The defeat against North Macedonia not only quenched the hearts of the ‘tifosi’. The coffers of the selection will stop receiving this year, at least, 10 million euros. The country’s GDP will not be able to benefit from football for at least four years. The brands that dress the ‘azzurra’ will also be affected. Losing to the Macedonians has meant a million-dollar defeat for Italy.
Without the World Cup in Qatar, Italy has stopped earning, at least, directly, 10 million euros that they would have received just for qualifying. Since becoming champions in 2006, Italy has become the team that has generated the least money among the ‘big‘, with only 16 million in total in four World Cup events, far from the figures for Germany, Argentina or France.
However, those 10 million euros are not the most worrying figure. Indirect losses will be much higher. In 2018, the Italian Franco Carro, former president of the Italian Football Federation, told ‘Radio 24’ that not going to Russia 2018 could cost the country close to 1,000 million euros, something that can be extrapolated to this year 2022, having also take into account that Italy came to the event as European Champion, with high expectations.
Since 2006, participation in the World Cups has been a failure for Italy. In Euro 2020 came the economic and football redemption of the Italian team.
THE MIRAGE OF THE EURO
According to a report by ‘Brand Finance’, the national GDP for that year increased by 4,000 million euros in the short term. Something similar to what happened in 2006. Since that year, Italy has not been able to take advantage of its football until 2021. And it will not do so until next 2024 with the Euro in Germany, until 2026 if we talk about the World Cup, in case of get classified.
Italian football had been mired in a crisis of results since 2006. But EURO 2020 arrived and the ‘azzurri’ surprised the continent by proclaiming themselves champions. It seemed that Italy was back. All a mirage.
A clear example of how it can affect was seen in Italy in 2016, but in reverse. According to the Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’, the purchase of televisions increased by 4% in 2016 only due to the classification from Italy to the Euro.
Bars, shops, tourism… everything will be affected by football, a sport in which it is no longer news that the economic prevails over the rest.
Another market that will be affected by this circumstance is the Italian betting market.in which a notable drop is expected, similar to that of 2018, as their selection is not among the participants.
And it is that, since it was imposed in 2006, the ‘azzurra’ remains the last of the Top-7 of selections -behind Germany, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Brazil and Belgium- in terms of income received by FIFA is concerned.
In 2006, Italy received 24.5 million for becoming world champions and 6 for qualifying. A total of 30.5 million euros in just one month. Since that summer of 2006, Italy has received a total of 16 million more in sixteen years, eight for qualifying for 2010 and another eight for 2014, since they failed to pass the group stage. They went from everything to nothing.
Germany reigns in this ranking with 64 million euros since 2006. They are followed by Argentina and France, with 55 million; Brazil, with 51; Spain, in the Top-5 with 50 million; and Belgium, sixth with 34 million. All these selections will be able to increase their income with their participation in this World Cup and enlarge the economic advantage with Italy. Something that has an impact on the base of Italian football and, in the long term, on the elite.
The Belgian Football Federation invested the profits obtained in 2018 in a new sports city and in R&D to improve Belgian football from the ground up and, consequently, that of the team led by the Spanish Roberto Martínez. Italy cannot do this. His more than unnoticed appearances in the World Cups since 2006 do not generate enough.
The German entity Puma is, until the end of this year, the official brand of Italy. Adidas, also German, will enter in 2023 and, in the same way, will be affected by the football catastrophe. He signed the agreement with the projection of a European champion Italy, but will pick up the witness of a team that does not attend a World Cup in 2014 and has not played a knockout stage since 2006.
Puma will not be able to take advantage of the last major tournament to benefit from its contract with Italy, which will expire just after the World Cup ends. Needless to say, the numerous advertising and sponsorship agreements to which Italy no longer has access for not being in Qatar 2022.
Football is an important engine for countries. The World Cups become a great international showcase. It is very striking that Italy, now a sports power that shone in the last Olympic Games, is not going to play the most important sporting event in the world.
It is difficult to imagine a World Cup without Italy, a team that has lifted the champion trophy four times. But it seems that, little by little, it is becoming more common to see the ‘Azzurra’ team back home soon or even out of the competitionwhich entails economic consequences that, inevitably, affect football.
The loss to North Macedonia is not just a football catastrophe. For the second time in a row Italy is left out of the World Cup and for the second time in a row Italy will not be able to take advantage of the World Cup economic tsunami to grow as a country in such a complicated time generated by covid-19.
Italy needs to get hooked again, however, to the wheel of the World Cups. The Italian coach, Roberto Mancini, has the difficult task of leading a project that returns the economic and football elite to a team that has been mistreated in the last decade, with the only glare being Euro 2020.