Desert, balls and wealth, all concentrated in a single destination for the world’s tourists: Qatar. The FIFA World Cup which will be held at the end of 2022 in that country will not only be the first in history in Arab territory, but also the first to break the barrier of 1,000 million dollars in its total prize pool, something that will benefit each of the 32 teams with the highest income they have had for the sole fact of participating.
While in the most recent edition, in Russia 2018, the total purse was 791 million dollars, for the Qatar competition that amount has risen almost a third (26%) to reach, for the first time, 1,000 million. . Just for participating, each of the 32 teams will pocket 2.5 million (in Russia it was 1.5 million), while the champion will receive 50 million (against 38 million in 2018, that is, an increase of 31%).
“Without a doubt, the World Cup is the tournament that distributes the most prizes globally. This has to do with the magnitude, with the fact that it is done every four years and with the fact that the number of teams is small, there are competitions that have hundreds of participants that are diluted and up to a certain stage the teams begin to receive prizes. The FIFA it ‘cooks’ apart from all private sports institutions, soccer is global and will continue to be so”, described Rob García, soccer agent endorsed by FIFA.
The 2019-2022 World Cup cycle was one of the hardest hit in history due to a pandemic (Covid-19) and a war (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), forcing world soccer organizations to hold matches without an audience, delay qualifying rounds, renegotiate contracts with sponsors and expel teams at the last minute. Despite all this, FIFA ensures that its finances are healthy and thus maintains its support for the World Cup most expensive of all time on Qatari soil.
“Not only during the covid year (2020) did FIFA make no losses, but it reached its revenue target of $6.4 billion (for the 2019-2022 financial year) in March 2022 and will reach almost $7 billion by the end of year,” he said. Giani InfantinoFIFA president, at the congress held by the body prior to the 2022 World Cup group draw.
Reaching 7,000 million dollars is also an unprecedented income for FIFA; the seventh part of that amount is destined for the total bag of the World Cup in Qatar. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, soccer’s highest governing body signed three new sponsors for the tournament: Qatar Energy, Crypto.com and BYJU’s, who joined Qatar Airways, Adidas, Coca Cola, Wanda, hyundai, Visa, Budweiser, Hisense, McDonald’s and Alive.
According to the FIFA Financial Report in 2018, 85% of the organization’s total income in a World Cup cycle (four years) comes from the sale of its broadcasting rights and agreements with sponsors. In the process to Russia World Cup, revenues closed at 6,420 million dollars; if the figure reaches 7,000 million at the end of 2022, it will have meant an increase of 9% compared to the previous World Cup cycle.
These figures have allowed the record to materialize in the total bags of each World Cup. Not even 25 years have passed since FIFA reached a total prize pool of 100 million dollars for the first time during the 1998 French championship (103 million; in the United States 1994 it was 71 million) and now in Qatar an amount is estimated 10 times greater.
According to a British media account Total Sports, the prize money was announced by FIFA for the first time for the 1982 World Cup in Spain. At that time, the total purse was just 20 million dollars, with 2.2 for the winning team (Italy). Already in the 2002 Korea-Japan championship, the figure rose to 156.5 million; in Germany 2006 it was 266; in South Africa 2010 of 420; in Brazil 2014 of 576; until reaching 791 million in Russia 2018, where the French team took the crown and 38 million.
The prize list in Qatar 2022 is ordered as follows: 2.5 million dollars for each of the 32 qualifiers (only three remain to be defined in June: one European and two intercontinental playoffs); 10 million more for those who are eliminated in the group stage; 12 million for those who advance to the round of 16; 16 million in quarters; 22 million for the fourth place finisher; 26 million for third place; 32 million for the runner-up and 50 million for whoever lifts the cup.
What is the expectation of the Qatar World Cup in commercial and image terms?
“In terms of image, exposure and everything else, I hope it will be a great event. In the end, the support of FIFA plus that of the local organizing committee will make a good combination to have an event with a very good reputation. Apart from the issue of the awards, the most important thing is that the people who go can say that it was worth doing everything differently. The entire area of the Middle East has been experimenting, holding events of great magnitude in recent years where the people who go are very happy and so are the viewers. They are not going to disappoint, the Qataris are quite special in that matter and they are going to exceed our expectations”, said agent Rob García.
The total prize pool has risen between 26 and 70% between one edition and another during the 21st century. The most important jump was precisely 70% between Korea-Japan 2002 and Germany 2006; from there it was 61% heading to South Africa 2010, 34% to Brazil 2014, 40% to Russia 2018 and 26% to Qatar 2022. In 20 years, FIFA has experimented with giving the venue to three regions unpublished: Far East (2002), Africa (2010) and Middle East (2022).
The fate of Qatar World Cup begins to be defined in the draw on April 1, when the 29 teams already qualified meet their rivals in the group stage. It should be noted that there cannot be two representatives of the same confederation in each group, with the exception of the European representatives, since they are 13.
Mexico is placed in pot 2 prior to the draw, along with Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Switzerland, Uruguay and the United States (Germany and Uruguay are world champions), so they will avoid playing against them in the first round. However, it could run into rivals such as Poland with Robert Lewandowski or Senegal with Sadio Mané, since these are located in pot 3. Pot 1, of the top seeds, is made up of Qatar, Brazil, Belgium, France, Argentina, England, Spain and Portugal.
El Tri have faced the hosts of two of the last three World Cups: South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014, adding draws against both. In that span he has also faced three champions: France in 2010, the aforementioned Brazil in 2014 and Germany in 2018. That streak will be broken at Qatar 2022 unless the draw puts him alongside Belgium, Portugal or the host country.