In this Jan. 3, 2011 file photo, a worker cleans the road outside Khalifa Sport Complex in Doha, Qatar. FIFA announced Thursday that the 2022 World Cup final will be played on Dec. 18. — AP ZURICH — FIFA has agreed to pay clubs worldwide $209 million for releasing players to the World Cup in 2018 and in 2022. The deal with the 214-member European Club Association announced Friday almost triples the $70 million FIFA shared among clubs from 2014 World Cup revenues. It also settles the issue of possible compensation from FIFA for moving the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to November-December. FIFA said the working accord — extending one which expired last year — gives the ECA more involvement in other decisions affecting club football. “We are taking a huge step forward in promoting relations between FIFA and the clubs in a spirit of mutual and constructive cooperation,” FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in a statement. Clubs receive money on a daily rate for as long as players are on national team duty and involved in a tournament. The new accord also extends a FIFA insurance program which pays the club salary of players injured while with national teams. That project cost FIFA $88 million in the last four-year World Cup cycle. UEFA is paying 150 million euros ($160 million) to clubs for releasing players to the 2016 European Championship. FIFA also said it earned record revenue of $2 billion last year, thanks to the World Cup's commercial power. The governing body's annual financial report shows total profits of $337 million coming from the four-year cycle for the 2014 soccer tournament in Brazil. FIFA pocketed $140.7 million in profit in 2014 alone. It added $91 million to its reserves, which now stand at $1.523 billion. FIFA's expenses also soared, topping $5.38 billion in the past four years. Last year, FIFA spent $261 million in World Cup bonuses to soccer bodies, $27 million buying a hotel in Zurich and $39.7 million rewarding senior officials. Let's get on with Qatar Cup A top FIFA executive member who has been a critic of the Qatar World Cup said Friday that everyone must get on with making the event work now the dates have been agreed. Jim Boyce, Britain's FIFA vice president, said the 2022 World Cup would be a one-off winter tournament. “It's one year out of the calendar and I think if everyone works together for one year we can work it out to make sure everyone is satisfied,” Boyce told reporters on the sidelines of a FIFA executive committee meeting. After months of debate, the FIFA executive decided Thursday that the 2022 World Cup would be on Dec. 18 — Qatar's national day — and the tournament would probably be reduced by four days to 28 days. “There is always going to be someone who will complain,” said Boyce who has in the past said there should be a revote for the 2022 World Cup if corruption claims were proved and who spoke strongly against a summer World Cup in the Gulf state. Nepal official probe The president of the Nepal Football Association (ANFA) will skip next month's Asian Football Confederation congress in Bahrain after standing down for a further 90 days while FIFA investigate claims of corruption. Ganesh Thapa had previously halted all football-related activity for 120 days while FIFA probed accusations from his colleagues at ANFA but the world governing body did not report any findings. That self-imposed ban ended on March 3, allowing Thapa to resume his duties while Nepal took part in the first round of 2018 World Cup qualifying but his side lost 2-0 on aggregate to India after a goalless draw at home Tuesday. FIFA said the former AFC vice president had opted to stand down again, meaning he will miss the April 30 congress in Manama where his full-time replacement at regional level will be voted for. — Agencies
