FIFA Executive Committee approves special funding for Chile and Haiti

(FIFA.com) Friday 19 March 2010

The FIFA Executive Committee, under the chairmanship of FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, today, 19 March 2010, approved special funding for the football associations of Chile and Haiti to assist them in the reconstruction of their facilities following the natural disasters that recently hit the two countries. During the two-day meeting, the executive received reports on the preparations for the 60th FIFA Congress and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and took a number of decisions including the appointment of hosts for several FIFA competitions between 2011 and 2013.

The Executive Committee confirmed an allocation of USD 3 million to a special projects fund for Haiti in order to assist in the reconstruction of the football association’s headquarters, technical centres and regional youth facilities. FIFA had already provided immediate emergency aid of USD 250,000 shortly after the earthquake.

In addition, the executive approved a decision from the Goal Bureau to allocate three Goal projects worth USD 1.2 million to assist the Chilean Football Association in the reconstruction of the football facilities in Chile. An immediate assistance fund of USD 250,000 had already been provided by FIFA following the recent earthquake and tsunami in the South American country.

The Executive Committee decided to lift the suspension on the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) after noting that the National Olympic Committee of Iraq (NOCI) had withdrawn the dissolution of the IFA and that the IFA had had its full authority restored. The Iraqi FA had been suspended in November 2009 due to governmental interference. The executive also agreed to submit to the next FIFA Congress the expulsion of The Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (BAFA) if the BAFA has not been reinstated by then, after noting that no major progress had been made since the BAFA was suspended in September 2009.

Furthermore, reports were provided on the preparations for the 60th FIFA Congress and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, which are well on track. The executive decided to approve that single yellow cards will be deleted only once during the competition in South Africa, after the quarter-final stage.

The Executive Committee rejected a proposal from AFC President Mohamed bin Hammam to bring to the FIFA Congress a request to limit the mandate of the FIFA presidency to two consecutive terms of four years (15 votes against, 5 in favour and 1 abstention).

The executive approved the 2009 Financial Report, with a positive annual result of USD 196 million (revenue of USD 1,059 million and expenses of USD 863 million). The budget for the next four-year cycle, 2011-2014, was also approved, with foreseen revenue of USD 3.8 billion and expenses of USD 3.6 billion, out of which 74% will be dedicated to football development projects and the organisation of FIFA competitions. The complete 2009 Financial Report can be found on FIFA.com.

The Olympic Football Working Group, which includes representatives from all six confederations, unanimously proposed to maintain the same eligibility criteria for future Men’s Olympic Football Tournaments as are currently in place, i.e. under-23 players plus three optional over-23 players. This proposal, approved by the Executive Committee, will now be submitted to the FIFA Congress for consideration.

Finally, the following decisions were taken by the Executive Committee during the meeting:

• to appoint Azerbaijan as host of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2012

• to appoint Italy as host of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2011 once all pending documentation has been provided, and Tahiti as host of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013

• to appoint Thailand as host of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012

• to postpone the decision on the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2012, in order to give more time to potential bidders to prepare their bids

• to inform the Indonesian Bidding Committee that they have lost their right to bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ after adequate governmental guarantees were not provided by Indonesia by the relevant deadlines

• to approve the new Regulations on the Organisation of Refereeing in the Member Associations and the new Equipment Regulations

• to approve the dates of the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2010 (8 to 18 December 2010) and the prize money (USD 16.5 million)