Football enrichment championship – Newspaper Kommersant No. 215 (7416) dated 11/21/2022

The International Football Federation (FIFA) has reported a significant increase in revenues in the current four-year cycle, which crowns the World Cup that started in Qatar. FIFA earned $7.5 billion during this period, $1 billion more than the record set in the previous cycle. The federation expects its revenues to reach $10 billion between 2022 and 2026. For FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who is heavily criticized for what his opponents say is pandering to the Qatari authorities, the release of financial data has become a strong trump card confirming the correctness of the chosen path.

On Sunday, the International Football Federation released data on the income that it will receive on the basis of a four-year cycle, ending with the World Cup, which started today in Qatar. FIFA reported that its revenues in the period 2018-2022 will amount to $7.5 billion, which is $1 billion more than it managed to earn in the 2014-2018 cycle tied to the World Cup, which was hosted by Russia. One of the most important factors that ensured such a noticeable increase in revenues was the signing of sponsorship contracts with a number of Qatari companies, in particular, oil and gas Qatar Energy, QNB bank and Ooredoo operating in the telecom sector.

The data released by FIFA turned out to be even better than the numbers that FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced on Saturday. He talked about how FIFA expects an increase of $ 600-700 million compared to the previous cycle. Mr. Infantino named the key sectors in which they managed to achieve a significant increase in income. According to him, the implementation of media rights will bring in $200 million more than in the previous cycle (one of the key partners of FIFA is the Qatari television company BeIN Sports, which paid about $150 million for the right to broadcast world championship games in the Middle East and Africa). Sponsorship revenue will grow by $200 million, while the ticketing program and World Cup hosting will generate $200 million to $300 million in additional revenue. FIFA expects the revenue growth trend to continue and expects that the new cycle, which will end in 2026 with the World Cup, which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico, will already bring $10 billion. Given the size of the North American market and the fact that in the 2026 championship not 32, as now, but 48 teams will take part, the forecast does not look overly optimistic.

Good income data (do not forget that during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entertainment sector, including football, was actually paralyzed, otherwise FIFA’s income could have been even higher) became a weighty argument for Gianni Infantino, who was criticized in the Western media in his dispute with opponents. The list of claims against him also includes the neutral position taken by FIFA on the issue, as many believe, of the violation of the rights of foreign workers who erected World Cup facilities, and the lack of reaction to the human rights situation in Qatar, and even a ban on sales that happened two days before the start of the championship beer near the arenas. At the same time, Mr. Infantino’s position was greatly weakened by the fact that back in the fall of 2021 he moved to Qatar (he only appears at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich from time to time, and ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter generally believes that he intends to move the FIFA office to Paris) where he rented a house, and his two youngest children went to school. “I was told that sponsors, due to the fact that the World Cup is held in Qatar, will turn their backs on FIFA, that people will not watch such a tournament, that no one will come here,” said the FIFA president. “But if so many people around the world have invested so much money for the World Cup, so many people came here – it means they believe in FIFA and trust Qatar. And here is one of the two. Either they are all fools, or those who believe that no one needs the World Cup are not quite right. As well as the results of public opinion polls conducted in different countries are incorrect.

Alexander Petrov