And so, with a final flourish, Sepp Blatter got out his cheque-book and wrote out a cheque for $200 million. No, the FIFA President’s closing gesture at this week’s FIFA Congress was not quite that dramatic. But his promise of $750,000 to all 209 national associations and $7 million to each of the six confederations has the same effect.
To which my question is this: has this $198.75 million of apparently extra expenditure already been written in to FIFA’s budgets? If the answer is No, then it ratchets up my concerns about the rate at which the governing body’s spending is increasing. You could be forgiven for thinking that this was the least of the worries of this much-criticised body, which is usually portrayed as being awash with cash. But I have to say, that is not the way I see it.