Aleksander Čeferin and Victor Montagliani have urged FIFA to give each of its 211 members $10m from reserves, days after Infantino’s equity plan collapsed.
UEFA and CONCACAF have demanded FIFA pay at least $10m to each of its 211 member associations over the 2027-30 cycle, according to a letter seen by ESPN, the BBC and Sky News. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani co-signed the letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The payments would total $2.1bn (£1.57bn) and fund infrastructure and football development.
Čeferin and Montagliani said FIFA can afford the release from existing funds. Their letter states FIFA is on course to close the 2023-26 cycle with reserves of about $6bn (£4.5bn), which they called “considerably more than is required” through to the 2030 men’s World Cup. The 2026 World Cup, held across the US, Canada and Mexico, generated more than $15bn, Insider Sport previously reported. Both wrote that reserves would stand at a minimum of $1.5bn after the payment.
Reserves at the centre of FIFA, Infantino dispute
The demand exceeds FIFA’s existing plan to make $8m available to each member association from 2027 to 2030 for infrastructure, coaching, national teams, competitions, grassroots football and the women’s game. Čeferin and Montagliani want at least $10m per association, released on top of regular funding.
The letter described the payment as a “one-off release of reserves” that would come in addition to standard funding, and the confederations said the sum was a conservative estimate of what FIFA could afford. Their analysis “raises an important question as to whether the proposed transaction was necessary to deliver greater resources” to member associations, rather than drawing on existing reserves.
Fallout from the FFE collapse
The letter is the latest move in a dispute that began in July, when Infantino’s private equity proposal was revealed days after the World Cup final and drew opposition from national associations.
The plan, FIFA Forward Enterprise, would have created a company to manage commercial and ticketing rights across FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups. FIFA Forward Enterprise was scrapped after four days. The venture would have sold 21% of the new company to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, in a deal valued at about $20bn.
Infantino told members they would receive $40m if they backed the plan, and set a 19 September deadline for federations to accept it to access an initial $20m. He had argued private investment was needed to fund football development, a case the two confederations dispute given the projected reserves.
Pressure ahead of March 2027 election
Debbie Hewitt, the FA Chair and a FIFA Vice-President, sent a separate letter to Infantino and Secretary General Mattias Grafström demanding FIFA release all documents on the failed FFE plan to the FIFA Council and requested a written explanation for the cancellation of United States forward Folarin Balogun‘s World Cup suspension.
Infantino is set to stand for a fourth term at the FIFA presidential election in March 2027, though UEFA and CONCACAF want him removed before or at that vote, and their joint position represents firmer resistance than Infantino has faced before.
