DOHA: Qatar, according to financial analyst Trading Pedia, has been spending an average of $18.33b per year since 2010 to prepare for hosting the World Cup. It estimates the total investment as having reached $220bn.

By comparison, overall costs for the previous two World Cups in Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018) were roughly $15bn and $11.6bn, respectively.

The report, entitled Measuring the carbon footprint of Qatar’s massive $220bn investment for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, calculated how many barrels of oil Qatar had to sell in order to cover the costs for the World Cup.

It also estimated that when burned, this amount of oil would release nearly 928m tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Explaining the financial hit, Trading Pedia said: “The tournament is expected to bring $4.5bn in revenue (for FIFA), which, however, is dwarfed by the estimated investment of $220bn Qatar has had to make to prepare for the World Cup.

“This includes the construction of seven new stadiums and the renovation of another one as well as the building of roads, hotels, a metro system and other infrastructure necessary to accommodate such a huge amount of visitors to a country which is practically a desert.

“It is unclear how much Qatar itself will profit from hosting the event – or indeed if it will make a profit at all.”

According to FIFA, the world federation will cover all operating costs associated with the hosting of the World Cup, including $440m in prize money.

This is an increase of $40m on the previous tournament in Russia in 2018, and up $82m from the prize money allocated for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

This year, the winning team will receive $42m, while the runner-up will and $30m. The prizes for the third and fourth places are $27m and $25m respectively.

Those who finish in 5th to 8th place will get $17m each, teams ending in ninth to 16th place will receive $13m, while those who have not made it out of the group stage will receive $9m. FIFA has also made payments of $1.5m covering preparation costs, guaranteeing that every participating country will return home with at least $10.5m. Along with the $440m in prize money, there are two additional types of payments FIFA will offer – a club benefit program ($310m) as well as club protection and insurance fees ($220m).

FIFA will also pay $500m in administration costs, roughly $520m for TV coverage production costs, around $450m to help organize the tournament, and another $180m awarded to the Qatar Football Association.

To sum it all up, the operating costs are estimated at around $1.7bn. On the other hand, the total revenue FIFA is expected to earn is $7.2bn (a very rough estimate) – a minimum of $3bn from TV and media rights sales, up to $2.2bn in sponsorship and other commercial activities, $1.1m from ticket sales and hospitality packages, as well as $890m from licensing fees.

Taking into account the total prize fund (around $1bn) and the $1.7bn in operating costs, FIFA’s profits are expected to reach between $3bn and $4.5bn.

Qatar will also have many expenses associated with the hosting of the tournament – at least $1bn for security, as well as various other operating costs, including stadium maintenance, salaries, and many others.

The biggest expense here is the initial investment the country had to make in order to provide the stadiums where the matches will take place, not to mention the roads and other transit systems required to transport people to and from the stadiums, the sports centres where the teams can train, the additional hotels, restaurants and so forth.

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