The FIFA World Cup is the biggest football tournament in the world and having come across the fact that, FIFA gave each participating country $8 million for the group stage, we decided to find out how much FIFA makes from the World Cup.

According to FIFA’s financial documents, the 2010 World Cup which took place in South Africa generated $3.66 billion in revenue for FIFA with $1.30 billion as its expenditure. FIFA therefore made a profit of $2.36 billion, up 7.3% from 2006 and 22.8% from 2002.

Looking at the nearly $4 billion in revenue from the 2010 World Cup, 65.9% came from the sale of television rights ($2.41 billion) and 29.3% came from the sale of marketing rights ($1.07 billion). The remaining revenue came from the sale of hospitality rights and licensing rights.

On the other hand, FIFA’s expenditure included $348 million in prize money for the participating countries and member associations, followed by $326 million to South Africa for their organizing committee and a World Cup legacy program, and $214 million in TV production costs.

If this year’s World Cup in Brazil follows the same increases trend as the previous, FIFA will make approximately $2.61 billion in profit from the tournament.

The World Cup is therefore a huge money making enterprise and therefore every participant deserves to be paid for his work or contribution…

2014 World Cup Prize Structure

Winners: $35-million

Runner-up: $25-million

3rd place: $22-million

4th place: $20-million

Quarterfinalists: $14-million

Round of 16: $9-million

Group stage: $8-million