2022 FIFA World Cup: Total budget, expected revenue, ticket prices, and other details

The 22nd edition of the tournament, considered to be the pinnacle of international football, the FIFA World Cup 2022, is all set to begin in Qatar on November 20. Day 1 of the marquee tournament will feature a grand opening ceremony at the Al Bayt Stadium, before hosts Qatar lock horns against Ecuador in the Group A clash. While a total of 32 teams, divided across eight groups of four teams each, go against each other in the group stage of the FIFA WC 2022, here’s a look at interesting details like the tournament’s total budget, expected revenue, ticket prices & more.

What is the budget for the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar?

Since Qatar won the bid to host the quadrennial showpiece event in 2010, the Gulf country has spent huge sums of money in preparation. Seven new world-class stadiums have been built in and around Qatar, which will host a total of 64 matches in the month-long tournament. The total cost for building the new stadiums, alongside renovating the two existing ones, is reported to be between $6.5 billion-$10 billion.

This is a significant increase from the initially proposed bid of $4 billion. As per US sports finance consultancy Front Office Sports, a sum of $210 billion is said to be spent on developing airports, rebuilding roads, innovative hubs with hotels and sophisticated underground transportation. At the same time, around $15 billion has been spent in Doha alone on an accommodation complex known as ‘The Pearl’, while $36 billion was spent on the Doha Metro.

Expected revenue from FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar

As per reports, Qatar’s finance ministers admitted to spending $500 million on a weekly basis for years during the country’s preparation for the mega footballing event. It is pertinent to mention that Russia spent $11.6 billion to organise the tournament in 2018, while Brazil spent $15 billion in 2014. However, Qatar is said to have spent $220 billion during the course of the infrastructure project.

A total of three million tickets are said to have been sold across the eight stadiums in Qatar for the World Cup. This suggests that FIFA will receive a record revenue for the tournament, which will certainly be more that the $5.4 billion they made in Russia in 2018. As per reports, the match tickets prices for games in Qatar are around 40% more than the tickets sold during the previous edition. 

Ticket prices at FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar

The average ticket price for matches in Qatar is about 286 pounds (INR 27,000) per seat, while the tickets for the final are priced at INR 66,200 on average. With over three million tickets sold, the total revenue for selling tickets at Qatar 2022 is understood to be around $1 billion. Alongside tickets, FIFA has also sold around  240,000 hospitality packages.