From Nyon to Miami, two of football’s confederation leaders have opened a new debate over how FIFA’s record cash reserves should be used before the next World Cup cycle begins. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani have urged Gianni Infantino to direct more of FIFA’s accumulated funds towards its 211 member associations, while again resisting plans to involve outside investment funds in the commercial future of the World Cup.
In a joint email sent to the FIFA president, Ceferin and Montagliani called for the confederations to assess how much of FIFA’s financial reserves could safely be released for national associations. Their argument is that money built up at the centre of the game should more directly support facilities and football development across every region.
A proposal worth $2.1 billion
FIFA is expected to complete the 2023-26 cycle with reserves of about $6 billion, the largest figure in its history. Ceferin and Montagliani believe that total is well above the level required to protect FIFA through the deficit years that normally follow a World Cup.
They have suggested a one-off allocation of at least $10 million to each of FIFA’s 211 member associations between 2027 and 2030. The proposed distribution would amount to approximately $2.1 billion, with the money earmarked for infrastructure and the wider growth of the sport.
The existing FIFA Forward programme would remain unchanged under their plan. Rather than replacing committed development payments, the release would come from reserves as an additional, exceptional measure.
The two presidents maintain that FIFA’s reserves would still not fall below roughly $1.5 billion at any point in the 2027-30 cycle. That projected floor is a little more than half of the minimum reserve level FIFA itself budgeted for the current four-year period.
Call for scrutiny of FIFA finances
Ceferin and Montagliani described their calculations as deliberately cautious. They were based on FIFA’s published financial outcomes for 2022 to 2025, alongside projections for 2026 and assumptions for the following cycle.
They also raised concern that member associations do not have access to the full financial information needed to test those assumptions. Their letter calls for an independent review of the underlying figures before the confederations agree on the amount that could be paid out.
The pair want the confederations to complete the analysis together, settle on a responsible sum for direct distribution, and take recommendations on the payment structure through FIFA’s formal governance process at the next FIFA Council meeting.
Election backdrop in Rabat
The intervention arrives during the early manoeuvring ahead of FIFA’s presidential election in Rabat on 18 March 2027. The nomination period closes on 18 November, leaving two months for any challenger to emerge against Infantino.
Ceferin will not stand for the position. Within UEFA, however, there is support for a candidate from outside Europe, partly to avoid presenting the contest as a straightforward institutional confrontation between UEFA and FIFA.
Montagliani, the Canadian who also serves as a FIFA vice-president, has been discussed as a possible opposing candidate and is understood to have strong relations with Ceferin. Their united approach on FIFA’s reserves has added a financial fault line to what could become an increasingly political winter for world football.
