ANKARA

FIFA on Friday announced it will distribute around $150 million among member associations to help overcome the financial strains due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“FIFA will release all operational funding due to member associations for the years 2019 and 2020 in the coming days as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the world governing body for football said in a statement.

It said that a total of 211 national football governing bodies around the world will benefit from the payment.

“The pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges for the entire football community and, as the world governing body, it is FIFA’s duty to be there and support the ones that are facing acute needs,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.

“This starts by providing immediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress,” Infantino added.

“Under normal circumstances, FIFA’s member associations would have only received the full amount of the contribution upon fulfillment of specific criteria. Instead, FIFA is now transferring this amount as an active support to help safeguard football across all member associations,” the statement said.

Each members associations will be receiving $500,000 soon as well as any remaining entitlement over the past two years.