The most expensive Qatar World Cup: This is the prize money, how much is FIFA’s income? Benefit or loss for Qatar?

Football is the most popular sport in the world. As glorious as the sport’s present is, its history is just as controversial and embattled. Before last November 20, the Qatar World Cup was probably going to be the most controversial World Cup in history. Citing human rights organizations, news has been published that thousands of workers have died while building infrastructure for the World Cup in the last decade and a half.

Based on that, the International Labor Organization, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations continued to unilaterally oppose Qatar. They also asked FIFA and Qatar to set up a $440 million fund from World Cup prize money to compensate foreign workers. However, Qatar ignored the news. It took day and night to make the Mahakumbha of world football a success.

When the grand opening of the football World Cup took place on November 20 (Mansi 4) at the Al Ayat Stadium. Then the voice of the opponents also became muted. Everyone started enjoying the World Cup. Now Qatar’s investment of billions in the World Cup and its efficient management are being discussed everywhere. A country with a population of around 3 million people, Qatar has surprised everyone by offering hospitality to millions of people.

The host country, Qatar, spared no effort to make the 22nd edition of the World Cup an expensive one. For hosting the World Cup, Qatar built seven stadiums, an airport, a metro system, various road networks and a hundred hotels. An entire city was built around the Lucelle Stadium for the World Cup final. According to the international media, about 220 billion dollars have been spent for this. Compared to previous World Cup investments, this is considered to be the highest expenditure so far. Russia spent $11.6 billion, Brazil spent $15 billion in 2014, South Africa spent $3.6 billion in 2010, and Germany spent $4.6 billion in 2006 for the 2018 World Cup. Similarly, in 2002, Japan and Korea jointly spent seven billion dollars. In this way, Qatar has spent more money on hosting a single edition of the World Cup than the total official amount spent on all previous World Cup events. Qatar has spent most of the money on infrastructure. It is estimated that only 1.7 billion dollars will be spent for organizing the World Cup games. This is less than the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Four years ago, Russia spent $1.8 billion.

Right to project 12 years ago
The International Football Federation (FIFA) gave the right to host the World Cup to Qatar in the Middle East 12 years ago. On December 2, 2010, Qatar received the responsibility of hosting the World Cup. For this, voting was held till the fourth phase. Qatar won the rights to the project, beating Japan, Australia, South Korea and the US. At that time, US President Barack Obama criticized FIFA’s decision. When Qatar won the right to host the World Cup, Qatar had only one stadium. That also needs to be rebuilt. After that, the Qatari government hired more than 30,000 foreign workers to build seven stadiums. In that, most of the South Asian countries took workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries.

Leap of Morocco
The North African nation of Morocco not only put on a proud performance but also defied the predictions of football pundits as the expected team performance at the FIFA World Cup fell short. Morocco missed out on qualifying for the World Cup final by just one step. However, his performance in Qatar was something to be proud of. Despite losing 2-0 to former champions France in the second semi-final on Wednesday night, Morocco managed to win the hearts of many. Morocco became the first African and Arab country to reach the semi-finals in the history of the World Cup. From 1912 to 1956, the North American country of Morocco was a French colony. For this reason, football has been very popular in Morocco. Born in Derb Sultan, Mohamed Zarir is Morocco’s biggest football star of all time. He also became the first player to score for Morocco in the 1970 World Cup. However, the Qatar World Cup has produced many football ‘stars’ in Morocco.

Tunisia Qatar eliminated from the group stage of the World Cup. Despite defeating former champions France 1-0, they failed to make it to the last 16. After Tunisia’s early exit from the World Cup, Morocco won the support of its football fans. There is an ongoing dispute between Tunisia and Morocco for the Western Sahara region. Only last August, Morocco recalled its ambassador from Tunis. Before that, the ambassador was recalled because of Tunisian President Kais Said’s support for the Polisario Front, which is fighting for independence from Western Sahara. Despite this, many Tunisians supported Morocco. Since 1990, three African nations, namely Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal, have made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Morocco became the last African country to reach the semi-finals.

More spending on physical infrastructure
Qatar spent $36 billion on the Doha Metro system alone. It said that 6.5 billion dollars was spent to build seven new stadiums and to repair the eighth one.

After the World Cup, only three stadiums will be used for the tournament. 974 stadiums are being completely demolished while the remaining stadiums are being demolishedAla is going to be used for other purposes. Built using 974 shipping containers, seven World Cup football matches were held in the same stadium. It is said that this stadium, built from reusable containers, will be dismantled and the containers will be sent to different countries.

After receiving the responsibility of hosting the World Cup in 2010, Qatar planned to build 12 stadiums, but due to the Corona epidemic and other reasons, only eight stadiums were prepared. Out of which seven stadiums were newly constructed and Khalifa International Stadium was reconstructed. According to Qatar, Lusail Stadium will now be converted into a school and shopping mall. Al Bayt Stadium will be converted into a five-star hotel. Two stadiums will be used by local clubs. Ahmed Ali Bin Stadium Al Rayban Club and Al Janob Stadium will be owned by Al Wahrah. The Khalifa International Stadium will be taken over by the Qatari Football Association. Apart from this, some of the stadiums will be used for the Asian Cup in 2024.

How much does FIFA earn?
The Qatar World Cup is estimated to generate more than $4.6 billion in revenue for FIFA, the world’s highest governing body. It is said that the largest part of this will be obtained from the sale of television broadcasting rights.

It is estimated that FIFA will earn 56 percent of its total revenue from the sale of television broadcasting rights, or about $2.7 billion. Similarly, 29 percent or 1.3 billion dollars will be earned from advertising. About 675 million dollars will be earned from ticket sales.

This is the prize money
About $440 million has been set aside as prize money for the Qatar World Cup. Out of which, the winner will receive 42 million dollars, the runner-up will receive 30 million dollars, the third runner-up will receive 27 million dollars and the fourth runner-up will receive 25 million dollars. Similarly, the team that reaches the quarter finals will get 17 million dollars, the team that reaches the last 16 will get 13 million dollars and the remaining 16 teams will get 9 million dollars.

Benefit or loss for Qatar?

Economists have predicted that Qatar’s economy will grow by 4.1 percent at the end of 2022. In other words, the World Cup project is estimated to contribute more than 20 billion dollars to Qatar’s economy. Before the finals, about 9 million people have come to Qatar to watch the World Cup. Qatar estimated around 1.2 million people would watch the match live. As France and Argentina have added a flight to Doha in the final, it is estimated that the audience will reach around 1.2 million. Despite strict rules, including no selling of alcohol in the stadium, the number of spectators has made Qatar very excited.

Economists claim that even if there is no immediate direct profit for Qatar from the World Cup, the economic activity that will be increased by the new infrastructure, the job creation that will be created by it, the project and then the tourism that will increase and the ‘brand value’ that will be increased by the successful project will be of great benefit overall. Japan and Korea, which hosted the World Cup in 2002, suffered a loss of 5.5 to 9.3 billion dollars, a study report was released. While these two countries were estimated to have a profit of more than four billion dollars.

According to reports published by various international media, all direct income from the World Cup goes to FIFA’s coffers. It has been found that the tax exemption agreement with various companies for the project reduces the benefits to the organizers. FIFA provides funding for the host nation’s organizing committee, prize money, players and support staff. According to Al Jazeera, this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar has earned a record $7.5 billion.

Qatar aims to benefit from the metro, highways, hotels, cities and other infrastructure built for the World Cup. Doha has been announced as the host city for the 2030 Asian Games. Along with this, Qatar, which has also invested in various professional clubs of world football, is planning to become a global venue through the successful hosting of the World Cup. Qatar believes that the infrastructure built now will be useful to compete with cities including Dubai in the Gulf countries in terms of tourist arrivals.

Based on large reserves and exports of natural gas and crude oil, Qatar is considered to be the fourth largest country in the world in terms of GDP per capita, despite having a population of less than 3 million. With other countries in the Middle East, the infrastructure currently in place will prove helpful in increasing tourist arrivals and especially sports tourism. Qatar has already signed a contract to host the Formula One Grand Prix for 10 years. Therefore, Qatar believes that the success of the World Cup will further increase sports tourism.

Continuation of an old winner

The old winners are going to repeat themselves in the Qatar World Cup. Since 1930, only eight countries have lifted the World Cup trophy. This time too, former winners France and Argentina have reached the finals. So this time also the old winner will continue. France are the 1998 and 2018 winners. Similarly, Argentina lifted the World Cup trophy in 1978 and 1986.

The last time a new winning nation was added was in 2010. In the 2010 World Cup, Spain became the new winner. Spain lifted the World Cup trophy for the first time after defeating the Netherlands 1-0 in extra time. Before that, France won the title for the first time in 1998. France won their second World Cup four years ago, 20 years after lifting their first trophy.

whose initiative started the World Cup

World Football honey