2019-2022 investments/expenses
Football investment in 2019‑2022 cycle higher than ever
Ultimately, FIFA’s key mission is to make football truly global and ensure a level playing field for all. Thanks to the success of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and continued cost containment measures in relation to FIFA’s administrative tasks, the 2019-2022 cycle saw a record investment in football development across the globe.
In line with its strategy to make football truly global, FIFA had reinvested more than 89% of its net revenue after sales costs in football by the end of the 2019-2022 cycle.
FIFA’s total investments for the cycle were fully dedicated to its overarching goals and to easing the impact of the pandemic. They amounted to USD 6,302 million, comprising USD 5,266 million in football activities and USD 1,036 million in administrative and commercial activities. FIFA also invested USD 321 million in emergency funds through stage 3 of the FIFA COVID-19 Relief Plan.
Regularly budgeted investments in football and administration
FIFA dedicated a total of USD 2,542 million to organising Competitions & Events in this cycle. The majority (USD 1,831 million) was spent on FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ investments, of which USD 123 million was offset by host country contributions for staging the event. The first FIFA World Cup™ to be held in the Middle East kicked off on 20 November 2022, as the world’s best 32 national teams met in Qatar. Compared to the 2018 edition, the prize money for the 32 participating teams in Qatar was increased by 10%. The total amount of USD 440 million represents the largest-ever prize money pool for the FIFA World Cup. In addition, a total of USD 209 million was shared with the clubs of the participating players under the Club Benefits Programme.
Prize money for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ (USD million)
| Teams | Position | Prize money |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Champions | 42 |
| France | Runners-up | 30 |
| Croatia | Third place | 27 |
| Morocco | Fourth place | 25 |
| Brazil, England, the Netherlands and Portugal (each) | 5th-8th place | 17 |
| Australia, Japan, Korea Republic, Poland, Senegal, Spain, Switzerland and the USA (each) | 9th-16th place | 13 |
| Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, IR Iran, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Tunisia, Uruguay and Wales (each) | 17th-32nd place | 9 |
| Total | 440 |
Although amounts paid to the participating teams increased considerably, total expenses net of host country contributions were lower compared to 2018, largely thanks to the creation of a joint venture between FIFA and the Qatar 2022 Local Organising Committee for the planning and delivery of the tournament. This operating model provided efficiencies while enhancing the FIFA World Cup experience for stakeholders.
Operating costs were also reduced by internalising certain core functions such as ticketing services, and also as a result of having just eight stadiums and fewer local travel requirements.
Investments for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ (USD million)
A further USD 155 million was dedicated to the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, which drew a record 1.12 billion viewers, demonstrating that the women’s game is well and truly on the rise. FIFA also invested an additional USD 276 million in youth, beach soccer and futsal competitions, FIFA eFootball tournaments and other competitions.
As a result of successful negotiations with a new partner and COVID-19-related changes to the International Match Calendar, costs for the FIFA Club Protection Programme dropped to USD 80 million.
FIFA’s total investment in Development & Education for the 2019-2022 cycle amounted to USD 2,577 million, an increase of USD 907 million or 54% over the 2015-2018 figure (USD 1,670 million). This growth was linked to increased investment in new and existing development programmes.
The FIFA Forward Programme remained FIFA’s signature development programme and accounted for the biggest increase compared to the previous cycle. The programme is the means by which FIFA shares the success of the FIFA World Cup with its member associations, and it is also a highly prominent sports development programme in global terms. FIFA Forward is designed to provide comprehensive, tailor-made football development support for each of our member associations and the six confederations and is based on three principles:
More investment
More impact
More oversight
Forward was launched in 2016 and entitlements increased from USD 328 million in the 2011-2014 cycle under the Financial Assistance Programme to USD 1,161 million in 2015-2018 and then to USD 1,746 million in 2019-2022. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the use of funds and FIFA’s member associations were unable to use all of their Forward 2.0 entitlements. FIFA therefore reserved all outstanding entitlements for future use as part of the Football Development Fund. For more detailed information regarding FIFA Forward funds released, please see the Annexe.
In the 2019-2022 cycle, FIFA also launched a series of new campaigns and programmes. In 2020, it donated USD 10 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) to support the fight against COVID-19. In 2021, FIFA provided the World Football Remission Fund with a sum of USD 60 million to help finance football-related projects with a positive community impact across the globe.
In 2022, the FIFA Council approved the launch of the Talent Development Scheme implementation phase with funds of USD 200 million. The scheme provides assistance to member associations to give every child a chance to play football and maximise their full potential while further reducing the disparity in the level of football between different regions of the world. In the same year, FIFA also went live with a new streaming video service called FIFA+, which delivers free live matches from competitions around the world, as well as original content and documentaries. The new platform contains an extensive archive of every World Cup match (both men’s and women’s competitions) ever filmed.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and related project and meeting cancellations, decreased travel and the temporary closure of the FIFA Museum, operational expenses turned out to be lower than expected and created savings in the area of technical development, women’s football promotion, refereeing, the FIFA Foundation and the FIFA Museum.
FIFA dedicated USD 147 million to Football Governance, 19% more than in the previous cycle. In 2020, FIFA and world players’ union FIFPRO launched the FIFA Fund for Football Players with a total of USD 16 million, the aim being to provide financial support to players who have not been paid by their clubs. Another important milestone was the go-live of the FIFA Clearing House in 2022. The adoption of the FIFA Clearing House system will effectively ensure the payment of solidarity contribution and training compensation amounts to training clubs all around the world and will remove a major weakness of the previous transfer system. The FIFA Clearing House has the potential to increase the amount of money distributed to training clubs by up to five times of what they previously received. It will be run as a separate entity in charge of processing these payments and will perform an ex ante risk assessment and compliance due diligence on all parties involved.
In the 2019-2022 cycle, FIFA Governance & Administration expenses stood at USD 767 million, USD 31 million below the level of the previous cycle. This reduction was mainly due to the FIFA Congress and FIFA committee meetings being held virtually in 2020 and 2021 and strict cost containment measures in relation to FIFA’s internal organisation lowering costs in communications, buildings and maintenance as well as in litigation and compliance. FIFA also successfully shifted to a hybrid work model that supports both remote and in-office modes and gives its employees a better and more modern work experience. In so doing, it reduced the costs of office supplies and office rentals.
In the 2019-2022 cycle, FIFA spent USD 269 million on Marketing & TV Broadcasting. In line with its commitment to invest in the digital field as part of the FIFA 2.0 vision, FIFA carried out a technical upgrade of its archive to a cloud-based storage solution and increased its digital content and social media activities. In addition, there was a natural increase in sales commission expenditure as a result of FIFA’s unprecedented revenues in the areas of TV broadcasting rights and marketing rights.
2019-2022 investments/expenses by category (in TUSD)
5,266 0,000
Total 2019-2022 investments in football activities (in USD million)
1,746 0,000
Investments in Forward 2.0 and Football Development Fund (in USD million)
2022 0000
Go-live of FIFA Clearing House, created to promote financial transparency and integrity in the payment of training rewards
440 000
+10% price money versus previous 2015-2018 cycle (in USD million)
Emergency investments via the Covid-19 relief plan
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, all but four of our 211 member associations were forced to temporarily halt their football activities, leading to enormous financial distress for each member association and its respective football infrastructure. FIFA’s very strong financial position enabled a substantial financial relief plan to be put in place, amounting to USD 1.5 billion in total and consisting of three stages, as outlined in the graphic below.
The implementation of the COVID-19 Relief Plan is well on track. As part of stage 3 of the emergency fund, FIFA also committed USD 321 million to the football community through grants, which are paid from FIFA’s excess reserves. For more detailed information regarding the funds released under the plan, please see the Annexe.
A key feature of the plan is the provision of robust compliance and auditing standards. Every single member association and confederation that receives funding from FIFA is audited twice: once by the auditors sent by FIFA under the current system of central reviews and once by its own statutory auditors.