Andrew Pragnell, chief executive of NZ Football, confirmed to the Stuff website that the organisation had written to world football's governing body to request financial aid.

FIFA has suggested it will be willing to dip into its cash reserves to assist Member Federations dealing with the COVID-19 virus, which has forced a near shutdown of football leagues and competitions across the world.

NZ Football has suspended the sport at all levels in the country, which has reported 950 cases of the virus, until May 2 in response to the pandemic.

"We'll be absolutely interested and have written to them actually," Pragnell told Stuff. 

"They sit in a robust financial position you might say, but having said that they have 211 Member Associations, probably all of whom are in a state of disruption and we're mindful that while we need to extend requests to all arms of our relationships, they'll be dealing with a huge number of issues themselves.

"But if you look across sports, having a robust and strong international body sitting behind your national body is one of the things you'd look for in terms of long-term stability and I can safely say we've got that."

NZ Football has already applied for a Government's wage subsidy to ensure it can keep some of its key staff members.

Football Federation Australia this week announced it had stood down 70 per cent of its staff because of financial challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both New Zealand's men's and women's football teams have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics - now postponed until the summer of 2021.