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Fifa’s revenues for the four-year cycle around the 2022 World Cup are expected to be more than $1bn (€977m) greater than projected, as it filled the Qatar 2022 sponsorship portfolio with three late additions.
Speaking at the Fifa Executive Summit on the eve of Qatar 2022 yesterday (Sunday), Fifa president Gianni Infantino outlined the increased expectations from the cycle leading into the tournament.
Infantino revealed that in spite of the Covid-19 pandemic and other crisis points around the world, Fifa’s revenues at year-end would stand at $7.5bn – over $1bn more than was budgeted. With year-end expenses forecast to be $6.5bn, Infantino said: “We will basically have a projected net result of $1bn – which we can then invest in football immediately, starting from now and for the next cycle to make football grow even more around the world.”
Fifa’s revenues also outstripped the organisation’s own projections for the four-year period that included the 2018 World Cup in Russia (2015-18), rising to $6.4bn. The latest accounts of world football’s governing body in February said that Fifa was “well on track” to exceed its revenue target of $6.44bn for the 2019-22 cycle after its commercial revenues recovered last year following 2020 figures hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Late sponsor deals
Prior to yesterday’s opening game between Qatar and Ecuador, Fifa also announced that the 2022 World Cup would be backed by a full quota of partners, sponsors and regional supporters after selling out all sponsorship tiers and inventory.
The line-up includes seven Fifa partners and seven Fifa World Cup sponsors, as well as regional supporters in each of Fifa’s five regions – Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, North America and South America.
Three final additions to the regional supporter roster were announced yesterday, two for North America, plus one for Mena. YouTube signed on, with its regional sponsorship seeing YouTube Shorts creators on the ground capturing behind the scenes content of the World Cup.
Visit Las Vegas, the official destination marketing organisation for Southern Nevada, will seek to use Qatar 2022 to promote Las Vegas as one of the world’s most desirable destinations for leisure and business travel.
Meanwhile, Fine Hygienic Holding will provide disinfectants, cleaning products and hand sanitiser stations across all tournament locations. Boss Zhipin, a leading Chinese recruitment network, was announced as a regional supporter for Asia-Pacific on Thursday, with Yadea also another late addition from China.
Fifa chief business officer Romy Gai said: “The Fifa World Cup presents our commercial affiliates with unprecedented engagement opportunities. Our partners have already delivered a variety of world-class fan activations and initiatives in the build-up to the event, and we will continue to work hand-in-hand with them so that they can achieve their goals whilst enhancing the Fifa World Cup experience.”
Infantino will not face a challenge in his bid for a third term as Fifa president, the world governing body confirmed last week. The 52-year-old Italo-Swiss lawyer will be the only person contesting the election – due to be held on March 16 at Fifa’s 73rd annual congress in Kigali, Rwanda – after the deadline for nominations closed without any other candidates being proposed.
Yesterday was his first opportunity to address member associations following this confirmation. Infantino said: “I’m truly humbled, I’m extremely honoured, to have received the official support of over 200 member associations from all continents and this shows that we are indeed united.
“We are united to bring global football forward. Together with all 211 member associations, with all confederations, we will continue to work together for the next four years and we will do great, great things: we will make football truly global; we will make football bigger.”
