The 2026 World Cup will be the most lucrative sports event ever staged, with FIFA’s revenues set to top $10billion (£7.4bn), according to a new report from London-based agency Pitch Marketing Group.
Released on Wednesday, June 10, “The Pitch Report — how to win at the 2026 FIFA World Cup” predicts a worldwide audience for the six-week tournament of over five billion people, almost two-thirds of the global population, with more than 700 billion combined engagements across all forms of media.
Co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S., the tournament will take place from June 11 to July 19 next summer, with games played in 16 cities across the three countries.
FIFA itself has said it expects to bring in $13bn over the four-year 2023-2026 cycle, although that includes revenues from the 2023 Women’s World Cup, this summer’s Club World Cup and its annual licensing and sponsorship income.
This is more than double the amount FIFA earned in the four-year cycle that ended with Russia 2018 and almost 75 per cent more than the $7.5bn FIFA brought in over the Qatar 2022 cycle.
The main reason for this big increase in predicted revenues is the tournament’s expansion from 32 to 48 teams, with the number of games growing from 64 to 104. But the report also believes it will be a…
