Fifa is planning on offering assistance to world football after the coronavirus pandemic plunged clubs and leagues into an unprecedented financial slump, the global governing body confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.
The organisation, which says it has $1.5 billion (1.36 billion euros) in reserve, said that it is “thinking over ways of assisting the global football community” in a statement sent to AFP.
The form this assistance will take is “currently being studied and discussed in collaboration with Fifa members, federations and other partners”, the governing body said.
Fifa had previously announced that it had created a working group aiding continental governing bodies with the impact of the Covid-19 crisis, which has left football seasons in limbo and led to the postponement of Euro 2020.
It also alluded to a support fund, the details of which could be announced before the weekend, sources told AFP.
The football community around the world is experiencing, to a greater or lesser extent, serious financial problems on account of the coronavirus outbreak, Fifa said according to a report in Associated Press, which also added that the reserves with Fifa could be up to $2.7 billion.
“This threatens to disrupt and impair the ability of Fifa’s member associations and other football organizations such as leagues and clubs to develop, finance and run football activities at all levels of the game, including professional, non-professional, youth and grassroots.
“It is foreseen that in many parts of the world a considerable number of persons involved in football including both men and women players will be left in extremely difficult economic conditions,” the report stated Fifa as saying.
(With AFP inputs)