By David Owen
March 22 – FIFA appears to have suffered a substantial fall in the revenue it receives from the Club World Cup. Notes contained in the governing body’s recently-published financial and governance report for 2015 state that revenue received from the competition last year reached only $20.45 million, a near halving from the $40 million recorded in both 2013 and 2014.
The world body, which last week posted a 2015 deficit of $122 million on revenue of $1.15 billion, told insideworldfootball the decline was “basically due to different financing models between the 2014 and 2015 editions”.
The 2015 tournament – won by Barcelona, who defeated River Plate 3-0 in the final – was hosted by Japan, which has also staged the event on six previous occasions. Both the 2013 and 2014 tournaments were hosted by Morocco.
Expenses related to Club World Cups tend to spill over into more than one financial year, a consequence, presumably, of the tournament’s usual timing in December. Based on the latest figures, it looks like the switch back to Japan may have generated a slight saving, with expenses related to the 2015 competition so far put at just under $20.9 million, versus nearly $24.7 million for the 2014 edition.
Chinese sponsors are quickly becoming an increasingly prominent feature of FIFA’s finances, with Alibaba E-auto, part of Chinese internet entrepreneur Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group, agreeing an eight-year sponsorship deal for the Club World Cup just ahead of last year’s tournament.
Marketing revenue for “other FIFA events” (seven in total, including the Club World Cup) more than tripled from $3.4 million in 2014 to $11.4 million last year. It was not specified, however, how much the Alibaba deal contributed to this.
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