In the 2023-26 cycle, the budget for competitions rose from US$2.45 billion to US$5.62 billion, about a 130 per cent increase, while the budget for development increased only 44 per cent, and its share of budgeted revenues dropped from 44 per cent to 36 per cent.
FIFA could argue that maximum revenue is needed to cover costs of future events and fund football development, but that is not the whole story told by FIFA’s 2027-2030 budget.
Total additional costs are set at around US$3 billion, with the main driver being competition and events. Crucially, for the 2019-2022 cycle, development was 44 per cent of the costs; for 2023-2026, it dropped to 36 per cent of the costs; and for the 2027-2030 cycle, it is budgeted to further decrease to 29 per cent of costs.
Undoubtedly, these numbers will change, but they currently do not signal that FIFA is going to use its additional ticketing revenue to support broader football-related or social change investments.
That is perhaps not surprising, as FIFA has faced governance challenges in the past, including issues of corruption, bribery and fraud, plus accounting practices that critics say lack transparency. Reforms have attempted to mitigate those problems, and FIFA has started programmes like the FIFA Foundation, whose stated purpose is to use football to improve people’s lives.
Given FIFA’s background, surplus and reserves, however, the biggest question should be whether FIFA’s financial resources are being effectively used to achieve its objectives. FIFA has described its purpose with phrases like “develop the game, touch the world and build a better future”. But to me, its budgets suggest it is focused primarily on the first.
Richard Sheehan is a Professor Emeritus of Business and Economics at the University of Notre Dame. This article first appeared in the Conversation.