FIFA’s (www.FIFA.com) member associations to be asked to take a united stand against racism in football​; Record investment in football development of USD 2.25 billion expected during 2023-2026 cycle; Five-year hosts of annual U-17 competitions appointed.

The FIFA Council has unanimously approved the Annual Report 2023, which confirms the organisation’s exceptionally healthy and sustainable situation, with record investment in football development of USD 2.25 billion earmarked for the entire 2023-2026 cycle as part of the FIFA Forward 3.0 Programme. This represents an almost sevenfold increase in football development investment compared to the development programmes in place prior to 2016.

The Annual Report, which was duly approved by the FIFA Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee and the FIFA Finance Committee, will be distributed to all 211 member associations and submitted to the 74^th FIFA Congress in Bangkok on Friday, 17 May 2024 for final approval.

“Thanks to its solid financial governance, FIFA is well on track to exceed its budgetary target of USD 11 billion for the 2023-2026 cycle,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, following the meeting which was held virtually from Zurich, Switzerland. “This means that we will be able to deliver more tailored services for our 211 member associations to assist them in realising their development and education projects and taking football to the next level.”

“FIFA’s sound financial position will be key to successfully implementing our Strategic Objectives (https://apo-opa.co/4cj3Zkw) for 2023-2027, in cooperation with our 211 member associations and the six confederations.”

The 74^th FIFA Congress

The FIFA Council supported the FIFA President’s call to impose stricter measures and increase the commitment of anyone involved in global football to fight racism by including an item on the Congress agenda that will tackle this unacceptable scourge on the game.

“The 74^th FIFA Congress will mark a milestone in FIFA’s ongoing efforts to fight racism with new and stricter measures to be applied worldwide in cooperation with all our member associations and the confederations,” added President Infantino. 

The voting procedure for the designation of the host(s) of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ by the upcoming Congress was also confirmed and foresees that the result of each ballot and the related votes will be made public. A bid from Brazil, a joint bid from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, and a joint bid from Mexico and the United States are currently in the bidding process, which is set to conclude in Bangkok in May, where the host(s) of the next edition will be decided by FIFA’s member associations.

The full agenda for the 74^th FIFA Congress will be shared with FIFA’s member associations in line with the process outlined in the FIFA Statutes.

FIFA competitions

As part of the governing body’s steadfast commitment to youth football and following the decision to expand the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ to 48 teams and hold it annually rather than biennially, it was confirmed that the next five editions of the competition, starting in 2025, will take place in Qatar. Likewise, the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™, which has been expanded to 24 teams and will be played annually as of 2025, will be hosted by Morocco until 2029. This followed a global call for expressions of interest in hosting both competitions, with a focus on leveraging the use of existing footballing infrastructure in the interest of tournament efficiencies and sustainability. 

Other decisions

The Council confirmed that the mandate of the Normalisation Committee for the Pakistan Football Federation will be extended until 15 December 2024 to allow for the completion of the existing mandate and electoral process.