The FIFA World Cup will be the biggest sporting event of the year and the largest sports marketing exercise since the last World Cup.

We will, each day through the tournament, look to cover the stories of what is happening off the field of play for our Sport for Business readers.

FIFA TO BLAST THROUGH REVENUE TARGETS

FIFA set a target of $6.4 Billion in revenues from Qatar 2022, a full $1 Billion more than was achieved in Russia in 2018.

With a full suite of sponsors on board and broadcast contracts in place for every major market around the world, early talk of a boycott of the tournament has proven to be misplaced.

3 million tickets have been sold for the matches and 240,000 hospitality packages have been sold. The reported investment of $220 Billion by the state of Qatar in hosting the tournament and building lasting infrastructure around it, obviously dwarfs the amount of money coming in but major sports tournaments are rarely looked at from the bottom line perspective.

TODAY’S SPONSOR IN THE SPOTLIGHT – COCA-COLA

Coca-Cola is the second longest FIFA World Cup partner. Its association with the tournament goes back to 1974, one tournament after Adidas first came on board.

According to Brad Ross, Coca-Cola’s Vice President of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing

“Coca-Cola has partnered with FIFA since 1974, so our credibility in the football world—and our longstanding support of the game’s growth—is unmatched.”

“We’ll simultaneously build on our longstanding legacy and innovate. This year’s campaign includes several firsts for us, including the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy Tour’s first-ever visit to all 32 qualifying countries, to our first effort to build a digital community of football followers and inviting them to make their own “Believing is Magic” promises—and integrate them into our content—and to predict winners and scores throughout the tournament.”

“We’re leaning into digital, and engaging influencers to create on behalf of our brands, more than ever.”

IS THERE A WINNERS CURSE?

The last time a team won back-to-back World Cups was Brazil in 1958 and 1962. That may not bode well for reigning Champions France, but it gets worse.

The last four winners of the tournament – Italy 2006, Spain 2010, and Germany 2014 have lifted the trophy and four years on failed to make it out of the Group stage as defending champions.

France have to get past Denmark, Australia and Tunisia. Should be easy enough you might think but they lost twice to Denmark already this year…

HOW MANY LEFT FOOTED SHOTS FROM OUTSIDE THE PENALTY AREA, WE’VE GOT THAT

FIFA’s High Performance Unit has developed a new series of statistics and graphics which will be available to broadcasters on every game through the tournament.

The visuals will be presented as augmented reality and traditional graphics, similar to the one pictured below.

The new statistics break down each area of the game into fine detail and provide operational definitions and multiple video examples to clearly define each action.

This will enable an analysis not only of what happens on the ball but also of the movements and interactions around and off the ball for teams and players when they are both in and out of possession.

Taking in-house the creation of data is a big step for FIFA going up against some strong and well established operators. Let’s hope that they get the balance right between the data and the analysis.

THE OTHER QATAR

Language learning app Duolingo has sponsored the Qatar Football Club, an amateur team outside of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

It is not an official sponsor so cannot use any of the phrases or branding that exists within the tournament.

We can only hope they have invested a decent sum in the team and they run close to but not over the line with FIFA in how they will look to activate the partnership over the coming weeks.