FIFA to offer members $6.35-billion development fund windfall

PARIS, France (AFP)—Football’s world governing body FIFA is planning to set up a $6.35-billion development fund for the next four years, AFP learned Wednesday from a source close to the matter.

The plan is due to be approved at its Council meeting on Thursday in Zurich, where FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the 36 other members of the federation’s executive will gather.

To finance this development fund for the 2026–2030 period, which would allow money to be distributed to FIFA’s 211 federations as well as to the regional confederations, it would draw in part on its financial reserves after a commercially triumphant 2026 World Cup.