Several sources have stated that 2 major sporting events act as a huge economic boost for the countries which host the events are- the Olympics and the World Cup.
The FIFA World Cup is taking place for the 22nd time in Qatar! This mega football event will be taking place from 20th November to 18th December.
Since the beginning, this season of FIFA has been surrounded with controversy, but it would still be a spectacular season. FIFA has been sponsored by 3 different types of tiers- FIFA World Cup Sponsors, FIFA Partners, as well as Regional Sponsors.
The leading body of FIFA is in the process of starting a new system which would include four tiers of sponsors. In the hopes; to increase the income from sponsorships, FIFA has taken the step to separate the men’s branch of football from the women’s and esports branch.
For the ongoing season, FIFA Partners has 7 sponsors – Adidas, Wanda Group, Qatar Airways, QatarEnergy, Coca-Cola, Visa and Hyundai/Kia Motors. The second tier of FIFA World Cup Sponsors consist of the following- Budweiser, Crypto.com, McDonald’s, Vivo, Byju’s, Mengniu Dairy and Hisene. The companies under this tier have global rights too; however, they are restricted till only the main tournament.
The FIFA World Cup, which takes place once every 4 years, has a system where different countries of the world put up their bids for hosting the season in their respective country. The reason behind this is that it is considered highly beneficial for aspects; like tourism for that country, especially in the long run.
The preparation of this event certainly; adds a significant push for the development of infrastructure, and increase in employment of the host country. Several countries spend huge amounts of money to build football stadiums because the association of FIFA has strict requirements for the layout of the stadium. Some requirements; would include the stadium to have the capacity to accommodate at least 80,000 individuals. And for the stadiums hosting the quarter finals, their capacity must be 60,000 people.
As mentioned earlier, hosting such a huge event obviously comes with certain positive effects which are usually long-term. It helps boost the host country’s retailing, and tourism; along with a huge rise in employment due to a bulk of jobs being created for the citizens of the country.
This creation of jobs takes place for constructing the stadiums, and the infrastructure needed to support the event. After the completion of the stadium and infrastructure for the World Cup, the scene at the host country would eventually normalize, and their economy would take a significant amount of time to recover the investment made for hosting the season.
The host of the 2010 World Cup, South Africa had spent a massive amount of 3 billion pounds, only on building the stadiums and infrastructure for the event. However, they only recovered about 323 million pounds.
The reason for this was; the tourist arrivals were much lower than what was expected. The South Africa World Cup was considered a huge disaster because it led to several protests carried out by activists and workers. The citizens, activists and workers of the South Africa country thought the Government was very wrong for overspending for a mere World Cup.
The 2 host countries of Brazil, and South Africa are the ones which took the worst hit; since they failed to make profits on their investments. Both of them, combined spent around 15 billion dollars.
The ongoing event of the Qatar World Cup 2022 has also faced reservations for the treatment of migrant workers by the country. Despite being a small country, Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world, on the basis of its GDP per capita. This country has spent huge sums of money in the hosting of the World Cup!
It has also broken the record by being the first country in the Arab world to host the FIFA World Cup. Nonetheless, the country has faced backlash after several reports were released regarding, several migrant workers losing their lives; after Qatar initiated the construction of infrastructure for the World Cup.
The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Russia and Qatar of bribing the officials of FIFA to gain hosting rights. The champions of the World Cup do have benefits after winning the event, but even these benefits are short-lived. The buzz around the World Cup also dies down after three months.
In conclusion, it’s very tough to understand the statistics behind the FIFA World Cup, and who the people are, who actually gain something from it!
Written By- Vidhi Dugar
Edited By- Kushi Mayur