Business is rarely this simple. If you manufacture a product which everybody wants to buy, but which costs you almost nothing to make, you are going to accrue a lot of money rather quickly.
In a nutshell, this is how FIFA, football’s world governing body, makes money.
In 2018, when the World Cup was hosted in Russia, FIFA made more than $4.6bn in revenue.
FIFA pays World Cup host countries’ organising committees, prize money, travel and accommodation for teams and support staff, plus a legacy fund to help develop the sport in the host country after the World Cup circus has left town.
The winners of the Qatar World Cup will receive $44m out of a total prize pot of $440m, paid by FIFA.
FIFA organises its accounts in four-year cycles around each World Cup. For the most recently published 2015-18 cycle, FIFA brought in $6.4bn. In 2021, a single non-World Cup year, FIFA took in $766m.
Most of FIFA’s income comes from selling TV broadcast rights for the World Cup and other international tournaments.
Of the $6.4bn generated in the last cycle, $4.6bn came from TV rights.
Global brands pay FIFA for the right to advertise at the organisation’s events. The biggest brands get to partner with FIFA on its development and social responsibility plans, meaning they have a foot in the door with FIFA’s non-profit side, investing in the sport of football at international, national and grassroots levels.
