GENEVA, April 29 (Xinhua) -- The FIFA Council has agreed to increase the resources to be distributed to all 48 participating teams at the 2026 World Cup by 15 percent to a total of 871 million U.S. dollars, FIFA announced on Wednesday.

The preparation fund has been increased from 1.5 million U.S. dollars to 2.5 million, while the qualification fund has been raised from 9 million to 10 million. Additional team contributions, including subsidies for delegation costs and team ticket allocations, have been increased to more than 16 million.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, "FIFA is proud to be in its most solid financial position ever, enabling us to help all our member associations in an unprecedented way. This is one more example of how FIFA's resources are reinvested back into the game."

The Council agreed to amend the FIFA Governance Regulations to allow the Afghan women's refugee team to take part in official FIFA competitions. "We are proud of the beautiful journey initiated by Afghan Women United, and with this initiative we aim to enable them, as well as other FIFA member associations that may not be able to register a national or representative team for a FIFA competition, to make the next step, in coordination with the relevant confederation," Infantino said.

The meeting also confirmed an amendment to the regulations for the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States under which single yellow cards in the final competition will be cancelled after the group stage and again after the quarterfinals.

It was also confirmed that the FIFA presidential election for the 2027-2031 term of office will take place at the 77th FIFA Congress, to be held in 2027, with the electoral period starting on April 30, 2026. ■