Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 09, 2003
FIFA Reports US$ 83 Million Profit for 1999-2002
The world soccer's governing body FIFA reported a revenue surplus of 115 million Swiss francs (83 million US dollars) for period 1999-2002, better than the losses it had forecast last May.
The world soccer's governing body FIFA reported a revenue surplus of 115 million Swiss francs (83 million US dollars) for period 1999-2002, better than the losses it had forecast last May.
At the press conference on Tuesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter declared the organization was "financially more stable than ever."
Last May, FIFA had said it expected to come out 134 million francs (96.5 million dollars) in the red after the collapse of its marketing partner ISL/ISMM. The actual results were a staggering 249-million franc (179 million dollars) improvement on that prediction.
Blatter attributed the difference to "effective crisis management" in the wake of ISL/ISMM's collapse, including the establishment of FIFA's own marketing company and a program designed to reduce costs and increase revenue.
"FIFA has shown it can weather the stormiest circumstance," Blatter said. "It took immediate precautions entirely on its own initiative to counteract the consequences of the bankruptcy of its marketing and television partners without jeopardizing the quality of its flagship competition, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, in the slightest."
FIFA said its revenue over the four-year cycle was 2.685 billion francs (1.935 billion US dollars) compared with 2.570 billion francs (1.852 billion US dollars) in expenditures.