Revenue on track, reserves down in FIFA virus-era accounts

<p>GENEVA &mdash; FIFA expects to hit its four-year revenue target of $6.44 billion up to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>Total spending of $1.04 billion in 2020 included $270 million in grants to soccer bodies worldwide as part of a COVID-19 relief plan, <a href="https://publications.fifa.com/en/annual-report-2020/2020-financials-and-2022-budget/2020-financials-in-review/">FIFA’s annual financial report</a> said on Friday. </p>
<p>It also included a $10 million donation to the World Health Organization.</p>
<p>FIFA again <a href="https://publications.fifa.com/en/annual-report-2020/football-governance/compensation/">awarded its president Gianni Infantino</a> a $1 million annual bonus to raise his overall pre-tax pay above $3 million in 2020, matching his 2019 income.</p>
<p>The pandemic relief payments helped reduce FIFA’s reserves by $705 million in 2020. They stood at almost $1.9 billion by the end of the year.</p>
<p>FIFA gets most of its money from the four-yearly men’s World Cup, and said on Friday it already sealed 92% of its income target from broadcasting rights.</p>
<p>Contracted income from all sources to the end of 2020 was more than $5.1 billion, or 80% of revenue budgeted for the 2019-2022 financial period, according to the FIFA document.</p>
<p>Fewer sponsor slots for the 2022 World Cup have been sold compared to the same stage before previous editions of the tournament.</p>
<p>After a near-total shutdown of soccer worldwide last year, FIFA advanced money due to its 211 national member federations and the six continental governing bodies.</p>
<p>Hundreds of millions of dollars more was made available in grants and loans for specific projects.</p>
<p>FIFA made savings by the forced cancellations of youth tournaments, its annual congress scheduled in Ethiopia, and the annual awards ceremony in Milan.</p>
<p>“Travel was reduced to the bare minimum, and a large-scale switch to online meetings and training produced significant cost savings,” the FIFA financial report said. </p>
<p>Administration and governance spending of $169 million was $42 million less than the planned budget for 2020.</p>
<p>The FIFA document showed Infantino got a base salary of 1.95 million Swiss francs, ($2.1 million) plus a bonus of just over 1 million Swiss francs ($1.08 million).</p>
<p>The package totaled 3 million Swiss francs ($3.2 million) — the same as in 2019 — when some allowances were added.</p>
<p>FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura got a 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,000) raise in her bonus from 2019 for a pre-tax package of more than 1.6 million Swiss francs ($1.72 million).</p>
<p>The six continental presidents who sit on FIFA’s ruling council each received a net income of $300,000, plus some expenses. Other council members each got $250,000 after tax.</p>
<p>The highest paid committee members were audit and compliance chairman Tomaž Vesel and chief ethics investigator Maria Claudia Rojas, who each got $246,000. Vesel also chairs the compensation panel which oversees pay for senior management.</p>
<p>FIFA is one of the most transparent international sports bodies in publishing what it pays senior officials. </p>
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