Egypt’s Football Association to receive $500,000 as part of FIFA coronavirus relief

Egypt’s Football Association (EFA) is expected to receive $500,000 as part of coronavirus relief fund announced by FIFA.

FIFA said on Friday it is set to release a total of $150 million to its member associations to compensate for the economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

It added that “all operational funding” for 2019 and 2020 would be distributed amongst its 211 member associations in the next few days “as the first step of a relief plan to assist the football community impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Each national governing body will get $500,000, that FIFA says would normally be delivered “upon fulfilment of specific criteria”, but will release those funds and any “remaining entitlement for 2019 and 2020”.

FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino said that the funds were the “first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community.”

“It is FIFA’s duty to be there and support the ones that are facing acute needs,” Infantino added. “This starts by providing immediate financial assistance to our member associations, many of which are experiencing severe financial distress.”

The funds come from the Forward 2.0 programme, which was launched in 2016 and will provide a total of $1.746 billion (around €1.6 billion) over the 2019-2022 period.

In March, FIFA announced the creation of a football aid fund but it has not since then given any additional details on its operation or scope.