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FIFA makes $631m in 4 yrs thanks to World Cup

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-03-04 13:23

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter smiles during a press conference in Zurich, Switzerland, March 3, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

ZURICH - FIFA made a profit of $631 million over the last four years but was over-dependent on the World Cup for its revenue, soccer's world ruling body said on Thursday.

FIFA's financial report said 87 percent of its revenue of $4.19 billion for the period had come from the 2010 World Cup, including $2.41 billion from television rights.

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Expenditure was $3.56 billion, $105 million over budget because of additional investments in football development, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa cost $31 million more than predicted.

"FIFA is financially strong and dependent on the World Cup," said director of finance Markus Kattner.

"This illustrates the necessity for FIFA to build up and have sufficient reserves to decrease its dependency on the World Cup."

FIFA's financial report showed that profits from individual years grew steadily from $49 million in 2007 to $202 million in 2010. The ruling body's reserves have reached $1.28 billion.

This beat its original targets for the four-year period by $605 million as sales of television and marketing rights were better than expected, currency financial hedging was successful and FIFA was not adversely affected by the global financial crisis, the report said.

Forty-eight percent of FIFA's expenditure went on the World Cup and other events and 22 percent, or $794 million, was spent on development.

Operating expenses over the last four years totalled $707 million.