2019-2022 budget comparison
FIFA outperformed its cycle budget despite the global COVID-19 pandemic
An outstanding four-year net result was achieved for the 2019-2022 cycle with an elevenfold increase compared with the budgeted figure. All revenue categories exceeded their budget targets and administrative costs were kept to a minimum so that maximum resources could be allocated to football development.
In line with its strategic 2.0 vision to increase football development funds and allow its international tournaments to flourish, FIFA established the initial 2019-2022 budget with a full-cycle revenue budget of USD 6,560 million and an investment budget of USD 6,460 million, as approved at the 2018 FIFA Congress. However, in 2020, COVID-19 severely disrupted football at all levels, and the non-staging of the FIFA Confederations Cup had a significant effect on FIFA’s revenue and expenses in the cycle. Accordingly, FIFA revised its full-cycle budget by reducing the revenue budget to USD 6,440 million and the investment budget to USD 6,340 million, as approved at the 2020 FIFA Congress.
This section compares the revised budget with the actuals for the full 2019-2022 cycle.
2019-2022 revenue
Total revenue for 2019-2022 amounted to USD 7,568 million, of which 45% came from broadcasting rights, 24% from marketing rights, 10% from licensing rights, 13% from hospitality rights and tickets, and 8% from other revenue and income. All revenue categories exceeded their budget targets, producing a 18% increase in the full-cycle revenue compared to the budgeted target.
Revenue from television broadcasting rights of USD 3,426 million exceeded the full-cycle budget by USD 126 million (4%). Of the five main sales territories, the European territory delivered the most substantial part of the revenue of USD 1,061 million, USD 73 million over the budget level.
Revenue from marketing rights for the full cycle totalled USD 1,795 million, outperforming the budget by USD 29 million (2%), mainly thanks to the outstanding sales performance of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ sponsorships. All 14 slots for FIFA Partner and FIFA World Cup Sponsor categories were sold out and 18 Regional Supporters were signed, resulting in an unprecedented marketing revenue in the 2019-2022 cycle.
USD 769 million was generated from licensing rights, USD 166 million (28%) above budget. This outstanding result was driven primarily by a strong performance in branding licensing rights, which are related to FIFA marks and brand elements in connection with FIFA World Cup™ products and other services.
Hospitality and ticket sales totalled USD 949 million, or USD 441 million over budget. This figure includes revenue from the FIFA Woman’s World Cup France 2019™ (USD 8 million), the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ (USD 12 million) and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The latter accounted for by far the biggest share at USD 929 million.
Gate revenues from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 benefited from strong demand for both ticket and hospitality packages, with an average attendance rate of 96.3% for the final tournament. In total, budgets were surpassed by 87%. More details and a summary of the Qatar 2022™ ticketing statistics can be found under 2019-2022 revenue.
Other revenue and income exceeded the budget by USD 366 million, mainly due to contributions from the country staging the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 (USD 123 million) and the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 (USD 77 million), an award to FIFA by the United States Department of Justice that was paid into the newly created World Football Remission Fund (USD 60 million), break fees relating to contract cancellations, income from the Olympic Football Tournaments and gains on sales of investment properties.
Actual versus budget (USD million)
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue from television broadcasting rights | 3,426 | 3,300 | 126 |
| Revenue from marketing rights | 1,795 | 1,766 | 29 |
| Revenue from licensing rights | 769 | 603 | 166 |
| Revenue from hospitality rights and ticket sales | 949 | 508 | 441 |
| Other revenue and income | 629 | 263 | 366 |
| Total | 7,568 | 6,440 | 1,128 |
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2019-2022 expenses
FIFA’s total investments for the 2019-2022 cycle amounted to USD 6,302 million, slightly below the budget figure of 6,340 million. Two main factors influenced the investment budget. Firstly, total investments in football were further increased to a total of USD 5,266 million, exceeding the budget by 4%. At the same time, FIFA streamlined its administrative and commercial activities (USD 1,036 million), which accounted for a 18% reduction compared to the budget, or a total of USD 224 million.
Expenses for Competitions & Events amounted to USD 2,542 million, USD 35 million below budget.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ was a great success from both an organisational and a cost-efficiency point of view. FIFA took on certain host-country activities, leading to additional investments in the tournament, which were mainly offset by host country contributions.
The highlight of 2021 was the delivery of a successful inaugural FIFA Arab Cup™ in Qatar in December, a key test event for the following year’s FIFA World Cup™. The expenses for the FIFA Arab Cup were offset in the form of host country contributions.
As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of FIFA’s youth tournaments scheduled for 2020 and 2021 had to be cancelled. In addition, with the FIFA Club World Cup 2022™ and the Best FIFA Football Awards™ 2022 both being postponed to 2023, the expenses for those events were shifted from 2022 to 2023.
In 2022, FIFA benefited from the release of provisions in connection with cost savings relating to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ and the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™.
Actual versus budget (USD million)
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIFA World Cup™ | 1,831 | 1,656 | -175 |
| FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022™ | 16 | 21 | 5 |
| FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022™ | 16 | 22 | 6 |
| FIFA World Cup™ intercontinental play-off matches | 2 | 0 | -2 |
| Youth Olympic Games | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ | 86 | 0 | -86 |
| FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021™ | 16 | 22 | 6 |
| Olympic Football Tournaments Tokyo 2020 | 12 | 20 | 8 |
| FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021™ | 6 | 7 | 1 |
| Cancelled Youth tournaments | 0 | 103 | 103 |
| FIFA Women`s World Cup France 2019™ | 155 | 157 | 2 |
| FIFA U-17 World Cup Brazil 2019™ | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019™ | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019™ | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| FIFA Club World Cup™ | 67 | 86 | 19 |
| FIFA eFootball tournaments | 34 | 39 | 5 |
| The Best FIFA Football Awards™ | 13 | 30 | 17 |
| Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup™ | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| FIFA events from previous cycles | –211 | –92 | 119 |
| Value-in-kind and other | 162 | 140 | -22 |
| Other FIFA events | 432 | 616 | 184 |
| FIFA Club Protection Programme | 80 | 109 | 29 |
| Personnel expenses | 178 | 179 | 1 |
| Depreciation of property and equipment | 21 | 17 | -4 |
| Competitions & Events | 2,542 | 2,577 | 35 |
Expenses for Development & Education amounted to USD 2,577 million, USD 213 million higher than the budget for the 2019-2022 cycle.
The global pandemic left its mark on FIFA’s signature development programme, FIFA Forward 2.0 – not in terms of available funds but in the speed of project implementation. The full-cycle budget of USD 1,746 million for 2019-2022 has been expensed for the benefit of FIFA’s 211 member associations, the six confederations and the zonal/regional associations, with unused funds accrued for subsequent use by the respective beneficiary. With a total of USD 1,719 million in expenses relating to the Forward Programme and the establishment of a specific Football Development Fund with an allocation of USD 27 million, the USD 1,746 million of funds earmarked by FIFA under Forward for football development remains fully available for those who will benefit from the programme.
In 2022, FIFA launched its innovative Talent Development Scheme, offering bespoke assistance to member associations to help them achieve their full potential and continuing the measures taken to reduce the disparity in the level of football between different regions of the world. The total amount earmarked for this programme includes a kick-off fund of USD 10 million as well as implementation funds of USD 200 million.
Also in 2022, FIFA further invested in its new FIFA+ platform as part of its endeavours to make football truly global and inclusive, thus underpinning its core mission to expand and develop football globally.
In 2021, FIFA was awarded a sum of USD 60 million in the form of the World Football Remission Fund, which will be invested to help finance football-related projects with a positive community impact. This amount, awarded and recognised as income, has been offset by corresponding development expenses under the Development & Education category.
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIFA Forward programme and Football Development Fund | 1,746 | 1,746 | 0 |
| FIFA Talent Development Scheme | 210 | 0 | -210 |
| Other projects | 80 | 78 | -2 |
| World Football Remission Fund | 60 | 0 | -60 |
| Digital Development Services | 53 | 0 | -53 |
| Technical development programmes | 52 | 84 | 32 |
| Refereeing | 30 | 42 | 12 |
| Women’s football promotion | 22 | 57 | 35 |
| Education | 19 | 21 | 2 |
| FIFA Foundation | 17 | 34 | 17 |
| Audit and financial education | 11 | 12 | 1 |
| Sustainability, human rights and safeguarding | 10 | 8 | -2 |
| WHO solidarity fund | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Medicine and science | 5 | 9 | 4 |
| FIFA Museum | 21 | 26 | 5 |
| Personnel expenses | 150 | 148 | -2 |
| Depreciation of property and equipment | 81 | 89 | 8 |
| Development & Education | 2,577 | 2,364 | -213 |
Expenses for Football Governance stood at USD 147 million, USD 8 million more than the budget for the 2019-2022 cycle.
Investments in football governance bodies and third-party services exceeded the budget, mainly driven by the launch of the Fund for Football Players and increased investment in the FIFA Clearing House for its go-live in 2022.
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football Governance bodies and third-party services | 67 | 52 | -15 |
| Personnel expenses | 72 | 79 | 7 |
| Depreciation of property and equipment | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Football Governance | 147 | 139 | -8 |
FIFA Governance & Administration achieved cost savings of USD 158 million across all departments, mainly through reduced travel activities and holding many more virtual conferences for meetings, including the FIFA Congresses in 2020 and 2021 as well as FIFA Council and committee meetings. Further savings were made in personnel expenses, legal costs, communications and information technology. FIFA remains committed to keeping Governance & Administration expenses as low as possible so that maximum resources can be dedicated to football development.
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information technology | 91 | 103 | 12 |
| Communications | 83 | 88 | 5 |
| Legal costs | 59 | 67 | 8 |
| Annual FIFA Congress and committees | 54 | 90 | 36 |
| Buildings and maintenance | 26 | 28 | 2 |
| Expected credit losses of receivables and contract assets | 3 | 0 | -3 |
| Other | 77 | 133 | 56 |
| Personnel expenses | 347 | 389 | 42 |
| Depreciation of property and equipment | 27 | 27 | 0 |
| FIFA Governance & Administration | 767 | 925 | 158 |
FIFA spent USD 269 million in commercialising Marketing & TV Broadcasting rights, which was USD 66 million below budget. These significant cost savings were primarily due to the launch of digital activities in marketing rights and a reduction in sales commissions in the area of TV broadcasting rights.
| in MUSD | Actual | Budget | Variance to Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing rights | 47 | 82 | 35 |
| Broadcasting and media rights | 33 | 27 | -6 |
| Licensing rights | 12 | 13 | 1 |
| Sales commission and other | 82 | 113 | 31 |
| Personnel expenses | 87 | 93 | 6 |
| Depreciation of property and equipment | 8 | 7 | -1 |
| Marketing & TV Broadcasting | 269 | 335 | 66 |
+ 9 0 %
Additional football investments in Development & Education versus budget
+ 1,087 0,000
Net result versus full-cycle budget (USD million)
+ 1,128 0,000
Record revenue versus full-cycle budget (in USD million)
- 17 00 %
Actual FIFA Governance & Administration expenses versus budget