Zurich, July 14 (IANS): World football governing body FIFA's Development Committee has launched its overhauled development programme, which will allocate $5 million to each national federation in the four-year cycle.

This was announced in a statement in Zurich on Wednesday at a meeting of the committee chaired by Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, vice president of FIFA and president of the Asian Football Confederation, reports Efe.

"Member associations and confederations can now apply for development funds under the Forward programme, which aims to provide 360-degree, tailor-made support for developing football," FIFA said.

The organisation also announced it will increase the funds for this objective from $1.6 million to $5 million for every federation in the cycle of four years and from $22 million to $40 million for confederations.

It will introduce systems to ensure that increasing investments in soccer development occur according to the standards of transparency.

The Development Committee said that member associations and confederations have until June 1, 2017 to draft the contracts of their objectives, to be reviewed before approval.

"Today's Development Committee meeting marks a very important day as through Forward, we are making a qualitative step to improve the impact of FIFA's development projects and better serve the member associations and confederations. 

"The proper structure is being put in place to meet the challenges and ensure the successful implementation of the Forward programme," the statement added.