Infantino signals FIFA reserve payout concession to UEFA

Gianni Infantino has signalled he is ready to give ground to Uefa and Concacaf over how Fifa's cash reserves are shared out with its member associations.

In a letter sent on Monday to all six confederation presidents, and copied to the Fifa council, the Fifa president stopped short of committing to the $10m-per-member figure that has been put to him, but made clear the door is open.

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The letter was a response to Aleksander Ceferin and Victor Montagliani, the Uefa and Concacaf presidents, who wrote earlier this month calling for an additional payout of at least $10m for all of Fifa's 211 members during the 2027-2030 commercial cycle. Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the Asian Football Confederation president, backed the demand in a separate letter.

Infantino said the proposals will go before the Fifa council at its next meeting on 15 October, once the secretary general, Mattias Grafström, has pulled the various submissions together.

The figures sit against the backdrop of Infantino's own abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme, which would have handed member associations an additional $20m over the next four-year cycle, plus a further $20m for those signing up before a 53-day deadline that lapsed last week.

Fifa's reserves stand at around $6bn. Whatever the council agrees on 15 October will shape how far that fund is opened up to national federations for the next four-year cycle, and how much room Infantino has left to negotiate a single figure rather than the framework he set out in his letter.