Before football kicked off, FIFA's jokes

 KARACHI: Even before football kicks off, FIFA officials have made a splash, earning an additional billion dollars from sponsorships with major companies of the host country.

The 22nd edition of the Football World Cup kicked off in Qatar on Sunday, but before the tournament, FIFA, the world governing body of football, informed all its 200 members that the tournament will earn them $7.5 billion.

This amount is shown with sponsorships for the 4-year period leading up to the current World Cup, a billion dollars more than the previous commercial period of the World Cup played in Russia in 2018.

The additional funding comes from FIFA's commercial deals with the host nation, with Qatar Energy joining FIFA as a top-tier sponsor, a new category of third-tier sponsors also being created, including a Qatari bank and Telecom firms are also involved.

Most of the commercial deals for this World Cup were already finalized in 2011 when FIFA president Sepp Blatter overseen deals for 2 World Cup tournaments, including events in Russia and Qatar.

It may be recalled that FIFA has also increased the prize money of the tournament, this time the team that wins the trophy will get $40 million while the runner-up side will also be given $30 million.