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ZURICH: The FIFA Development Committee met on Tuesday at the Home of FIFA, under the chairmanship of FIFA Senior Vice-President Issa Hayatou and in the presence of the chairman of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee, Domenico Scala. The meeting was opened by FIFA President Blatter.

Nineteen new Goal projects were approved during today’s meeting – each one to receive funding of USD 600,000 – bringing the total number of initiatives since 1999 across 206 member associations to 719.

Following the 2014 statutory annual audit performed by KPMG and in order to optimise the efficiency of the Goal projects, it was agreed that FIFA would send a letter to the 21 member associations having at least one of the 25 Goal projects approved prior to 2013 that, for different reasons, have not yet been implemented or whose respective contracts have not yet been signed, in order for them to adopt the necessary steps towards implementation by the end of 2015.

With Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Sweden, Turks and Caicos Islands and Venezuela, five new projects were confirmed within the scope of PERFORMANCE: The Football Management Programme of FIFA, from which 169 member associations have benefited to date.

An overview of all of the development projects approved today by the FIFA Development Committee is available here.

Other items on the agenda of the FIFA Development Committee were the pilot implementation of FIFA’s Connect Programme, which is aimed at creating a worldwide football stakeholder registration ID by 2018/2019, as well as FIFA’s initiative to help member associations develop domestic youth football competitions for boys and girls by means of advice, educational programmes, equipment and teaching materials. Member associations with well-established grassroots programmes and a strategic plan for youth football under the responsibility of a technical director will be eligible for the latter initiative.

Issa Hayatou said: “While the positive impact of FIFA’s Goal projects can be seen in a large number of member associations, it is our intention to optimise the implementation process and maximise their benefits. In addition, through Connect and the initiative to support domestic youth competitions, we will be targeting two key areas during the 2015-2018 cycle: setting up the first-ever initiative aimed at integrating football data from top to bottom and increasing the number of youth competitions at member association level.”

FIFA’s development budget for the 2015-2018 financial cycle amounts to USD 900 million (excluding potential bonuses linked to financial results), which represents an increase of USD 100 million on the 2011-2014 period.