At its annual congress on Thursday in the Qatari capital Doha, world football's governing body announced that it was "on track to exceed its projected revenue target of $6.44 billion" for the 2019-2022 cycle. and that it was heading towards the symbolic bar of 7 billion dollars (6.3 billion EUR) over the period.

Indeed, despite the coronavirus pandemic which reduced revenue to $266 million in 2020, it had already made $6.11 billion in revenue by the end of last year.

"The financial position of the organization remains healthy and robust with sufficient reserves", indicate the accounts of the instance.

Finances are so good that Fifa has spent more than a billion dollars on measures to combat the effects of the pandemic in football and still increased its cash reserves by 21%, reaching 5.49 billion. of dollars.

In 2021, the body, whose fiscal years run over four years between World Cups, reported revenues of $766 million.

Robert Lewandowski's Poland, scorer against Sweden in the final play-off of the World Cup in Chorzów, March 29, 2022, will be in Qatar JANEK SKARZYNSKI AFP / Archives

Most of this money comes from television and marketing revenue for the upcoming tournament in Qatar, which has increased since the last World Cup in Russia in 2018, and Fifa expects "television broadcasting rights to establish a new record" by the end of the year.

"Organizational Resilience"

No surprise for Simon Chadwick, professor of sports economics at EM Lyon Business School, for whom it has always been likely that the pandemic will make “rich sports richer and the poor poorer”.

The dome displaying the countdown to the World Cup in Qatar is installed in the capital Doha, March 30, 2022 KARIM JAAFAR AFP

"Organizations such as Fifa have the resources and the organizational resilience to withstand the worst effects of Covid," he added.

"Second, sponsors and broadcasters have sought refuges during the Covid storm -- that is, properties that have been proven to have lasting stability, commercial value and presence."

The FIFA World Cup "reaches multiple target audiences" and is more global than rival sports like cricket or American football.

esports and NFT

Fifa is moving towards esports and other new digital platforms, and Mr Chadwick believes that "Fifa's prospects for revenue generation are still very promising."

"Add to that the current NFT, cryptocurrency and metaverse frenzy, and Fifa -- like many other players in football -- anticipates a windfall of revenue that will sustain it in the medium to long term."

A Fifa-18 video game is screened at the Paris exhibition center, Porte de Versailles, on November 5, 2017 THOMAS SAMSON AFP / Archives

According to him, there remains a pitfall in Russia's new sources of revenue development: "Fifa has worked hard to broaden its base, for example by bringing in sponsors from countries where governance standards and levels of control are somewhat little different from those of Europe, for example. For Fifa to fully regain the confidence of certain stakeholders, there is therefore still work to be done.

He added that the global body must "be careful not to become arrogant, lazy or careless in its pursuit of new revenue, and not to be seduced by what might appear to be easy earning schemes".

“The expectation is high for all global organizations to root out corruption or scandal completely,” Chadwick said.

"One can only hope that FIFA will continue to move in the right direction."

The finances of the organization have, in any case, remained excellent despite the scandal of the arrest of seven senior FIFA leaders for corruption before its 2015 congress.

More than $200 million handed over by US authorities from assets seized from regional football barons has added to the windfall from Fifa.

© 2022 AFP