Context: Spain’s victory over Argentina concluded the 2026 FIFA World Cup on July 19. The tournament, which was held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, drew criticism from Belarusian state media. For example, on July 12, 2026, Artsiom Anikin, the head of the soccer development department at the Homel Regional Soccer Federation and a vlogger, stated on TRK Gomel that this was allegedly the first World Cup in which FIFA had banned the display of commercial stadium names. In fact, the “clean stadium” rules have been in effect for years.
On July 12, 2026, Artsiom Anikin, the head of the soccer development department at the Homel Regional Soccer Federation and a vlogger, stated on TRK Gomel that the Fédération Internationale de Football Association had earned billions of dollars from water breaks during matches.
“Organizing World Cups is not a profitable business. You can count the profitable World Cups on one hand. This one broke all records. It ended up with such a huge profit. It made such an enormous amount of money. More than 170 billion was made from water breaks alone. And there are two per match. Multiply that by the number of matches, and you get a huge amount of money,” said Anikin.
The 2026 World Cup has the potential to be the most profitable tournament in FIFA’s history. Its projected revenue is expected to be one and a half to two times higher than that of the previous World Cup in Qatar. But it was nowhere near $170 billion. In its budget, FIFA projected total revenue of $11 billion for the entire four-year cycle.
Forecasts for 2026 were also lower. Experts estimated potential revenue at around $9 billion for the year. However, The Guardian reported that the tournament actually generated $15 billion. While these figures are records, they are still an order of magnitude lower than the $170 billion cited by Anikin.
In addition, FIFA doesn’t make money from water breaks. The Federation’s primary sources of revenue are the sales of broadcasting and commercial rights, tickets, and licenses. An increase in revenue from broadcasting rights was indeed planned, partly due to the increased number of teams and matches in the championship. However, FIFA’s projections included about $4 billion in revenue from television broadcasting rights. Advertising during commercial breaks generates revenue for TV networks, not FIFA.
