The FIFA World Cup, or we usually call World Cup, is one of the hottest tournaments in the world. There are many little-known facts about this tournament. The article will find out why this competition is held every four years.
World Cup tournament is an international football competition hold by FIFA – Fédération Internationale de Football Association which is football governing body. The tournament was founded in 1930 and until now, there have been 21 tournaments being held. Generally, this international football competition is contested every four years. Except in 1942 and 1946, the tournaments were canceled due to the World War II.
Football is the king of sports. It is obvious that not only the host country but also the FIFA can make a huge profit from this tournament
Money sources of the World Cup
As the international football tournament, World Cup attracts millions of people watching it, not only in the stadium but also in television. They are where their money comes from. In 1024 World Cup in Brazil, there were nearly 1 billion people watching the final match between Argentina and Germany.
Broadcasting right is one of the main sources of profit of FIFA. Source: NGOAC.TV
As there is a huge demand for this hottest competition, television stations are trying to pay the extremely huge amount of money to have broadcasting rights. Through the third parties, FIFA sells the broadcasting rights to international media companies.
In the FIFA World Cup 2014, according to Business Insider, FIFA got more than $2.4 billion from the broadcasting rights. Along with other sources, such as promotion and advertising rights, the total revenue of FIFA in the 2011-2014 period was up to $5.7 billion. In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA revenue was reported to be $2.15 billion. Fox channel spent about $400 million to have the World Cup broadcasting rights while CCTV- a Chinese channel- paid $156 million for the rights. So why do they not hold World Cup every year?
Historical concern
From the historical point of view, when the first World Cup tournament was held in Uruguay, transportation was a big challenge for each team. It was not easy for national teams to travel around the world to participate in this hottest tournament. Although the FIFA World Cup is the hottest tournament, it seemed that national teams had no choice but not participating.
This also was the reason why only 13 countries participated in the first World Cup. More than half of them came from South America, only two teams were the North American and four teams came from Europe. Most European countries did not take part in as they found it hard to travel to South America at that time. Holding World Cup every was actually a complicated problem for the team as it was hard to travel by land or sea.
Although nowadays, transportation has developed dramatically and no longer is the big challenge for each team, there are still other reasons for FIFA not to contest World Cup every year.
The huge costs
One of the main reasons comes from the extremely huge costs for each World Cup tournament. As the hottest football competition in the world, it is obvious that each tournament can attract many people to the host country to admire the best performance.
Therefore, the host countries have to prepare many things to welcome about 5 million football fans or even more. And this could be a nightmare if their infrastructures are poor. The planning and construction process also takes time and money, which is the reason why in some countries, many citizens organize angry protests when the government decides to be the World Cup host.
Due to the extreme costs for World Cup, Brazilian organized anti-World Cup protests. Source: USA Today
In the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil, there were many anti-World Cup protests across the country. Brazilian organized anti-World Cup protest near the Maracanã national stadium. According to the report, there were about 1000 people taking part in the contest. The citizens claimed that the cost of upgrading the national stadium could pay enough for 200 schools.
Although Brazilian love football and the national team, they just could not accept the bad things associated with the World Cup such as the costs, the public safety and the infrastructure. The police even had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the angry contests.
Brazil had to spend about US$ 15 billion to prepare all things for the World Cup. That huge money could be allocated in health, education or infrastructure. Although World Cup tournament could be a good chance to advertising about the country, it seemed that Brazilian did not need it. And it was the most expensive World Cup up to date. Russia with the 2018 World Cup ranked 2nd in the list of costs of World Cups with US$11.6 billion.
The ability of football players
FIFA World Cup is just one of the football competitions in the world. There are many tournaments such as UEFA Champions League, UEFA European Championship, Copa America, Copa Libertadores, UEFA Europa League, Africa Cup of Nations,…
Footballers, of course, cannot take part in all of these tournaments in just one year. They need time to practice and maybe to recover their injuries if they happen. Moreover, they also need time for their personal lives and their family. There is no way to do their job all the time and spend no time on personal lives.
Football players need time to recover their injuries. Source: iMoney
Also, when practicing and participating in every competition, injuries are something that they cannot avoid. Although they do not want, they have to break to recover their injuries. Some serious injuries related to bone, for example, need a long time to fully recover. And if they are not fully recovered, footballers possibly get other injuries while taking part in other tournaments. And in the worst scenario, they have to retire due to these injuries.
Just imagine that FIFA World Cup is held every year, football players have no time to rest. They have to play for club sides and the national sides, which soon make them get exhausted.
The World Cup prestige
Four years may long enough for a football fan to wait for this hottest football tournament. This long-enough period makes the World Cup competition more prestigious. This is the eternal tendency of human beings. As they have to wait for such a long time for something, they will get excited when it to come.
We always are fed up with a TV series, shows after a few episodes. This will be the same with the World Cup tournament if FIFA decides to hold it every year or even just more regular than before. Football’s fan interest would decline sharply, which then leads to lower profits. The organizer is smart enough to take this into consideration.
If this football competition is contested more regularly, they will get huge short-term benefits. However, in the long-term, their profits will drop terribly when football lovers show little interest in this tournament. Permanent and stable profits are obviously better.
A four-year period seems to be the most ideal one to hold a World Cup tournament. This is not only benefits FIFA, the host countries but also good for football players. So do not complain that you have to wait too long for the World Cup. Instead of this, you should enjoy the feeling of waiting for something that you really love.
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