FIFA has said the 2026 World Cup generated $15bn, surpassing its own revenue projections for the tournament, according to The Guardian. The total has not entirely stopped rising, the report said, but it has already exceeded the governing body's expectations.
About a third of that sum, $5bn, came from ticket sales and hospitality alone, the report said, citing reporting by The Times. That would mean direct income from matchgoing fans in the United States, Canada and Mexico was five times as high as at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the total stood at $929m.
The 2026 tournament added 40 games to the schedule, and takings rose from an average of about $14.5m per match to about $48m. The report also noted FIFA's use of dynamic pricing for tickets and parking, its move into the secondary ticket market, and decisions to schedule mandatory hydration breaks and to suspend red cards during the tournament.
The report said FIFA president Gianni Infantino faces an election in March, and that many of his supporters appear unmoved by a controversy over an attempt to sell a share of the World Cup's commercial rights to private equity. The tournament's profits appear to have consolidated his position, it said.