NEW YORK, July 19 — Fifa is reportedly anticipating record revenue of US$15 billion (RM61.4 billion) for the World Cup which ends later today, far more than originally expected, reported German Press Agency (dpa), citing The Guardian newspaper.
The Guardian reported that world governing football body had originally anticipated revenue of US$11 billion at the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino is reported to have informed the member associations of the results today.
The Guardian cited high revenue from hospitality and ticket sales as the main reason for the significant increase in profits. Fifa did not regulate prices on the official secondary market and collected a 15 per cent fee per ticket from both the seller and the buyer.
By way of comparison: in the whole of 2022, when the World Cup took place in Qatar, Fifa took in US$5.769 billion. That tournament was played with 32 instead of 48 teams now and featured 64 instead of 104 matches. — Bernama-dpa