The football fund was turned outside – Newspaper Kommersant No. 216 (7417) of 11/22/2022

The International Football Federation (FIFA) has decided to radically change the approach to the work of the Heritage Fund, created after each World Cup. Previously, funds from the fund were spent on the development of football in the host country. However, due to the harsh criticism that FIFA faces for its inactive stance on the issue of protecting the rights of foreign workers working on the construction sites of the Qatari World Cup, it decided to reorient the work of the Qatari Legacy Foundation towards a wider range of tasks, including support for educational programs, especially for girls and women in developing countries. How much money will go to the fund, not reported. But the amounts can be impressive, given the intention of FIFA to involve other structures in cooperation.

The International Football Federation has decided to adjust the direction of the Heritage Foundation. It is created after each World Cup and is filled at the expense of FIFA, which transfers part of the income from the championship to the structure. For example, after the 2010 and 2014 tournaments, held in South Africa and Brazil, respectively, FIFA’s contribution was $100 million. After the 2018 World Cup, held in Russia, FIFA pledged to pay at least $60 million to the corresponding fund.

It’s not about one-time payments. They are greatly extended in time. Thus, FIFA has not yet fulfilled the obligations assumed in 2018, and after the start of events in Ukraine, it decided to completely suspend the transfer of money to Russia.

The Qatari fund, as FIFA decided, will not invest in the development of football in the country. FIFA President Gianni Infantino noted that this issue was agreed with the Qatari authorities. Instead of football programs, the fund will focus on international projects in developing countries. In particular, it is promised to pay significant attention to the support of educational programs, especially for girls and women.

The volume of the fund was not reported in FIFA, but given that the organization last week reported about record revenues for the four-year 2018-2022 cycle (they amounted to $7.5 billion, which is $1 billion more than in the 2014-2018 cycle), the amount could significantly exceed the $100 million mark.

It is possible that Qatari companies such as oil and gas company Qatar Energy, QNB bank and Ooredoo operating in the telecom sector, contracts with which provided FIFA with record revenues in many ways, will also help the Legacy Fund.

FIFA’s decision to coordinate the Legacy Foundation’s goals comes amid a string of recent criticism of football’s governance structure. In particular, for a passive position in the history of foreign workers, who were responsible for the construction of facilities for the world championship. They were allegedly underpaid and forced to work without rest. These events even became the catalyst for the emergence of something like the opposition of Gianni Infantino. Immediately 11 European football associations (Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales) united in an informal group insisting that FIFA should actively protect the rights of the workers who “built” the World Cup , well, and with maximum activity to defend the rights of LGBT representatives, who, to the great surprise of Europeans, are not welcomed with open arms in a patriarchal Islamic country.

On Monday, however, the aforementioned European federations signaled that relations with FIFA are improving. In particular, because FIFA, apparently also part of a plan to reduce criticism, agreed to provide funds to support the opening and permanent operation of the office of the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Qatar, whose employees should provide legal assistance to foreign workers.

In a statement, 11 federations noted that they welcomed the latest decisions of FIFA, and also expressed satisfaction that the Qatari authorities still paid $ 350 million to guest workers, which they previously owed.

It is noteworthy that almost simultaneously with the expression of approval of the actions of FIFA, the football federations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, threatening that the captains of their teams would go to games with armbands in support of LGBT (contains the inscription One Love and a rainbow flag) They said they changed their mind. For FIFA, this was important, since LGBT propaganda would clearly not please the Qatari authorities. In fact, according to the rules, the presence of armbands not agreed with FIFA threatens to issue a warning (yellow card) to the players, but, as the captain of the German national team Manuel Neuer stated, this did not frighten the Germans. Now, however, the captains of the national teams will not be able to protest. As stated in a joint statement by the aforementioned federations, they do not consider it possible to put players under the threat of sports sanctions, and therefore asked their players to follow the rules.

Alexander Petrov