FIFA reports loss for 2015, but increases middle-term financial objectives

FIFA is confident that the reforms underway will help to restore trust with commercial partners and achieve the budget goals for the 2015-2018 cycle, which have been adjusted to reflect the priorities set by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

As detailed in FIFA’s Financial and Governance Report published today, for the first time since 2002, FIFA posted a negative result of USD 122 million in 2015. In comparison to the first year of the previous cycle (2011-2014), revenue increased by USD 82 million to USD 1,152 million, mostly attributable to the steady sales of broadcasting rights for FIFA competitions.

However, expenditure compared to 2011 also increased by USD 240 million to USD 1,274 million due to an increased budget for development expenses and higher competition costs, but also due to unforeseen costs such as legal fees and costs for extraordinary meetings.

Despite this negative result in 2015, FIFA maintains a positive outlook for the future.

“With the recently approved reforms, I believe that we have turned a corner and that FIFA is poised to emerge stronger than ever,” said President Infantino. “During my presidency, I pledge to make this happen and to lead FIFA into a brighter and more sustainable future so that we can all return our full focus to football. We saw in 2015 that FIFA’s competitions – such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup – remain an incredible opportunity for us to promote the game and to raise the funds we need to fulfil our core mission of football development.”

The reforms approved at the Extraordinary Congress in February are already partly reflected in the FIFA Financial and Governance Report, which provides greater transparency, particularly when it comes to the disclosure of the compensation of committee members and key management personnel.

The principle of remuneration defined by the Compensation Sub-Committee as well as the compensation of the President, the Secretary General, the Executive Committee members and independent committee members are disclosed under section 7 of the Governance Report (p. 62-63).

Moreover, the revised budget for the 2015-2018 cycle has been approved by the FIFA Executive Committee and will be put forward for ratification to the FIFA Congress in Mexico City (12-13 May 2016).

The revised budget has been compiled to invest even more funds into developing football around the world. As a consequence, the budget for football development for the 2015-2018 period has been increased by USD 517 million from USD 900 million to USD 1,417 million. Of this, USD 1,151 million is directed towards member associations (including support for less privileged associations), USD 240 million is for the confederations, and USD 26 million will go to the regional associations.

The financing for this additional investment will come from increased revenues as well as cost savings, so that, as in the past, the goal will be to achieve a surplus for the four-year cycle of USD 100 million.

FIFA’s aim is to keep the reserves untouched at the end of the cycle, a sustainable strategy which has proven vital in managing unexpected events. The new revenue target for the 2015-2018 period is therefore USD 5,656 million, with the total investments amounting to USD 5,556 million.