At the same time payments to the confederations have also been raised from USD 22 million to USD 40 million for every four years.
During a FIFA Development Committee meeting in Zurich, Switzerland on July 13, to put the new programme in motion, FIFA urged member associations and confederations to apply for the football development fund.
Addressing the meeting, FIFA president, Gianni Infantino said: “FIFA’s Forward’s aim is to best fulfill FIFA’s mission of developing the game around the world. This is not simply about providing more funds to member associations and confederations, but about proving concrete assistance to the football community via the transparent use of funds, and changing the culture towards a greater impact of FIFA’s development activities that can systematically be measured.”
For more impact, the world’s football governing body, FIFA intends to pool its support projects into a single- tailor made contract with agreed objectives to be signed by member associations and confederations.
To ensure that the increase in financial support for football development purpose is transparent- FIFA seeks to introduce improved oversight measures. This includes the publication of the annual financial statements of member associations and confederations on FIFA.com. The annual accounts will be audited by an independent auditor in keeping with Forward’s regulations.
The chairman of the Development Committee meeting, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa who is FIFA Vice- President and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President also stated that: “Today’s Development Committee meeting marks a very important day as through Forward, we are making a qualitative step to improve the impact of FIFA’s development projects and better serve the member associations and confederations. The proper structure is being put in place to meet the challenges and ensure the successful implementation of the Forward programme.”
The success of Forward will ultimately not only depend on FIFA but the work of all our member associations,” added FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura.
The Development Committee also stated that member associations and confederations have until June 1, 2017 to wrap up their contracts of agreed objectives with key performance indicators. Before that date the committee will consider projects for approval on a case-by-case basis.
The Forward programme is centered on three core areas: More investment, more impact and more oversight.
Source: Dela Ahiawor, sports24gh.com
