After weeks of cold war and mutual accusations, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has bowed to major continental pressure.
The Swiss made a surprise move to contain the mounting anger. He ordered FIFA's coffers to be opened and its funding fully reviewed, following a fiery demand from the Union of European Football Associations and its North American counterpart to disburse 2.1 billion dollars from the reserves.
An official letter published by the Reuters agency, addressed by Infantino to the presidents of the six continental confederations, revealed that he had ordered an urgent assessment of proposals to distribute more money to the national associations. The assessment will go before the FIFA Council on 15 October.
Infantino struck a cautious tone in his letter: "Until the assessment is completed and the necessary approvals are obtained, no preliminary figure can be regarded as an approved commitment to the member associations."
Ceferin's plan
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani ignited the crisis this month with a revolutionary proposal. Each of FIFA's 211 member associations would receive at least 10 million dollars during the 2027-2030 cycle, on top of the current development funding.
Dated 18 September, their letter called for an independent review of FIFA's reserves, which the two men projected would reach 6 billion dollars by the end of 2026. They stressed that the proposed distribution would keep the reserves above 1.5 billion dollars throughout the coming cycle, and they questioned the merit of the private investment plan that FIFA had cancelled.
Infantino's defence
Infantino defended the rationale of the withdrawn commercial plan "FIFA Forward Enterprise", which had aimed to value the commercial rights at 20 billion dollars. It would have provided funding exceeding what FIFA could distribute from its current resources, he said.
"The aim of the recent commercial proposal, which has now been withdrawn, was to enable FIFA to invest more in football, not to replace the support that can be responsibly provided from current resources, so it would have complemented this support," he wrote.
FIFA definitively abandoned the "FIFA Forward Enterprise" project last July after strong opposition from the continental confederations, including UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation. A lack of consultation drove the backlash, setting off wide-ranging demands for reform of FIFA's governance.
The road map
Infantino asked the presidents of the continental confederations to send their financial models and assumptions to the FIFA secretary general, with the relevant committees taking part in verifying those assumptions.
The Council must determine the amount and timing of the additional payments, he explained, along with the reserves needed to protect FIFA's commitments and its financial independence, and the eligibility, reporting and auditing conditions attached to any distribution. Support for the continental confederations facing clear structural costs must also be taken into account.
His letter closed with a clear message of reassurance: "I will not prejudge the amount. I will support the greatest level of additional funding that can be responsibly provided through FIFA's sound governance process, applied with integrity and backed by transparent and auditable arrangements." He called for respect for the decisions taken through FIFA's democratic and institutional mechanisms.