Dar es Salaam. Plans are on for the world’s football governing body (Fifa) to tap its $2.7 billion cash reserve and create an emergency fund to support the ailing soccer industry.

A month of so has now passed since the last football matches were played before packed stadiums in the world.

And the havoc wrought by the coronavirus pandemic means that nobody can say with any certainty when the sport might return.

The money, should Fifa leaders sign off on it, would amount to the biggest response from any major sports governing body to the financial impact of the pandemic.

The national football associations that have been forced to postpone football activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic include Tanzania Football Federation (TFF).

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said recently that he was aware that there were “serious financial problems on account of the coronavirus outbreak.”

“This threatens to disrupt and impair the ability of Fifa’s member associations and clubs to develop, finance and run football activities at all levels of the game,” he said.

Infantino’s 2016 election campaign included plans to distribute the organisation’s resources.

“The money of Fifa is your money, it’s not the money of the Fifa president,” he said during the campaign.

Most domestic and international football competitions around the world have been suspended due to the pandemic.

Continental tournaments, including the 2121 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers, Euro 2020 and the Copa America have been postponed.