Record revenue achieved
The FIFA Club World Cup 2023 will be held in Saudi Arabia. The world football association announced this after a council meeting on Tuesday. One year after the World Cup in Qatar, the next country on the Persian Gulf will be able to hold a major football event from December 12th to 22nd. The decision was unanimous. The tournament will then take place in the current format with seven clubs including the European Champions League winners. At the weekend, Real Madrid clinched a record fifth title in the final against Al-Hilal Saudi FC.
Saudi Arabia has been positioning itself as an organizer of major sporting events for years. Since this year, five-time world footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (38) has been playing for Al-Nassr FC in the Saudi Pro League, and the country is also positioning itself to host the 2030 World Cup along with Egypt and Greece. Like its neighbor Qatar, Saudi Arabia has also been criticized for human rights violations. The relationship between the two countries has been complicated and marked by rivalry for years.
From Matthäus to Lewandowski: all FIFA World Players since 1991
From 2025, the already decided and much criticized increase in the Club World Cup to 32 teams will apply. The field of participants should be made up as follows: Europe will receive twelve starting places, South America six, Asia, Africa and the combination of North and Central America and the Caribbean four each, Oceania one. The host country is also firmly involved. It is not yet clear who will host the premiere. However, the tournament is scheduled to take place in June/July 2025.
FIFA with record numbers: revenue in the World Cup year at 5.8 billion
For the past financial cycle, including the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA has reported record figures in the billions. Revenues totaled $7.568 billion from 2019 to 2022, up more than a billion from the previous period.
In the year of the World Cup alone, revenue was 5.769 billion US dollars. Sales of TV rights accounted for the largest share. Operating profit rose to almost one billion (945 million) from 2019 to 2022, with the World Cup year alone accounting for 2.359 billion. FIFA President Gianni Infantino called the figures “extremely good” and pointed out that revenue was growing despite the Corona Pandemic was over a billion above expectations. “It shows how strong FIFA is today.”
The reserves of the world association are also at a record level and, at 3.971 billion, are 45 percent higher than after the 2018 World Cup in Russia. For the upcoming World Cup cycle from 2023 to 2026, FIFA expects total revenues of 11 billion US dollars. From 2019 to 2022, FIFA distributed a good one billion US dollars to its member associations. During this period, 5.15 of a possible six million went to the German Football Association. From 2023 to 2026, the sum for each association is to increase to 8 million.
The financial report also provides information on the remuneration of top personnel: FIFA President Infantino will receive 3.6 million Swiss francs (3.65 million euros) in the coming year.
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