FIFA secures 5,518 million euros before Qatar 2022. The sales of television and marketing rights for the World Cup allow the highest body in world football to have already secured 95% of what it intended to enter for the 2019-22 cycle, without even even having played the great competition of that period, according to the data revealed by the entity.
Of the 6,440 million dollars (5,808 million euros, at the current exchange rate) of income forecast for this four-year period, the entity that governs soccer on the planet has already insured 6,114 million dollars (5,518 million euros), due to the data it has revealed the body in its Annual Report for the year 2021.
For this reason, FIFA assures that it is “on track to exceed its revenue target for the cycle”, in the words of Alejandro Domínguez, president of Conmebol and spokesman for the entity’s financial committee, collected by this report, after a year in which World Cup television agreements were signed in India, Italy, Greece or Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Spain, the production company Mediapro was awarded these rights, whose first package, with the open matches of the Spanish team and the main duels of the tournament, has been acquired this week by Radio Televisión Española (RTVE); while there is another second package, which consists of a 24-hour channel with the 64 matches of the tournament, which pay televisions will be able to opt for.
The budget for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, approved more than a year ago, forecasts total income of 4,666 million dollars (4,200 million euros, at current exchange rates), of which television rights will contribute slightly more than half (2,460 million dollars, 2,214 million euros) and the marketing area will account for 1,353 million dollars (1,218 million euros). FIFA plans to invest 1,696 million dollars (1,527 million euros) in the event.
In fact, in its report this year, FIFA once again insists on its proposal to hold the World Cup every two years instead of four, alluding to the possibility of generating the same income in less time.
“We have received advice from independent experts who say that a change to a biennial World Cup could provide an additional income of 4.4 billion dollars during the first cycle of four years,” the president of the entity, Gianni Infantino, says in the document, citing a study by Nielsen and OpenEconomics, by which he considers that each national federation could receive 25 million dollars (22.5 million euros) per cycle thanks to this, instead of the current 6 million dollars (5.4 million euros) .
FIFA RETURNS TO PRE-PANDEMIC REVENUE IN 2021
The highest body in world football obtained 766 million dollars (690 million euros) in 2021, the same amount as in 2019 and almost three times more than in 2020, when it stood at 267 million dollars (240 million euros ) in income in a year irremediably marked by the covid-19 pandemic.
Of FIFA’s sources of income in this year just ended, the income from product licenses (23%) stands out, followed by sponsorships (17%) and television rights (16%). These accounts also include the income from the compensation received after the investigation by the United States Department of Justice, of 201 million dollars (171 million euros) on corruption among its leaders, those of the South American Conmebol and the North American Concacaf.
