FIFA to seek approval for $6.35bn football development programme

FIFA is set to ask its Council in Zurich on 15 October to approve a $6.35bn football development programme for 2027–2030, according to reports by AFP and BBC Sport. The proposal would increase funding available to FIFA’s 211 member associations and regional bodies, but the Council has yet to consider it and the programme would also need approval from FIFA’s Congress.

How the $6.35bn programme would be distributed

BBC Sport reported $3.4bn in additional development spending and a current $2.7bn budget, while putting the proposed programme total at $6.35bn. Its report does not reconcile those figures. FIFA attributed the additional money available to the commercial success of the 2026 World Cup and said it would draw on its reserves, according to the BBC. AFP also reported that reserves would help finance the proposal.

Under the allocations reported by the BBC, each of FIFA’s 211 member associations would receive $25m. The proposal also provides $99m for each of the six continental confederations and $8.25m for each of 13 zonal or regional associations. Those figures show that the plan reaches beyond national federations: bodies that organise football across continents and regions would have their own proposed allocations.

A separate travel and equipment allocation would provide $1.1m each to 100 member associations, the BBC reported. That provision identifies a smaller group of potential recipients than the main $25m allocation, which is proposed for every member association. The reporting does not establish which 100 associations would qualify; the conditions governing access to the programme are still to be settled.

Women’s and youth football in the funding plan

The proposed $25m for each member association is above the $10m from FIFA’s reserves that UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani had sought, AFP reported. BBC Sport said UEFA and CONCACAF called in September for at least $10m for each of the 211 associations. The new proposal therefore follows a specific request from two confederations about how FIFA should use its reserves, while setting a larger figure for national associations.

The Council vote and remaining approvals

The first scheduled step is the FIFA Council meeting on 15 October in Zurich. Approval there would move the proposal forward, but would leave decisions about how associations apply for and receive funding. According to the BBC, the Council is due to finalise eligibility, application, approval, disbursement, control and audit requirements at its next meeting in December 2026. Those rules will determine how the proposed allocations operate in practice.

The programme would then remain subject to approval by FIFA’s 77th Congress in March 2027, BBC Sport reported. The reported sequence places the 15 October Council decision before both the detailed rules and the Congress vote. For the associations and regional bodies named in the plan, the amounts are proposed allocations rather than approved payments while those steps are pending.