Australia 2022 accounts reveal campaign spent $11 million on kangaroo bound Bid Book
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- Category: Australia
- Published on Thursday, 08 September 2011 11:19
September 8 - Almost seven months after they were due, the accounts for Australia's 2022 World Cup bid have been tendered by Football Federation Australia (FFA), exposing how the AUD$45.59 million ($48.43 million/£30.38 million) Government grant had been spent.
The report revealed that the final bill came in more than $3 million ($3.2 million/£2 million) under budget, however this saving was only made possible by avoiding the pay out of win bonuses to the consultants had the ambitious project been successful.
Among the $42.25 million ($44.88 million/£28.15 million) spent by the bid team, the kangaroo leader bound Bid Book cost more than $11 million ($11.66 million/£7.33 million), $3 million ($3.2 million/£2 million)·over the estimated $8 million ($8.5 million/£5.3 million), and $3.82 million ($4.06 million/£2.55 million) was squandered on the final presentation in Zurich alone.
Consultant fees accounted for $6.72 million ($7.14 million/£4.48 million), with Peter Hargitay picking up $1.45 million ($1.54 million/£966,333) and Fedor Radmann $3.63 million ($3.86 million/£2.42 million).
Public relations cost the bid $1.54 million ($1.64 million/£1.03 million), while another $4.86 million ($5.16 million/£3.24 million) was spent on marketing and advertising, mostly in payments to outside agencies.
Domestic and international travel ran up a $2.64 million ($2.80 million/£1.76 million) bill, but FFA chairman Frank Lowy (pictured below handing over Bid Book to FIFA President Sepp Blatter) has stressed that he paid his own way for all his travel expenses.
Staff costs added up to $5.65 million ($6 million/£3.77 million), but FFA chief executive Ben Buckley's (pictured) wage and that of other officials, such as head of development John Boultbee, the head of legal affairs and the chief finance officer, were not included in that total.
The figures also reveal the bid spent more than $2 million ($2.12 million/£1.33 million) on charity donations in Asia and Africa including $1.25 million ($1.33 million/£833,045) to Vision Asia, $500,000 ($531,150/£333,218) in "support for Oceania Football Confederation", $140,000 ($148,722/£93,301)·towards Chengdu Emergency Relief and $90,000 ($95,607/£59,979)·on lapdesks in Africa.
Football United were given $30,000 ($31,869/£19,993), while a South African children's hospital received $150,000 ($159,345/£99,965).
However, the bid team saved $950,000 ($1 million/£633,114) in the wake of the bid's failure by backtracking on planned investment towards developing football in Asia.
Today the FFA said it was pleased to be able to draw a line under the bid and move on, with the focus now on the launch of the new A-League season.
"Although the submission of this report was a formality it was also an important milestone for FFA under our obligations contained in the funding agreement," Buckley said.
"The acceptance of the report marks the end of the bid process and with our commitments to the Federal Government around the bid now complete we can close the chapter on this stage of our history."
The failed bid saw Australia being eliminated at the first ballot after receiving just one vote during a FIFA Exeuctive Committee meeting in Zurich in December last year.
The submission of the financial report came after a number of the country's sport officials found themselves swamped in controversy and Sports Minister Mark Arbib was forced to answer questions on how the $45.86 million ($48.72 million/£30.56 million) Government grant for the bid was spent.
"We were all disappointed with the result of the decision and we are on record as saying that we believe the bid process was flawed," Buckley added.
"However, we are very proud of the bid we submitted on behalf of Australia which was widely acknowledged as technically strong.
"We will now continue to focus on the job at hand of optimising the Hyundai A-League, creating value for and connecting the 1.7 million-strong grassroots football community and ensuring our national teams have the best possible chance of qualifying for their respective international contests."
Original sums are published in Australian dollars.
The full report is available to read here.
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