War Against Covid19: FIFA to donate $10million to WHO

Fifa will make a $10million donation to the World Health Organisation to support efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The president of football’s global governing body, Gianni Infantino, announced the move in a statement on Tuesday, in which he also confirmed the organisation would accept requests from Uefa and CONMEBOL to postpone the Euro 2020 and Copa America tournaments that were due to be staged this summer.

Both competitions have been pushed back 12 months in order to give domestic leagues that are currently under suspension due to the Covid-19 outbreak the extra space in the calendar that will be needed to finish their respective seasons. Fifa’s new-look Club World Cup, which had been scheduled for the summer of 2021, will be moved to a later date.

Infantino also said it was his intention to establish a Global Football Assistance fund in order to “help members of the football community affected by this crisis”. Clubs around the world are facing financial difficulty because of a lack of matchday revenue, leaving players and staff in fear going unpaid.

The statement said: “The world is facing an unprecedented health challenge and clearly a global and collective response is needed. Cooperation, mutual respect and understanding must be the guiding principles for all decision makers to have in mind at this crucial moment in time.

“Particularly in football, finding appropriate and fair solutions at global level is imperative. This requires unity, solidarity and a shared sense of responsibility and we need to think of all those around the world potentially impacted by our decisions.

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“In the meantime, and thanks to its solid financial situation, FIFA is in a position to propose proactive solidarity measures specifically targeting the corona virus disease crisis.”