Gianni Infantino ready to accept demands for larger payouts from $6bn reserves

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, is poised to bow to demands from Uefa and Concacaf to distribute more money from its $6bn cash reserves to member associations.

In a letter sent on Monday to all six confederation presidents and copied to members of the Fifa council, Infantino indicated his willingness to “support the greatest level of additional funding”, without committing to the $10m-per-member that has been proposed.

Infantino was responding to a joint letter sent by the Uefa and Concacaf presidents, Aleksander Ceferin and Victor Montagliani, earlier this month, who called for an additional payout for all of Fifa’s 211 members of at least $10m during the 2027-2030 commercial cycle, a demand which was subsequently endorsed in a separate letter from the Asian Football Confederation president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.

Infantino said the presidents’ proposals will be considered by the Fifa council during its next meeting on October 15, after the secretary general, Mattias Grafström, has consolidated the suggestions. Under the proposed terms of Infantino’s abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme, the member associations would have received an additional $20m during the next four-year cycle, plus a further payment of $20m had they signed up before a 53-day deadline that would have expired last week.

“I will not prejudge the amount,” Infantino wrote in the letter. “I will support the greatest level of additional funding that can responsibly be delivered through Fifa’s proper governance process, applied fairly and supported by transparent and auditable arrangements. The ambition is welcome. The financial evidence, governance and implementation must now support it.

“A single figure can begin the discussion, but it cannot complete a global policy. I have therefore instructed the Secretary General to consolidate all submissions into one integrated assessment for consideration by the Fifa council on 15 October 2026.”

Infantino also used the letter to mount another defence of his role in FFE, which he claimed was an attempt to increase Fifa’s investment in football. “The recent commercial proposal, now withdrawn, was intended to enable Fifa to invest more in football – not to replace support that could responsibly be provided from existing resources,” he wrote.

“I welcome the constructive intent reflected in each of your letters. We may differ on the best route forward, but I have no doubt that each of us wants what is best for Fifa, its member associations and football.”