Fifa launches 2022 World Cup legacy fund with US$50m for initiatives with WHO, WTO, UNHCR
Football’s world governing body had announced after the Qatar event it would use its proceeds to help the world’s ‘most vulnerable people’
Fifa will give US$50 million to the WHO, WTO and UNHCR as part of its Qatar World Cup legacy fund, football’s global governing body announced on Wednesday.
In its 2022 annual financial report, Fifa announced a gross profit of nearly US$5.8 billion from the tournament in Qatar that year, and in November that year had promised the legacy fund from 2022 World Cup proceeds would be used to help “some of the most vulnerable people in the world”.
“Fifa is taking the concept of a legacy fund to the next level in terms of reach and impact by tackling key priorities such as refugees, occupational health, education, and football development,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino said in a statement.
Revenues from previous World Cups have been put into legacy funds for the host nation to use for the development of the game and the US$50 million corresponds to about 1 per cent of the commercial revenue raised around the 2022 World Cup.
Fifa said it would team up with the World Health Organization to support its “Beat the Heat” initiative to safeguard the health and safety of high-risk individuals from extreme heat.
Qatar came under intense pressure over its treatment of foreign workers working in extreme conditions, leading many to raise concerns, although the Middle Eastern country has denied that workers were exploited.
