British associations will refuse to use up to £8,000 in FIFA cash for personal expenditure at next month’s FIFA Congress.
Sky Sports News HQ understands officials from the FA, Scottish FA, Football Association of Wales and Irish FA will not use their allowance as spending money on non-travel expenses.
Officials from all 209 associations are entitled to receive an allowance of $1,000 (£670) for their attendance around the annual congress on 28-29 May in Zurich.
Each association is entitled to receive a maximum allowance of $3,000 (£2,010) for three officials, which means a total of more than $627,000 (£420,000) can be claimed in cash.
FIFA has confirmed the allowance, for personal expenditure, is distributed in cash, in US dollars, from a FIFA administrative office, ’upon proof of identity and official accreditation’.
The cash allowances are within FIFA rules, and there is no suggestion of any improper payments.
Under UK Revenue & Customs rules, each British citizen is entitled to bring up to €10,000 (£7,200) cash from abroad before declaring it to the authorities.
The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) has also confirmed its top officials will not claim the allowance.
A KNVB spokesperson told Sky Sports News HQ that its president Michael van Praag, a FIFA presidential candidate, and Bert van Oostveen, KNVB general secretary, “will never ask and/or accept cash or any other money or goods for their presence at conferences of FIFA.”
A FIFA spokesperson told Sky Sports News HQ: "The payment is made in cash as, from an administrative point of view. It would be extremely difficult to organise bank transfers for so many people (almost 700 people, with some of them who change at the last minute) and in 209 different countries and because the transfer fees would be too high in proportion to the amount of the allowance."
Any unused allowances will remain with FIFA.
World football’s governing body also offers to pay basic accommodation and travel costs for all associations that attend the FIFA Congress.
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