Kolkata: The prize money for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has been increased by 12 per cent, president Gianni Infantino said here after the council meeting on Friday.

FIFA’s strategic body approved an increase in the prize money to a total amount of $400 million — 12 per cent up from the $358 million of the 2014 edition.

The FIFA Council also ratified the decision of the Bureau of the Council of September 6 to approve the enhanced Bidding Regulations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and appointed the members of the Bid Evaluation Task Force.

‘We want the bidding process to be bullet proof. So the criteria is more stringent for bidding,’ Infantino told reporters here.

According to the bidding regulations, the Task Force must be composed of the chairpersons of the Audit & Compliance Committee and the Governance Committee — in this case, Tomaž Vesel and Mukul Mudgal respectively — as well as a member of the Organising Committee for Competitions (Ilco Gjorgioski was appointed), together with experts from the administration: Deputy Secretaries General Zvonimir Boban (football) and Marco Villiger (administration).

Approval of the dates of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2018, FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup France 2018 and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Uruguay 2018 was also given.

While the Women’s World Cup will be held from June 7 to July 7, the Club World Cup will be from December 12 to 22 next year.

The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will take place from August 5 to 24 while the U-17 Women’s World Cup will get underway from November 13.

The meeting took place on the eve of the final and third-place game of the U-17 World Cup. This is the first time a FIFA Council meeting is being held in India.