The numbers are expected to be similar for 2014, which estimates reaching as high as USD $5 billion.įIFA also benefits from licensing. The South African World Cup accounted for 87% of FIFA’s total revenue during the most recent financial cycle. The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa brought in USD $2.408 billion in television rights alone and USD $1.072 billion in marketing rights. Most of FIFA's income is directly attributable to events like the World Cup. So that raises the next logical question - and the one my kids want to know - how does all of that popularity translate into money?įIFA brings in a lot of money. The Cup is tremendously popular: it's been estimated that an accumulated audience of over 3.7 billion people watched the 1998 World Cup in France, including approximately 1.3 billion for the final alone. Today, 209 teams from all over the world compete for one of only 32 slots available in the World Cup held every four years. Uruguay went on to become the first country to win the tournament and they did so on their own turf. FIFA took matters into their own hands and organized their own tournament, the first official World Cup. The timing had a lot to do with the lack of popularity of soccer in the US: FIFA was pushing for soccer to be featured more in the Olympic games and the 1932 games, held in Los Angeles, weren't even going to include soccer. The first World Cup was held in 1930 in Uruguay (!). The women's award went to Germany's Nadine Angerer (Portland Thorns FC) with runners up Brazil's Marta Vieira da Silva (Tyreso FF) and USA's own Abby Wambach (NY Flash).įIFA is most known, however, for organizing the World Cup. In 2013, the men's award went to Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) with runners up Argentina's Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and France's Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich). If you follow soccer, chances are you know who wins the Ballon d'Or from year to year: it's that big of a deal. The most prestigious is the FIFA Ballon d'Or (the "golden ball"), formerly the FIFA World Player of the Year award, considered the top prize in the world for men's and women's soccer. That involves being a watchdog, of sorts, when there are allegations of impropriety, as well as helping set the rules of the game - although FIFA doesn't make the rules directly (that's the job of International Football Association Board (IFAB)).įIFA is also known for handing out some pretty important awards. The primary purpose of FIFA is, of course, to watch over the international game of football/soccer. He speaks five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and German and is considered one of the most influential men in the world, making Forbes' list of Powerful People at #. Blatter lives in Zurich, where FIFA makes its headquarters. Blatter is only the 8th President to have served in the more than 100 years of FIFA's existence (Jules Rimet of France served an extraordinary 33 years in the mid-20th century). FIFA's current President is Sepp Blatter, who has served since 1998. Presidents are appointed for four year terms by the Congress. Generally, the Congress does exactly what you'd expect: passes the laws that govern the organization and approves the annual report (including the budget). It meets about once a year and each of the member associations gets one vote on matters of importance no matter how big or dominant the association (so yes, that means that Spain gets the same vote as Cameroon).
The FIFA Congress is made up of representatives from each affiliated member association. The management of FIFA is central, set up a bit like our own government, with a Congress (legislative body), Executive Committee (executive body) and General Secretariat (administrative body). That's a huge leap from its humble beginnings in 1904 when it served just seven member associations (France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland). FIFA has as its primary goal "to improve the game of football constantly and promote it globally in the light of its unifying, educational, cultural and humanitarian values, particularly through youth and development programmes." A truly international organization, it's been referred to as the "United Nations of Football." Today, it employs about 310 people from over 35 nations and consists of 209 member associations.
0 kommentar(er)
