Football’s world governing body, FIFA has revealed that football activities worldwide will not start until Coronavirus has ended and it becomes safe for people to attend public events and have mass gatherings, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino saying no ‘match is worth risking a life for.
Infantino on Friday also said FIFA would help financially affected national football federations during the coronavirus pandemic as major leagues and competitions in the world have been halted causing a drastic stoppage of revenue streams.
FIFA last week postponed all international matches scheduled for June and also said players with expiring contracts this summer will have their contracts automatically extended.
“Our first priority, our principle, the one we will use for our competitions and encourage everyone to follow is that health comes first,” he said in a video message.
“I cannot stress this enough. No match, no competition, no league is worth risking a single human life.”
“It would be more than irresponsible to force competitions to resume if things are not 100% safe,” added Infantino.
“If we have to wait a little longer we must do so. It’s better to wait a little bit longer than to take any risks.”
“We are today in a very strong financial situation,” Infantino said.
“But our reserves are not FIFA’s money. It is football’s money. So when football is in need, we must think what we can do to help… It is our responsibility and our duty.”
