USE FIFA FUNDS FOR FOOTBALL RESTART - MPS

MBABANE – Where is the COVID-19 grant handed to clubs by FIFA?

This question was posed by multiple Members of Parliament on Thursday at the House of Assembly during the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs annual performance report presented before the portfolio committee. The legislators wanted to know why the ministry under the leadership of Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga was not utilising that funding to, among other things, test players, officials and other relevant personnel and resume the domestic football league. Kwaluseni MP Sibusiso Mabhanisi Dlamini said it was disheartening to read about millions of Emalangeni being given to teams in grants by the global football body but one never gets to hear about what happens to that money. He made reference to regional teams who are expected to have at least E8 000 to register in the regional league which, in most instances, resulted in the teams failing to register because of lack of funding.

“It is so painful to see young talent being deprived the opportunity to put their gift into practice simply because there is no transparency in the operations of some bodies. FIFA released these grants and that was the last we heard of it, nobody knows where these grants are,” he lamented. Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko also shared the same sentiments. He also recommended that the grants should be utilised to cover all the expenses that needed to be covered for football to return because it was making no sense for the national team to be heading for a big international game while there was no activity in the domestic league.

Meanwhile, about E16.5 million was pledged by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to protect and restart football last year. The money to be released in two batches of US$500 000 for the 2020 calendar year and in January 2021 for that calendar year had strict conditions attached to it. Each association in the 211-members of FIFA will receive US$ 1 million (about E16.5 million) to protect and restart football and an additional US$500 000 (about E8.2 million) specifically for women’s football during the third phase.

groundbreaking

“FIFA’s groundbreaking COVID-19 Relief Plan reached a major milestone as the Bureau of the FIFA council approved the plan’s regulations. Under the terms of the COVID-19 Relief Plan, US$1.5 billion is being made available to support all 211 FIFA member associations and the six confederation to assist in the alleviation of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” part of the report on the FIFA website read. The report further states that the plan was originally drawn up by the FIFA administration in co-operation with the confederations and subsequently approved by the FIFA Council on June 25, 2020.

Compliance

“The regulations establish strict compliance and audit requirements, as well as clear loan repayment conditions under the supervision of a steering committee,” part of the report reads. In the first phase of the plan, the maximum amount of FIFA Forward operational costs entitlements to member associations was released. For the second phase, member associations have now been given the ability to transform remaining FIFA Forward development project grants into COVID-19 operational relief funds – with a minimum of 50 per cent of the released funds to be allocated to women’s football.

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