Football's world governing body FIFA will release all operational funding due to member associations for 2019 and 2020 as the first step of a relief plan to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

A statement released by FIFA on Friday said it will release about $150 million to be shared among the 211 national football associations globally.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that it was the governing body's duty to be there and support the associations that were under heavy financial pressure.

"This is the first step of a far-reaching financial relief plan we are developing to respond to the emergency across the whole football community. Together with our stakeholders, we are we assessing the losses and we are working on the most appropriate and effective tools to implement the other stages of this relief plan,”Infantino said.

FIFA also said that each member association will get $500,000 in the coming days as well as any remaining entitlements for 2019 and 2020.

FIFA added that it will immediately release the second installment of operational costs for this year, originally due in July, and which, under normal circumstances member associations would have only received in full upon fulfillment of specific criteria.

Several clubs across the world are feeling the pinch of the coronavirus with some players and staff of some teams having to take pay cuts for the clubs to manage their finances. In addition, many leagues face the threat of having their seasons ended prematurely.