Gianni Infantino warned Member Associations not to misuse their increased development funding ©Getty Images

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has warned the governing body’s 211 members not to betray the organisation’s trust after a vast increase in development funding for the associations was passed unanimously at the 66th Congress here today.

The Swiss used his closing remarks to declare "the crisis is over" and that FIFA was "back on track" following a tumultuous year. 

Under the FIFA Forward Programme, the amount of money given to the members will rise from $400,000 ($279,000/€354,000) to $1.25 million (£871,000/€1.1 million) per year.

A total of $500,000 (£348,000/€442,000) of that will come from what Infantino describes as “running costs”, which will be granted to the countries providing they fulfill a minimum of eight of ten requirements.

These range from being awarded $50,000 (£35,000/€44,000) for the appointment of a secretary general to being handed the same amount for “running an initiative or project related to integrity or good governance”.

FIFA will grant the other $750,000 (£522,000/€663,000) for projects “tailored to the specific needs of the member associations”.

Questions have been raised, however, about how Infantino will go about funding the scheme particularly following the governing body recording the first loss for 14 years in December of last year in the wake of the corruption scandal.

In revealing their revised budget for the period from 2015 to 2018, FIFA claim there is sufficient cash to implement the FIFA Forward Programme in spite of the well-documented financial issues they have faced over the past 12 months.

Every single Member Association voted in favour of the vastly-increased funding
Every single Member Association voted in favour of the vastly-increased funding ©Getty Images

Expanding the funding for the nations who hold a seat at the table within FIFA was a key pledge from Infantino in the build-up to his eventual election as President at an Extraordinary Congress in Zurich in February and he has vowed to ensure the money doesn’t end up in corrupt hands.

Misappropriation of funds has been a fundamental problem within world football and has led to the indictments and arrests of several prominent officials amid an ongoing criminal probe from the United States Department of Justice.

As a result, the 45-year-old threatened FIFA will show “no mercy” to those who misuse the additional money they have been granted.

“Don’t betray us, use it for football,” he said.

“What we are putting in place is a mechanism which will make sure FIFA is much more involved with the Member Associations.

“On a very practical level, we will make sure the money is really invested into football and doesn’t end up in the wrong place.”