has allocated $100 million for implementing the program and operating it until 2022. Through the initiative, it will distribute nine million footballs to schools in the territories of the 211 member associations and create an online platform to inform teachers on how to incorporate football into education.
Lastly, it also highlighted its opposition towards the La Liga aiming to play regular season games across the USA and South America, an issue which has caused tension between the league’s management and club officials and players.
