The FIFA Council has approved the Annual Report 2022 (https://apo-opa.info/3HWl5Xf), which highlights FIFA’s record?breaking revenue of USD 7.6 billion during the 2019?2022 cycle and the USD 11 billion that is expected to be earned during the 2023?2026 period.

“FIFA’s unprecedented investment in football is the result of our solid financial transparency and stands as a concrete example of how we are aiming to make football truly global,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “The resounding success of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar has been key to the organisation’s ability to fulfil its mission in relation to our member associations and the world of football, despite the multiple challenges we faced during the past cycle, not least the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Update on future competitions

Following the decision taken by the FIFA Council in December 2022 to expand the FIFA Club World Cup™ from 24 to 32 teams, with the first such edition set to take place in June-July 2025, the Council unanimously approved the respective slot allocation. The decision was taken based on a set of objective metrics and criteria, and the resulting allocation is as follows: AFC: 4, CAF: 4, Concacaf: 4, CONMEBOL: 6, OFC: 1, UEFA: 12 and tournament host: 1.

In relation to the FIFA Club World Cup 2023™, which is due to be played under the current format with seven clubs, the FIFA Council unanimously appointed the Saudi Arabian Football Federation as tournament hosts from 12 to 22 December 2023. 

In addition, the FIFA Council confirmed that, in line with the long?standing tradition of having all hosts competing at the FIFA World Cup™, as well as sporting and operational considerations, the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2026™, namely Canada, Mexico and the USA, will qualify automatically for the final round of the competition, with their slots therefore being deducted from the overall allocation of six assigned to Concacaf. Details will follow in due course regarding the preliminary competitions in all confederations for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The FIFA Council were also updated on the appointment of the following tournaments by the FIFA Congress as per the following dates: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ in Q2 2024 (with bid regulations for approval in March 2023), FIFA World Cup 2030™ in Q3 2024 (with bid regulations for approval in June 2023) and FIFA Women’s World Cup 2031™ in Q2 2025 (with bid regulations for approval in Q2 2024).

73^rd FIFA Congress

The FIFA Council was updated on preparations for the 73^rd FIFA Congress, which will take place on Thursday, 16 March 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda, the agenda for which will be published in due course.